Word of Mouth: Five Steps to Deal With Negative Customer Feedback

2. Build credibility before you need it. “The best thing you can do is to have genuine, non-spin blogs written by your team,” Sernovitz points out. When you’re a known participant in the blogging community, customers will give less credence to random complaints, he notes.

3. Show that you’re listening. When you read something you like, be it related to your brand or industry, on a blog or message board, post a note saying that it’s great. Likewise, if you see unfair criticism of your products or service, post a reply addressing the issue and offer to help solve the problem. “Most negative conversation is actually a plea for assistance,” Sernovitz writes. “And the negative stops when you solve the problem.”