Customers have been posting their complaints online since the conception of the Internet. Twitter and Facebook have brought it to a new generation of time sensitive Internet users. But what do customers expect when they post their detailed gripes on dedicated complaint sites and how can we work with these aggregators?
Why do customers use them?
Search Engine Optimised
Many of these sites are search engine optimised, which means they will appear high on Google Search when a user either searches via a brand name or search terms such as brand name + complaints. As more and more customers post comments on these sites, this also helps them climb positions in search engine. One of the best examples for this is TripAdivsor. Have you ever tried finding a hotel online and have always found TripAdvisor in the top 5 links every time? Go to Google and try searching for your favourite hotel.
Why tell one person?
As people feel that they are part of a community when online, people want to tell other people within the community of issues they have had, just like you used to tell your neighbours and friends. Why write one letter or email to a company when you can publicise deficiencies to hundreds of people? This is causing issues for PR teams, who are having to learn about online reputation and sentiment. More brand damage could be done online than by a small article in a daily newspaper.
Expecting a resolution to their problem
Probably the most concerning for customer service professionals is that customers expect a reply to their postings on these sites from the company in question; I have seen customers posting account numbers etc. on external forums. Many of these sites have a ‘company page’, some customers expect that this has been put there by the company in question and this can give a false impression to the customer. One dispute relating to these ‘company pages’ is between Get Satisfaction and a SaaS software provider called 37Signals. 37Signals commented in their blog post Get Satisfaction, or Else on how they felt customers would get confused when wanting to gain support from 37Signals.
Some examples of complaint aggregators
Complaints Board
As the name suggests, it is literally a complaints board where customers can post their complaints and receive feedback from other customers in relation to their issue. Readers of the website are able to vote on whether they agree with the complaint or not. View Site. View Site
Complaint Community
Complaint Community is a UK based website, but I am sure it has plans to grow abroad. Unlike most websites, it publicises that it has a complaint regarding a company on Twitter, so somewhat forcing an organisation into dealing with the complaint on its site. It allows customers and companies to discuss the issue through its private messaging system. View Site
Get Satisfaction
This takes a different approach then some the other sites featured in this post, as Get Satisfaction accepts praise, product improvement ideas and also acts as a knowledge base. View Site
Complaints.com
Customers are able to post their feedback online through an easy to use interface (if somewhat outdated) and companies are able to respond to the customer complaint. View Site
Rip-off Report
This site is a cross between a blog and a complaints forum. It has been going for over ten years and has had over 8 billion visitors during that time. Visitors are able to post their issues online, not just about bad experiences but also about fraudulent activity, such as phishing and telephone slamming. View Site
Customer Service Scoreboard
Customers are able to post both, positive and negative comments about a company and this then produces a ratings scoreboard for the company in question. Unlike most of the other sites, this site does not allow companies to engage with the unhappy customers and assist in resolving their problem. View Site
Plebble
Plebble allows both negative and positive feedback to be posted online, with a smiley based ratings system (with an angry devil signifying the worst). As well as the comments section, it has interesting statistics posted alongside the company profile which allows readers to see the customer ratings trend etc. Plebble also brings in customer feedback from other sites such as ReviewCentre.com (not included due to its bias towards products). View Site
MeasuredUp
This site allows customers to post both traditional written posts as well as video. Somewhat like Get Satisfaction, it allows customers to ‘create a support ticket’ to a company, Get Satisfaction does make it clear at the top right of its site that the company is not engaged but MeasuredUp does not and could increase further customer dissatisfaction. View Site
Pissed Consumer
This sites slogan is “Tell the world. Be heard”, which as discussed above is the fundamental principle of this genre of websites. An interesting design of this website is that it uses sub-domains, i.e. brandname.pissedconsumer.com and this enables it to do very well on search engines. Companies are unable to engage with customers to resolve their issue, following a complaint made about them. View Site
How do they compare by visitor numbers?
Below you will see the number of visitors to some of these sites over the past year. Those companies not included in the chart below either have too low visitor numbers or are not being tracked by Compete.com. As you can see from the chart, generally visitor numbers have been declining over the past year. This may be because:
- Growth of Twitter and Facebook; Generations X and Y are more likely to post complaints using shorter constructed sentences than using complaint sites
- More and more complaint sites being launched driving down unique visitors to each site
- Companies are actually listening to customer feedback and improving their products and process
- Companies are becoming better at resolving customer complaints, therefore removing the need for the customer to be more vocal about the complaint
- Companies are becoming better at managing their online reputation
- Less people are complaining, as they are better informed in the first place.
How can you manage complaint aggregators?
