How should companies respond to criticism?

YellingOver my life as a blogger, I’ve written several articles specifically naming companies. Whether it was my Silverleaf Resorts, Westgate Resorts or Answerstop Voicemail posts on my old blog. Or my post yesterday on Ameriprise Financial. The question is, how should companies respond to criticism (warranted or unwarranted) from the blogosphere.

I’ve been on both sides of this issue. In my previous job, there was an article written that was quite critical of the company and not entirely accurate. It was tempting to assume the role of a faithful supporter of the company and correct the bloggers misunderstanding. Im glad I didn’t!

As an employee of a company, it is near impossible to “fake” being a loyal customer. It’s a question of motivation. Primarily, why is a loyal customer responding to articles about the company on the blogosphere - especially within 12 hours of being posted. Your customers just arent spending their time on the internet defending your good name (unless you are Apple).

Ameriprise was not very smart

In the case of Ameriprise Financial, the first time they responded it was from an IP address within their organization. They pretended to be a woman whose husband had died. That’s kind of sick. I called them out on it.

The next time, they posted from a comcast network using the pseudonyms Romeo and Emily. This time, they personally attacked me and called me an asshole. Both comments were from the same IP address.

Im quite disappointed with the lack of professionalism demonstrated by Ameriprise.

How should companies respond to negative feedback

Ok, so here’s the other side of the coin. Mozy. I wrote that I was having trouble with backing up to mozy. Someone from Mozy, David Dreyer clearly identified himself as being from the company and offered any assistance he could provide to help me solve my problems. He gave me his personal contact information and offered the support of their top level engineers.

Here are the takeaway tips

  • Always identify yourself as from the company in question
  • Leave honest feedback, not a made up story (it will be obvious).
  • Don’t call the blogger names
  • If you correct your business practices, damage control is not necessary

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