10 Tips to Deal With Negative Reviews
Table of contents:
- Online Reviews Matter
- How to Deal With Negative Reviews
- Don’t Tremble Bad Reviews
Online Reviews Matter
Reviews are critical to a brand’s success in today’s online world. A positive review or customer interaction can increase your brand’s visibility on the web and directly impact your organic search ranking, driving more potential customers to your site. That is especially true for local businesses that rely on local SEO.
Reviews also influence buyers’ purchase decisions and impact tangible business outcomes, such as whether customers choose to patronize or not patronize certain outfits. By responding to praise and criticism, companies will be able to improve their customer experience and better serve their customers’ needs.
Your responsibility as a business is to respond in the most professional way possible. No matter how poor the review, negative feedback shows your customers that you value their opinion.
Thus, use these ten tips below for handling negative reviews that will help you maintain your business’s reputation.
How to Deal With Negative Reviews
1. Respond Promptly
As a business owner, you have to stay on top. You were running your day-to-day operations, servicing clients, and supervising and motivating your employees for a significant portion of your day. But responding to negative reviews posted online is something you shouldn’t be putting off.
Some people use reviews to get back at you or your company when they are angry about something. They expect a response from you and don’t intend to resolve their problem. They may leave negative reviews on your page, even if the experience was only a few hours or days ago. Responding quickly can help lessen the damage done by these negative posts.
2. Realize a Complaint
Feedback from customer reviews should always be appreciated, significantly when negative. As a brand striving to be better, you need to understand what your customers are experiencing, whether the experience is smooth or not. Responding promptly to their feedback and thanking them for taking their time will benefit both parties.
It is essential to keep a hold of your emotions to objectively respond to negative feedback on your business and show your customers the level of customer service they are paying for. It is equally important to acknowledge their bad experience and display business ethics. By expressing empathy towards them, you can neutralize their anger and make them feel heard. Once you have done that, you can promise them better quality service in the future.
3. Be Kind and Apologize
Negative reviews can be hurtful, but businesses must set a professional tone by responding to customer satisfaction issues. Companies should remember that much more is at stake in not responding appropriately, such as losing business and damaging reputations.
It is an example of your customer service. To apologize to a customer, you first need to address their problem. Always take a moment before stressing your message to express yourself calmly and firmly.
4. Grab Responsibility
Customers want to feel heard and know they have an impact on the business. Reviews show you how customers see you. Obtain data from negative thoughts to improve your business. Use the information you glean from the reviews to improve how your employees interact with customers. Analyze the feedback you’ve received and explain how it has affected your business practices so that other entrepreneurs can learn from your mistakes. Focus on the positive aspects of each review.
Although the poor experience was not your fault, you should take responsibility by taking the moral high ground and making amends. When responding to a review, you should communicate your business’s quality standards to the customer while accepting responsibility for their dissatisfaction. If you are willing to hear what they have to say, we can work out a strategy to prevent it from happening again.
5. Give Custom Responses and Explanations
Depending on a customer’s experience, they may deserve an explanation. If a customer complains about poor-quality materials, delivery delays, miscommunication, or another technical issue, explaining will show the client your human side.
Customers want to be listened to. They want to impact the people operating the business being reviewed and the future of that business so that others do not experience the same problems as they have. A company can demonstrate its concern for customers by responding to show empathy and compassion while avoiding inappropriate contact or communication.
6. Get It Offline
The standard best practice for handling negative reviews is to take the communication offline as soon as possible. To provide an apology and satisfactory resolution to a dissatisfied customer, you should ensure that the customer can quickly request such an apology and a good solution.
Businesses must respond to customer reviews posted online. However, you should ask customers who’ve had a negative experience to contact you by email or phone to resolve the problem. You show your commitment to good service by resolving your customers’ concerns.
7. Make an Extra Step in Service
Ensuring the customer has a pleasant experience as a business owner is crucial. If there is a problem with the service or product, correct it. Offer compensation if warranted and determine what led to the negative review. Acknowledge mistakes and be willing to learn from them. Offer other customers an explanation of how you will fix the situation, so this does not happen again.
Even if you don’t need to go above and beyond, it will always help. It could vary depending on the issue, how significant an impact it had on the reviewer, and whether or not you’ve done an excellent job of fixing it. In some instances, simple apologies are not enough, and in some other cases, giving credit to someone else is not appropriate.
To make amends with a negative reviewer, offer a sincere apology and do what you can to make things right. Offering a gift card or flowers isn’t always enough, but it can create the opening for additional communication that could win over your disgruntled reviewer.
To improve the customer experience, get creative and think about what would matter to you as a customer. A simple gesture such as creating a custom video or image can build customer loyalty, strengthen your brand and positively impact many other people for years to come.
8. Stay in Touch With Critical Reviewers
Always follow up with dissatisfied customers and see if they are satisfied after their problem has been addressed. If the reviewer is satisfied with your response, ask them to remove the negative review. Although this approach may not always work, it is worth a try.
When negative reviewers slam the door on your business, invite them back. When they return and post a positive review, welcome them with open arms. It can help repair your relationship with them and establish confidence in your ability to deliver an experience worth raving about.
9. Know How Reviews Sites Work
Reviews and rating sites provide an insight into the experiences that customers have had with your brand. Business stakeholders need to understand how reviews work to make informed decisions regarding their reputation online.
Sometimes reviews are authentic and representative of a customer’s experience with your brand, but not always. Occasionally, someone who never even patronized your business writes an unfavorable review. Platforms have rules that reviewers must follow. The review may be removed when someone reports a review against such regulations.
Reviews sites will also help you create your own strategy for getting more online reviews and shine like a star!
10. Track your online reputation
Monitoring your business routinely ensures that you are always ready for opportunities. You can apply the previously mentioned guidelines for handling reviews and ensure your business is set for success online and beyond.
Online reviews influence how potential customers perceive your company. A company’s reputation is shaped by what it says about its products and services and customer opinions posted on review websites. Participating in online reviews and responding appropriately can improve your brand image and increase revenues.
Don’t Tremble Bad Reviews
Understand that they’re not all bad, and they can help your business. It’s all about understanding best practices for responding to bad reviews and collecting more good ones (because we know most of them will be good). ReadSomeReviews can help you manage and get the most out of your customers’ feedback.