Responding to Negative Customer Feedback in Your Candle Business | Operations Strategies

Hi, we’re Katie and Eric Roering; the founders of Fontana Candle Co. In 4 years we took our hobby of making candles in our basement, and selling them at craft shows and makers markets and we turned Fontana into a nationally recognized eCommerce brand. This year we are doing 7 figures of revenue and have 12 employees. So how did we do it? Welcome to The Candle Couple Podcast, where we will share the nitty gritty of scaling our e-commerce brand quickly. We are spilling the tea, so hopefully we can help you scale your brand quickly too. Everyone has an opinion, and every follower and customer has a voice now with many avenues to express them on. Social media has erased so many barriers for customers to share their thoughts and feelings with companies. This can be such a positive thing for companies to listen to - you can spot problems and mitigate product and service complaints. However, this can be completely overwhelming and not every piece of feedback has merit, because your customers do not know the inner workings of your business, or even bother to read your business polices. We discuss the issues we receive negative comments for the most, and how we try to respond to mitigate the issue. Welcome to Episode 22: Responding to Negative Customer Feedback Timestamps: 00:50 Katie' struggles with this this most 1:50 Customers are closer than ever to companies 2:30 You hear negative feedback far more than positive feedback 3:30 Managing customer expectations 3:51 Personal opinion vs. a mistake 4:20 Apologizing for mistakes 5:10 Policies: guaranteeing defects 5:50 Policies: dislike of scent 6:20 Scaling customer service for consistency 7:40 Peak times for negative customer feedback 8:30 Policies: Products not arriving in time 10:45 Negative comments on social 11:58 Thank customers for their feedback 12:12 Identify problem SKUs from patterns in feedback 12:58 No knee jerk reactions 13:22 Managing unrealistic expectations 14:58 Customers that don't reach out to customer service for a resolution 16:49 The internet is always on 17:00 Any 3rd party companies that can help with your problem areas? Resources: The Software We Use: https://youtu.be/U1YjZazTJKo Scaling Customer Service: https://youtu.be/gHCb2y9wC00 Disclaimer: Everything shared in our videos is from our own personal experience, and is intended for educational and informational purposes only. Always seek legal guidance from a business attorney and certified public accountant. Everyone is responsible for their own business structure and business practices, and we will not be held accountable. Since we love the companies we talk about so much, we may have an affiliate relationship with them. If you make a purchase through the above links, we may earn a small affiliate commission. There is no additional cost to you.