5 Tips to Handle Negative Reviews About Your Business
It’s no secret that online reviews are a big part of building trust with potential customers. Google has even said that interacting and responding to reviews can help improve your
business visibility. While it is easy to respond to the positive reviews, many tend to shy away from the negative ones. Ignoring your negative reviews can make it seem like you don’t care about customer concerns, so we want to share our top 5 tips for how to handle those nasty reviews, and even turn them into an opportunity for your business to shine!
1. Act Fast, but Thoughtfully
If someone leaves a negative review, they are often doing so after something went wrong. Monitor your reviews closely, and respond to the negative ones as reasonably fast as you can. This will minimize the time in which the customer has to wait for a response (and they are already unhappy). Your response should be thoughtful, taking into consideration the issue, how it happened, and how you can use this opportunity to connect and sympathize with their concerns.
2. Don’t Take it Personally
Your business is your livelihood, and it’s easy to get upset about a negative review, especially if it is nasty or rude. It’s important to keep cool and composed, this shows professionalism and tells other customers that you take your business seriously. Respond in a way that addresses the problem, but is not defensive. This approach will let other consumers know that your business can handle issues in a responsible way.
3. Take Accountability
Although sometimes negative reviews can be unreasonable, it is important to try to take accountability if any mistakes were made. This not only validates the person who wrote the negative review, but shows your business is in the habit of learning from mistakes and values customer opinion. Taking accountability is a great first step to remedying the situation. If you were to tell the customer that their claim had no basis, it would only frustrate them more and may cause further repercussions to your business.
4. Make Amends
The ideal ending of a bad review is to make amends with the customer. Sometimes there is no way to do this, but a lot of the time a gesture of goodwill is all it takes to smooth over the interaction. Offer your customer a service or coupon, a small personalized gift from your company, etc. This may turn a sour customer into a lifetime supporter.
5. Turn it Into an Opportunity!
When people are doing research on companies, they surely pay attention to your good reviews, but they pay even more attention to the bad ones. This means that a negative review is an opportunity for you to show customers your ability to solve problems and provide excellent customer service. A negative review, if handled correctly, could turn into a testimony of how your business values every customer and strives for satisfaction with each interaction. So when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!
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