How to Respond to Negative Reviews
There are so many places your business can be reviewed online — Google, Yahoo, Yelp, TripAdvisor, LinkedIn — the list is long and always evolving.
If you’re doing something right (or seriously wrong), you’re sure to have at least a few reviews out there.
People are more likely to post online reviews in extreme cases — either they’ve had a really great experience, or something went horribly wrong.
A waitress was having a bad day; a hotel room smelled like smoke; a project didn’t flow the way it should have. Whatever the reason, now you’ve got a negative review out there and you can’t do anything about it.
8 Tips for Responding to Negative Reviews
Don’t stress too much about bad reviews. Bad reviews may actually increase conversion rates. They definitely won’t destroy your business.
But here are some tips for handling negative reviews so that you can turn them into positive feedback in the future.
1. Sign up for Google alerts
Get alerts for your company name, your name, and if you’re brave or interested, your competitors. Start watching what’s published out there about you and your industry. You can’t address issues if you don’t know they’re happening. If you’re a HubSpot customer, you can use your Social Inbox to keep track of what’s being said about you on Twitter — and what people are saying about your competitors as well.
2. Don’t respond in knee-jerk mode
If you happen upon a negative review, don’t respond immediately with snappy retorts. Let it settle in and find a good approach. Whatever you do, don’t tell future customers about your negative reviews and complain about their inaccuracy. Especially when you haven’t fixed the problem.
3. Look at each review as a chance to get it right
Reviews are invaluable feedback that you would never get by simply asking. Use that information to fix what’s wrong. Then, respond to negative reviews (some sites let you respond as the business owner directly to the reviews) with a detailed list of how you addressed the issue.
4. Ask for another chance
If you can identify the customer, see if he or she will give you the opportunity to resolve the issue offline, then ask them to update their review. You’ll find when you satisfy a previously unhappy customer you’ll be creating one of your strongest advocates.
5. Do nothing
We can’t always be perfect — and that’s ok. Sometimes attempts to fight back simply fuel the fire and can turn a small blip into a big problem. Just let it go — but be sure to get as many good reviews as possible to balance the opinions.
6. Get more good reviews
Encourage your customers to post reviews on the above-mentioned sites. I’ve seen tour groups give out a card at the end of the tour asking for TripAdvisor reviews; restaurants who ask for Yelp, Google or Zomato reviews after a customer finishes dining. Don’t be afraid to ask — many satisfied customers are happy to share their experience online.
7. Don’t sweat it!
If the reviews are piling up, you have some work to do. Take them seriously. But if you’re finding one or two among a pile of happiness, then let it roll off your shoulders. Consider an appropriate response but don’t stew over it. Move forward and do the best you can to remedy the problems and get more good reviews.
8. Most importantly, PAY ATTENTION
Regularly check out your listings on the sites mentioned in this post and make sure you know what’s going on with your brand image; how people feel about you. As a small businesses owner, it’s your responsibility to use these bits of public information to build relationships, improve customer service and enhance your products.
Just how significant are bad reviews for the future of our businesses? They’re significant, but not for the reasons we immediately think.
Negative reviews make us aware of and provide us with an opportunity to fix genuine problems and turn opponents into staunch allies.
Unjustly negative reviews are often exposed as petty and have little sway with intelligent consumers, and in the case of outright illegal reviews you generally have a remedial process to get them removed.
The number one rule when responding to all criticism, even the negative type, is to stay positive. Adding more negativity to the conversation by letting yourself be drawn into a fight with a customer or user will only reflect poorly on your business. If you know you’re doing the right thing and doing it the best way you’re able, integrity always comes out on top.
Managing your social presence is a key part of inbound marketing. Add it to your to-do list. You do have a to-do list, right? If not, download 10 Digital Marketing Tasks You Can’t Afford to Skip. It’s free!
