Week 3 Post 1

When it comes to communication with businesses your experience can vary depending on why you want to communicate with a business. Should you want to enquire about a product/service or purchase said product/service a business will make it very simple for you most of the time.

However, once the product/service is purchased and you encounter a problem, this is when businesses suddenly become very difficult to contact. Business like to deflect you as much as possible; if you require assistance most of the time they will refer you to an FAQ board and will reluctantly give you a support email address or phone number. When contacting them response times tend to be long and if calling them, you spend much of the time talking to a machine.

Social media has somewhat helped the issue because tweeting a business negatives about the product or problems you have encountered can harm them and puts a spotlight on them to respond with a solution. Many of the responses consist of asking the disgruntled customer to direct message them as they don't want to flood their boards with a back and forward exchange. However, if many people are contacting businesses via social media it can make your message or post lost.

Whenever I share comments about a business I hail them if I love their product and write a recommendation. Should I have a negative experience I am honest about what happened but I don't write foul and harsh language as that doesn't solve any issues and makes them less likely to help find a solution to the problem.

Should I own a business I would want to be quite witty with my responses on social media as this can draw a lot of attention, especially for positive comments. However, if I receive negative feedback I would take a more serious attitude and try to rectify with my customer to show that the business is committed to good customer service as it's a lot easier to retain a customer than find a new one.