Customers rely on online reviews to aid in making purchasing decisions now more than ever. 90% of customers consult online reviews before buying, and 75% say they trust reviews as much as personal recommendations. If you’re sitting pretty at 5 stars, this is a huge boon to your business. Every review feels like a victory. But when negative reviews come in, it’s easy to wonder: Will this cost me business?
A one- or two-star review from a dissatisfied customer often comes with a scathing story attached. The details are sure to denigrate your product, service, staff, cleanliness, reliability, or other aspects of your organization that are important to future customers who might read them. It casts doubt on your ability to deliver, and enough doubt can send a buyer to one of your competitors.
What’s worse than a one-star review, then? A one-star review that you haven’t responded to.
The response is your opportunity to remove the venom from the review. Due to the way reviews are displayed online, the response is publicly visible in the same place as the toxic review, so future buyers reading can make up their own minds about who is in the right. Without the response, the only voice they’ll hear is one that’s saying you’re terrible.
A bad response, or just one that lacks tact, fails to accomplish that, and may actually cause readers to side with the reviewer. Let’s avoid lending the angry customer more credibility, starting with these six tips that will help you write great responses to negative reviews.
1 Don’t get defensive
This is maybe the most important thing to remember. It’s probably fair to say that a lot of your identity is tied up in your business. You’re proud of what you do and why you do it, and someone talking bad about you online can be upsetting — especially if they’ve made a bunch of accusations that you know just aren’t true. Don’t take it personally. Take a step back and remain professional and polite while you write. Re-read the response before posting and look out for any jabs you might have taken at them, consciously or unconsciously.
Do this no matter how ridiculous the review is or how off their rocker they sound. Who has more credibility: The one ranting in all caps about how horrible an otherwise-well-reviewed business is, or the one presenting a measured response?
I think this is one of the most compelling reasons to hire a review management professional to handle your responses. It’s hard for you not to take things personally, but someone from the outside who isn’t as invested will have no issue.
2 Share your side of the story
They’ve said their piece, but it’s likely they’ve got some things wrong. They might be missing information, or might have misinterpreted something that an employee told them. In some cases, they might even be delusional and totally misunderstand everything about the situation.
Start by doing an investigation. Talk to any of your employees who interacted with the customer and see what really happened. Then, share your findings in the response, letting the reviewer know that you took the time to look into the issues and you’re here to clear up some misconceptions.
3 Apologize if necessary
Sometimes it’s just your screw-up and you have to own it. There’s no prize for being right all the time. Say you’re sorry, and you might win back a customer. At the very least, you’ll seem like the bigger person.
This is especially true for reviews that are negative, but not hostile. If someone is upset about something that’s an easy fix, try to find their contact info and reach out before you write a response, by phone, if possible. Offer to correct the mistake. If you do it within a few hours, they’re likely to change the review and buy again.
If you can’t find their info, provide a direct way for them to contact the business and encourage them to reach out for a fix (usually something like a phone number or info@ email address will work without giving away any information you might not want to publicly advertise).
If you want to avoid a direct apology due to liability, there are plenty of ways. Say that you’re sorry their experience was bad, or that you’re sorry it didn’t meet their expectations. Just empathize with the customer: Let them know that you’re listening and willing to acknowledge their pain.
4 Thank them for helping you improve
There may be useful feedback in a negative review that lets you know that something in your business has gone wrong and needs to be fixed. If there is, mention it specifically, and thank the reviewer for telling you:
“Thank you for bringing the issues with the wifi connection to our attention. We weren’t aware that there was a deadzone in that corner of the building.”
It’s unlikely that your business is perfect. If there are any cracks, someone who had a bad experience buying from you will be all too happy to point them out. Let them know that you’re using them as a resource and you’ll gain a reputation as a company that listens to their customers.
5 Promise action
This one goes hand-in-hand with the last tip. If they’ve pointed out a flaw in your product or processes that you can fix, publicly commit to fixing it:
“We weren’t aware that there was a wifi deadzone in that corner of the building. We’ll reach out to our IT team today and ask them to find a solution.”
Be the kind of business who is always trying to improve. Show that you’re committed to minimizing negative customer experiences by learning from your mistakes.
6 Move quickly
More than half of customers expect businesses to respond to their negative reviews within a week, but I think you can do better than that. I usually recommend that action be taken on negative reviews within 24 hours, compared to 72 hours for positive reviews.
Act before the negative experience becomes cemented in the reviewer’s mind as your actual quality of service, and act before the review is read on its own by too many potential customers.
Move as quickly as possible. I’ve helped one of my clients, a trampoline park, catch customers and fix their issues face-to-face before they even left the building, just by keeping a careful eye on Google notifications when they popped up on my phone. You’d better believe that those one-stars were changed to five!
Remember that answering reviews is a marketing opportunity. It’s a chance to show, publicly, who you are as a brand. By treating negative reviews with respect & professionalism and reacting to them with urgency, you can neutralize the venom, make the most of a bad situation, and keep your reputation as a good buy intact.
Make sure that you read Part 1 of this series, where I lay the groundwork for strong review responses: 12 Tips for Stronger Responses to Online Reviews
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Acknowledgements for this one go to my source for the review statistics throughout: 10 ONLINE REVIEW STATISTICS YOU NEED TO KNOW IN 2021
