Word-of-mouth may help spread brand loyalty, but it can also spread negativity about your company. Detractors are unsatisfied customers who may discourage others from engaging with your brand. They can have a significant influence on your brand reputation.
Responding to detractors involves a strong commitment to customer support and innovation. Gleaning insights from detractors can help managers determine improvements for their products.
This article explores the impact of detractors, how to identify them, and strategies to engage them.
Detractors are unhappy customers who can discourage others from buying from your company. They have long-term effects like negative brand perception, reduced customer loyalty, and a decrease in sales.
The net promoter system (NPS) defines detractors as people who score between 0 to 6 on the NPS scale. The score indicates that detractors are unsatisfied with the product and probably won’t recommend it to others. People who score 7 or 8 are called passives. Meanwhile, promoters are the ones with a 9 or 10 score.
As a product manager, you should aim to have a good NPS score, ideally 50 or above.
To identify detractors, you need to collect and review NPS surveys. You can share these surveys through email, in-app notifications, and website pop-ups.
It’s most effective to share surveys during key interactions like the end of a customer service chat. You may also want to consider sharing these surveys periodically to measure growth.
While NPS results are useful to identify detractors, you should also consider other methods to measure brand sentiment. Social media, online reviews, and focus groups are other feedback channels to monitor.
By combining this data, you can gain a comprehensive overview of how customers feel about your brand and what is affecting their opinions.
It may be impossible to please every single customer, but a high number of detractors is disastrous for your product. Too many detractors mean your brand isn’t hitting the mark with the customers. A poor product yields poor profitability.
Detractors are responsible for negative comments and reviews. These unfavorable experiences are read by potential customers. They might hesitate to engage with your company if they notice a trend of issues.
Not all detractors will vocally share their experience online. Instead, detractors may immediately jump ship after a bad experience and move to a competitor. From a feedback perspective, this scenario may be worse. You might not be able to gather data on why the detractor left, which leaves you in the dark about what you need to fix.
Another issue is how detractors can impact team morale. Customer support teams may become overwhelmed with the number of complaints and issues.
Dealing with the negativity of unhappy customers can cause stress for support teams. It can cause burnout, low productivity, and overall job dissatisfaction. This can affect job performance which may cause further issues for detractors trying to solve their problem.
Detractors need immediate attention to turn around their experience. Quick resolutions are essential to stop a negative interaction with your brand. Here are several effective strategies to improve the overall brand reception of a detractor:
Improving your NPS score means that you have to address detractors’ problems. Detractors can provide valuable information on areas of improvement. Feedback analysis can help you learn common pain points and key trends. The actionable insights can help business growth and ensure satisfied customers.
You also need to use prioritization frameworks to determine which problems to fix first. You may face many issues or product ideas, and it’s essential to focus on the overall ROI of your product teams’ efforts. Prioritization frameworks can help you make data-informed decisions on what to work on next.
Detractors often reach out to customer support to resolve their issues. You want to provide exceptional service that is well-equipped to handle complaints. Chatbots and help guides may resolve simple issues, but you may also need the human touch for more complicated situations.
Consider offering multiple customer support channels through live chat, phone, email, or even social media. Making it easy to reach customer support can turn around a customer’s experience.
You also need to ensure customers aren’t waiting to receive support. Being put on hold during a phone call or waiting hours for a chat response can diminish a customer’s experience.
Proactive listening makes an impression on customers even if you can’t fix the problem. During my stint in online reputation management, one of our clients received a one-star online review with minimal notes on what happened.
The manager posted a response asking to resolve the customer’s experience and encouraging them to contact the manager directly. The manager’s phone number and email address was included.
The customer didn’t contact the manager, but they did change their review to three stars. The review itself was also updated saying they weren’t expecting the manager to reach out and were impressed by the gesture.
We can learn two things from this interaction. First, people appreciate a company that cares about them. It can leave a good impression and turn detractors into passives or promoters. Second, personalized messages show a commitment to customer satisfaction.
Failing to close a feedback loop can lead to poor results. Customers may not feel heard which can undermine trust and brand perception. You need to act on feedback. It’s valuable data to help make informed decisions about the product roadmap.
Another important aspect of closing feedback loops is following up with customers. On an individual basis, you can ask detractors about their satisfaction after resolving an issue. You can also mention what actions were taken based on their feedback.
On a more broad scale, sharing product updates based on customer feedback can help close the loop. It ensures customers that their opinion is valued and that your brand acts on it.
Tom Tailor is a fashion brand that made a goal to turn detractors into promoters. The company used a web overlay to provide an NPS survey. Detractors who left a comment were immediately contacted by customer support.
Meanwhile, detractors who didn’t leave a comment were triggered into an email campaign. The campaign asked for more specific feedback, and if you noted that you were dissatisfied, you received a voucher for a future purchase.
The overall feedback loop achieved the following results:
Personalized communication with detractors was key to turning around their experience. Tom Tailor also incentivized loyalty by offering a voucher to detractors. With a strategic plan, it’s possible to convert detractors into repeat customers.
Converting detractors into promoters is a feasible goal. It’s also a strategic imperative for businesses seeking sustainable growth and a customer-centric culture.
You should build relationships with all your customers, including detractors. They often have valuable insights into what could make a product better. Actively collecting feedback, reaching out to detractors, and acting on areas of improvement are crucial to building customer loyalty.
Featured image source: IconScout
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