1. Above all, ensure that customers can complain to your organisation easily; don’t hide your help pages. If you use a knowledge base ensure that you add an FAQ telling customers how they can complain and that you appreciate their feedback.
2. You can simply ignore these websites and let the complaints build up across the internet. This option may be not the best suggestion if you want to protect your brand online.
3. You can choose one or two of the sites and respond to customers posting their feedback. Focusing on a couple of the sites will enable you to understand how to use the sites properly and also you will be able to build a relationship with the website owner. To find out which sites you may work with, Google your brand name or brand name + complaint to see which sites are at the top of Google.
4. Develop your own customer forum, possible platform providers could be: Get Satisfaction, Lithium, Helpstream, Jive, Ning and SocialGo. This allows you to manage the conversations with your customers. Don’t be afraid to air your dirty laundry in public, all companies make mistakes, admit it and show that you make improvements following this vital feedback. Customers will be looking for more transparency from the companies they deal with. Allowing discussions online will enable you to build your reputation for being a trustworthy organisation.
5. Work with your marketing team; buy keywords on Google Adwords. These are the adverts which appear at the top or to the right on Google Search. So for instance you could purchase the term “brand name is crap” (excuse the language but this is what customers may search for). You can then produce an advert to direct customers to your internal forum or to a landing page asking for people to give feedback which then allows you to improve your service.
6. Work with your web team to ensure that your help section is optimised for major search engine keywords relating to complaints. If you actively listen to your customers, speak to your call centre agents or run reports on why people complain. You will then be able to develop your SEO programme around complaint keywords.
7. Use ‘listening tools’ such as Radian6, UberVu or even free tools such as Board Tracker to monitor forum postings relating to your company. Find customers complaining about your brand and engage with them.
So is this the future of complaining?
In my opinion, I do not think that this is the future of complaining (you can see the declining visitor numbers) but it is imperative that you do not ignore it and remember these negative posts will never disappear (unless the website closes). Customers will post their feedback online and these sites will grow if organisations do not listen to their customers and fix ongoing issues.
What are your thoughts?
Do you engage with your customers on any forums or do you think that these sites are good for customers? Post your comments below.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
In many ways, these sites are just taking word of mouth recommendations and putting them online. I used to ask friends for restaurant recommendations, now I go to Yelp! (for example). I do much of my product researching online and comments/ratings help shape my opinion much more than talking to a salesperson from the company does.
Katie
Community Manager | Radian6
@misskatiemo
Paul – the reason these “complaint aggregators” exist is simple. The companies do not provide adequate channels and services to manage complaints directly and so consumers look to other methods to get resolution or vent frustration.
This kind of site will continue to have a role all the time companies do not make it easy to complain and embrace the feedback. After all, we know that well-handled complaints and good service recovery lead to loyalty and advocacy – the channels that propagated the bad news can equally quickly promote good news too!
BTW – a big fan of your work at easyJet, it certainly changed my attitude towards the airline.
ian
Ian
I totally agree; make it easy for people to complain, resolve the complaint properly and the customer will then become a great advocate for your company.
Thank you for the kind comments, it was a team effort and I am sure will continue to go from strength to strength.
Paul
Great post that highlights the continued fracturing and decentralising of the online landscape and the way in which companies and customers interact with each other.
I would adopt a different position to Ian about why these sites have emerged. I don’t think that it has to do with the efficacy or otherwise of current company feedback channels. These sites will not improve the way in which a company handles complaints, as it allows companies to simply ignore them if they so choose. I think these sites have arisen as a natural evolution of the incredibly rich and powerful tools of self expression people now have at their fingertips, together with the fact that people are becoming increasingly vocal now.
Are people driven by the thought that their complaint will be responded to, or by the desire to simply express themselves?
Very interesting post, which raises more questions:
You close by saying that you “do not think that this is the future of complaining…” What is the future of complaining? Will complaining look very different, say, 10 years out? Do you think consumers will complain more or less? And how, if not through aggregators necessarily?
Frances
Thank you for your comments.
I fundamentally believe that the future of complaining will partially remain unchanged but over time we will see proportionally more and more customers complaining through the use of social media, specific industry related forums and complaint aggregators. We do hear a lot about customers complaining online but proportionality, this is tiny in comparison to an organisation large or small gets directly. Yes they can go viral but it is still a small base compared to the wider population but again this will change over the next ten years.
What I do think will happen over the next ten years is that those organisations who do not listen to their customer, through any channel and dare I say it…a call center, will see their customer base dwindle, these organisations will either close or be swallowed up by those organisations who listen and provide an excellent customer centric product or customer experience.
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