Andy Sernovitz's Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That!

How to turn a bad review into a better review

May 21, 2012

We all get bad reviews. No matter how hard you try, you’re going to screw up a job every so often.

So what do you do?

Respond to the review. Don’t just let the bad review sit there. Most review sites now let you comment on the review.
Stay cool. Just explain what happened and tell your story.
Apologize. Even if you’re not wrong. Take the high road and say you’re sorry.
Don’t fight. Do not attack the customer, blame them, or get into a he-said, she-said. You will look like an asshole.
Write for the future, not the reviewer. It’s not important that you convince the bad reviewer to change their mind. That would be nice, but it’s not the point — especially if you have an unreasonable, angry, or crazy reviewer. Your goal is to write for every future reader of the post. You want them to understand that you tried, you’re sorry, and you’re a reasonable company that means well.

Here’s a great example of how to do it just right:

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Are you missing your easiest advertising opportunity?

May 20, 2012

Your email signature is an incredible way to tell people about what you’re promoting — without being too promotional. It’s an unobtrusive way to feature a message that is specifically targeted at people that you’re already communicating with.

Add up how many emails you send each day. Think about how many emails your entire team sends. And then realize that those emails are all going to active, interested readers who already have a relationship with you.

Every time we do a conference, everyone in the company puts an event promo in their emails. We hit almost 1,000 people every day this way.

My current signature is too long, but I wanted to let everyone know about the new book. I was also frustrated with the number of people who don’t know what I do for a living, so I explained it:

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The 3 kinds of negative comments and reviews

May 18, 2012

When someone writes a bad review about you, they have very different motivations.

1. Malicious people. These are people who are out to get you. They want to pick a fight to promote themselves. They have a political agenda. They work for a competitor. They’re just nasty, mean, and like to fight. They may have a personal/emotional issue unrelated to you or your business. Also known as trolls.

Action: Don’t feed the trolls. Don’t respond. If you encourage them, they’ll escalate it. Don’t give them a voice or a platform. I advocate quietly moderating/deleting these comments, but many don’t agree with that position.

2. Angry customers. These are real customer who feel they have a legitimate complaint.

Action: Make them happy. Listen to them. Apologize. Resolve the problem. Ignore this kind of feedback and you’re screwed.

3. Off-target customers. Example: the college kid who complains that the $30/entree restaurant is overpriced or the advanced student who signs up for an entry level class and complains that it’s entry level.

Action: These are tough. Their complaints are caused by the fact that your product isn’t right for them. They may have made a bad choice, and they want to blame you. Their opinion isn’t necessarily relevant to your target customer. Suggestion: Gently comment in a way that explains who is right for the product.

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Newsletter #885: The “Do Something Different” Issue

May 17, 2012

[Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]

When you make something funky, goofy, smelly, odd, or unexpected, you can create something worth talking about. Here are a few ways smart marketers are doing it:

1. With their gift cards
2. With their staff
3. With their spokespeople
4. Check it out: Websites Like

1. With their gift cards

Why do all gift cards look same? At Austin’s STAG clothing retailer, theirs are wooden coins with their value stamped on them, wrapped in a pouch, and presented in a wooden box. They’re so cool, you almost don’t want to spend them. By making them so remarkable, STAG has turned the lazy gift card into a truly special present to give a friend.

The lesson: When was the last time you told someone about a gift card? How can you make yours worth sharing?

2. With their staff

More than anything you do, the people you hire are your biggest opportunity to do remarkable things and be unique. At Nashville’s The Cookery, owner Brett Swayn is taking full advantage of this by hiring the homeless. Through his nonprofit restaurant, he’s hiring and training them in culinary skills — skills they can use to go on to get other jobs in the industry. And in doing so, he’s also creating a one-of-a-kind restaurant experience that lots of people are talking about.

The lesson: What’s unique about your culture and the people you hire? How can you help them get customers talking about you?

Learn more: WSMV.com

3. With their spokespeople

A lot of brands drop heaps of money on big-name spokespeople, but few are as memorable as the trees German nonprofit Oro Verde used. That’s right, trees (which turned out to the perfect spokespeople for their rainforest-saving project) were given signs that said things like, “Need money for my family in the rainforest.” The super-simple program gave the 10-employee Oro Verde an instant army of volunteers collecting donations around Germany — and doing it around the clock.

The lesson: Instead of telling the story for your fans, customers, or people in need, what could you do differently to help them say it themselves?

Learn more: CreativeCriminals.com

4. Check it out: Websites Like

Want to find more sites like the sites you like? Use this simple search engine to quickly discover new places on the web like the ones you already
love so much.

Check it out: Websites Like

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You put the Word of Mouth Marketing book on the bestseller list

May 16, 2012

My book, Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, had a big week last week: #6 New York Times Bestseller #1 Amazon Business Bestseller #1 USA TODAY Money Bestseller #1 B&N.com Bestseller Thank you, thank you, thank you. It’s a nice compliment for the book, but it says something bigger about the [...]

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A name with a bug, part 2

May 16, 2012

Last week we had an amazing conference called the Word of Mouth Crash Course. It was a fantastic day, the third in a series. But it wasn’t as big as we expected, and we discovered a critical reason why: We changed the name of the event — it used to be called Word of Mouth Supergenius [...]

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A name with a bug, part 1

May 15, 2012

We were going to launch a site called WordofMouthMarketing.org. During the few months we were planning it, everyone kept saying WordofMouth.org — they kept dropping the word marketing. Even employees and contractors who were working on the project. That was a problem. If our own team couldn’t get the name right, how would our customers [...]

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Give them an experience they’ll never stop talking about — and a reminder to re-start the talk

May 14, 2012

The Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, TX invites school and scout groups to spend the night camping in the zoo. It’s an amazing behind-the-scenes experience. More that just the camping, which is remarkable, you also get to feed a giraffe, pet a rhino, and hold a giant cockroach. Just as important: Every kid gets a [...]

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