Domain Name Forum - How can i improve PR?

1. The building block of good customer service is company culture. With the help of change management and internal communication, a brand can ensure its employees have the right attitude about their job and customers. Nurture the culture and instill a sense of pride among employees. They have to realize the company relies on its customers to be successful. Customers and relationships are everything.

2. Have someone or a team dedicated to watching social media accounts and other online feedback sites. This should be their only job in an ideal world. They can be a part of the social media team as a specially trained customer service employee on loan from the customer service department, or members of the social media team can get customer service training. Whichever the case, make sure people are trained in basic public relations concepts and know how to write. Writing mistakes can hurt your brand’s reputation. I’m always impressed when I see a hotel employee responding to positive and negative reviews on Trip Advisor because it helps me make purchase decisions.

3. Encourage customers to give you feedback. Follow up emails and short surveys are good ways to show customers you care about what they have to say whether it’s good or bad. The key is make the surveys simple and short; otherwise, participation will be low. [Side note: I wish I could tell restaurants when their food has given me food poisoning. If I were them, I’d want to know.]

4. Have a robust frequently asked questions page. This is a no-brainer, but the crucial part is filling the page with questions and answers that real people would ask. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked at an FAQ page and didn’t see the simplest topic addressed. Perhaps ask your customers to give suggestions for the FAQ page.

5. Use issues to develop blog posts or social media posts. Turn common or uncommon customer service situations into social media posts to help customers in times of need. This will also educate customers as to how your business works too.

6. Respond quickly or manage expectations. We already know people expect instant gratification, but if you’re not able to keep up, be open about it. Add your customer service hours to your website and social media.

7. Respond back in the manner in which the customer first reached out. I really dislike asking a question via Facebook private messages and receiving a response that tells me to call so and so by phone for help. If I wanted to talk to someone, I would’ve made the call in the first place. Maybe I’m just not in the mood to verbalize my needs at the time. The lesson here is to respect your customers’ wishes and time. Don’t make them go through multiple channels to get an answer.

8. Check your general voice mail and email inbox a couple times per day. I pretty much know a voice mail or email I send to a general inbox will disappear into an abyss. I bet no one ever checks these places at a company, or if they do there’s some sort of auto-delete function being used a bit too much. Make it a point to ensure your customer service team checks the general voice mail and email multiple times per day and gets back with people in a timely manner.

9. Don’t pass customers off to others. Make it simple to solve a problem. For instance, if a customer has a question on Twitter, don’t give him or her a phone number to call to a completely different department where he or she will have to rehash the story. Try to do the legwork for the customer and provide the answer on the same platform. If you need extra time to do research, just let the customer know so he or she doesn’t feel ignored or forgotten.

10. Use a social media management tool. For example, Sprout Social, Shoutlet and other types of tools can help manage messages on social media, assign messages to people and keep a trail of how issues were resolved.