Ah, the age old problem. Managing and maintaining a strong feedback score is one of the most important things a reseller can focus on, yet it can often feel that some of it is out of our control. Have you ever received negative feedback from a customer despite doing everything you could to give the best service? I’m guessing if you sell a lot online, the answer is yes. Particularly right now while the shipping companies such as USPS are having a hard time keeping up with their backlog, many resellers are reporting a surge in negative feedback due to shipping delays.
So if we will get negative feedback anyway, why worry too much about it? Why not just accept that this is out of our control, and focus our energy on sourcing new inventory? Well – the answer is that it IS within our control, for the most part.
There’s a lot we can do to reduce negative feedback. It’s unlikely we can stop it completely in the long run, and many seasoned sellers can remember a time when they had a 100% positive score and hoped it would last forever only for it to come crashing down around them due to one angry customer. But by consistently focusing on things that are within our control when it comes to the service we are giving to our customers, we can dramatically reduce the chances that we will receive negative feedback. In the long term, this may just be one of the most important things that you learn to build in to your reselling routines.
1. Respond Quickly
A huge driver of negative feedback is unresponsiveness. You’ve probably seen this when booking an AirBnB, or even if you have ever hired someone on Fiverr.com to do tasks for your business. You’ll notice a segment that mentions ‘Typical Response Time’ or similar. The reason companies highlight response times so clearly is to help us to decide if the service we will get will meet their expectations, and a lot of it comes down to responsiveness. When we hire someone on Fiverr to help us to edit a video, or build a website, we want to know that they will quickly respond to all communication.
On EBay, Poshmark, or any other online marketplace, time to respond is one of the things that customers notice the most, because usually they only reach out to the seller if they need an answer on something. It’s less common that a customer will send us a message simply to make a statement (like letting us know they received their product, or thanking us), and more likely that when we receive a message from a customer or potential customer, they need us to answer or action something.
The approach here therefore is pretty simple. Us sellers need to respond to questions and concerns as fast as we can. Even if you don’t have an answer to the question right away (e.g. you need to go check the item, or take pics for the customer), respond anyway and let them know you will check on their request and get back to them as soon as possible. This let’s them know that you are working on it and that you’re not ignoring them. Honestly, this ‘no update’ update can make a huge difference. Try to respond within a few hours of receiving a question from a customer. Repeat this for every response they give you, and they will see you as attentive and caring in your dealing with them. We’ve received countless positive feedback just for our quick responses. You will too!
2. Use Friendly Language
Responding quickly is super important, but equally important is the way you communicate. The key here is to try to drive likability. Customers like a human element to their interactions with others, and this is a large part of what they hope for when they turn to marketplaces such as Poshmark, Mercari, EBay or Etsy. These marketplaces thrive from individual sellers (one woman or one man operations), and small businesses. On the surface they are not like Amazon or Shopify, which customers may believe are filled with larger businesses and scaled operations.
Poshmark is perhaps the best example of this. Buyers pay attention to the sellers on Poshmark. There is more of a connection between the two parties. Buyers will follow sellers, and I believe they are much more likely to check out other items that the seller has in her closet than a buyer on any other platform is to check out the seller’s storefront.
Building this connection with the buyer will lead to a huge reduction in negative feedback. We can do this by being as kind and friendly as possible in every dealing with the customer. Some tips to achieve this include:
- Sympathize! If the customer has a concern, apologize immediately and tell them that you understand their issue, even if you disagree.
- Address the customer by their name.
- Try to offer solutions by any means necessary. If the concern is a delayed package, let them know that you are doing your best to hunt down the package with the carrier.
- If the item wasn’t as described, offer a partial or full refund, if possible.
- Avoid challenging the customer on the things they raise.
- Include a friendly sign off, e.g. “Hope you love the item!”.
3. Package Securely
Aside from communication, there are other things within your control that will help to avoid negative feedback. Packaging is a big one.
Have you ever received an item you bought online only to realize it had been damaged en route? This is one of the biggest drivers of dissatisfaction in all of eCommerce. Avoid it!
Put as much care into shipping your packages as you can.
We care so deeply about this topic that we’ve written an entire post about it, so we won’t go into too much detail here, but click here to out more info on secure shipping.
4. Ship Promptly
We can’t control how long it takes USPS, UPS or FedEx to get our packages to the customer. But what IS in our control is the handling time. Reduce the time it takes you to get packages out the door, and you may just reduce the time the customer is waiting by a day or two. This can be the difference between frustration and acceptance, and could lead to a customer deciding not to leave that negative feedback they were considering.
Depending on how you have structured your business, it can be tricky to get things out quickly. If your inventory is stored away from your home, e.g. in a storage unit, then it may not be possible to get stuff out the same or next day. But in those cases, turn your attention to the other steps in the chain of getting orders picked and shipped. Can you improve your inventory storage solution to reduce the time it takes you to find orders? Can you buy better boxes, Polly mailers, or tape to reduce the time it takes to package them? Are there any tools that you can invest in that will speed things up?
It can also be worthwhile prioritizing order fulfillment early in your day, and arranging to get them scanned in by your carrier that afternoon. By doing this later in the day, you may add another day to the time it takes to arrive with the customer, as USPS may not move the package that day if they receive it late in the afternoon.
5. List Your Items Accurately
Inaccurate item descriptions are another huge driver of negative feedback. It can be tempting to skimp on the details while we are in a time crunch trying to list a massive pile of items. It can be tempting to take just one photo, make assumptions about the product without confirming them, and include only the bare minimum information about the item.
If you really want to reach the next level in your negative feedback reduction though, spending more time on the accuracy of your listings should be a focus point.
Start with the most important pieces of information. If you are a clothing seller, the obvious one is to not get the size wrong, or the color and material. As a book seller, you may want to be certain that you accurately mention if it is Paperback or Hardcover. Depending on what you are selling, there are crucial pieces of information that the customer needs to know. At the very least, make sure to not get those things wrong.
Beyond those crucial pieces of information, it is important to also include accurate descriptions about the condition of the item. Don’t call an item ‘Like New’ if it has some flaws, for example. Call out any problems with it, even if it may reduce the chances of a sale. A phrase we keep in mind on this is – “Always underpromise and overdeliver”. Your customers will be delighted when the item is in better condition than they expected.
This needs to be a balancing act. We don’t suggest that you need to include every single piece of information about an item. EBay is notorious for having tons of fields to fill out for an item you are listing. We don’t find it too necessary to include everything, as that will slow down your listing too much. Find a balance between what’s important to include while still keeping a fast listing workflow, and then start to figure out how you can add those pieces of information quickly without losing accuracy.
Make Negative Feedback Reduction a Focus
These five areas to focus on should help to dramatically reduce your chances of receiving negative feedback. There are other things we can do too, such as thank you notes, good looking packaging, building deeper connections with customers (e.g. through Instagram), and other topics. But the five mentioned here are some of the most important.
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Do you have any other tips for reducing negative feedback? Let us know in the comments below!
