What to Do When Word-of-Mouth Suddenly Becomes “World-of-Mouth”

What should you do if a customer had a less-than-favorable (in their eyes) experience with you, so much so that they post their version of the story on social media? Where can word-of-mouth explode to become “world-of-mouth”?
You have two options.
The first option is to ignore it. You might choose this option if the person complaining has a minimal following, or you’ll risk invoking the Streisand Effect.
In 2003, singer Barbra Streisand sued a photographer for posting an aerial photograph of her residence, along with 12,000 other California coastline photographs. Before Streisand filed her lawsuit, the image had been downloaded a mere six times, two times by Streisand’s lawyers. However, after the case became public, during the next 30 days, the website was visited by over 420,000 people.
However, usually, the better option is to respond.
In 2004, Chris Brennan, a cyclist in San Francisco, posted an urgent message on an online bicycle forum after discovering he could pop open his expensive bike lock by simply using an inexpensive Bic pen. Within days, several hundred thousand people had downloaded digital video clips of the trick. Bicycle lock owners were outraged, not only by the lock’s ineffective design but also by the lack of an immediate response by the bicycle lock manufacturer.
But if you do respond, how should you respond?
You can imagine how the president and CEO of a co-op that produces electric energy felt when he read a stinging Facebook post from a member who threatened to “dismember the CEO and strew his remains to the four corners of the state.”
When I called on the president and CEO about a potential customer service training session for his employees, he explained that “making threats like this is a federal offense. I didn’t know whether to call the county sheriff or the member, but I contacted the member first.
At first, the member was quite belligerent and accused the co-op of buying electricity from other generating companies and then selling it at three times the price to ‘rip him off.’
After the member cooled down, he and I determined that he had moved from a well-insulated apartment in the city to a poorly-insulated cabin in the county. Because of the inefficiency of his new residence (quite old), he was using three times the power to heat and cool it, which is why he was paying three times the price for electricity that he was used to paying.
Later, his wife called me back to make sure he had apologized to me.”
Do you know of other CEOs or presidents who would take the time to call an upset (and, in this case, unruly) customer? I don’t. But if they do, it can make an impression on the customer, the community, and the company’s employees. When upper management walks the talk of outstanding customer service, even in challenging situations, employees understand that they are expected to do the same.