I can’t believe you banned me!!!
It’s the thing every Community Manager dreads. You pick up the phone and on the other end is a very upset caller. Usually they’ve been banned (and rightly so). Or perhaps they are angry because content they’ve posted has been hidden or edited.
So how do you handle the call?
Let them vent.
The most important thing is to be open to listening to the caller’s point of view. It sounds simple, but it’s probably the most challenging part of the situation. I usually do my best to say as little as possible in the beginning. Let them talk until there is a natural end to what they are saying. Try very hard not to interrupt or finish the conversation for them.
Deescalate don’t escalate.
Remember you are dealing with a very agitated person. Wait a few seconds before you respond to what you’ve just heard. Then let them know you understood them by rephrasing what they’ve told you. Ex: “So…it sounds like you’ve been banned from the topics board, and you feel that this ban is unfair.” Another thing you can try is to continue to ask questions of the caller that require more than a “yes” or “no” answer. The longer the person speaks the harder it will be for him or her to sustain their anger.
Review the guidelines.
It’s quite possible the person you’re dealing with really didn’t understand that their behavior was against the Community Guidelines. Be willing to explain your guidelines to the person in a way that they can understand. From experience I can tell you this requires a great deal of patience. Some folks simply want to try to find ways around the rules and you certainly don’t want to encourage that. Be kind, patient but firm. (If you don’t have clear and easy to read guidelines posted this will be very hard to do.)
Be open to a path of appeal.
It may be a good idea to have an internal appeal process already in place. This process doesn’t necessarily have to be available to the public. However, it can serve as an internal guide for negotiating with angry community members. While we currently have a public “zero tolerance” policy for abuse in the community I manage, internally there is some room for leniency. For example, I’ve shortened the length of bans and in some cases lifted bans altogether. If you do lift a ban remember to follow up with an email to the caller, thanking them for calling, briefly re-stating what was discussed and pointing them to your Community Guidelines.
Sometimes the answer is no.
Unfortunately, there will be times when you won’t be able to accommodate an angry community member. This is usually because what is being asked for is unreasonable or in violation of your posted TOS. However it is possible to say no in way that expresses respect and courtesy. If you’re really good you can say “no” without ever actually using the word. Ex: Unfortunately, posts of this nature are a serious violation of our TOS. This means I can’t lift the ban that was placed.
I’ve tried everything and this person is still angry.
There will be times when you just can’t deescalate an angry person. It might be good to have an escalation path for these situations planned out ahead of time. If there isn’t another person you can escalate callers to, have an email address created for this purpose. Ex: “Feedback@, Resolutions@, or Corporate@, etc..". Sure the person who answers it might be you or one of your staff, but the caller does not have to know that.
