So you’ve decided to embrace online reviews. You’ve come to the same conclusion as most business owners in 2016: Love them or loath them, online reviews are the new word-of-mouth, and consumers are taking them seriously. And that’s why you are, too.
Now that you’ve done the things you need to do to get online reviews, those glowing recommendations are pouring in and business is great.
Until … you get a bad review!
First things first: Don’t panic. Negative reviews happen. You can’t make everyone happy all of the time. But that doesn’t mean you can ignore a bad review. And besides, a business with nothing but five-star reviews might seem suspect to the average consumer, so a not-so-good review mixed in with several good reviews isn’t all that bad and can, in fact, lend more credibility to the review process.
In our final installment, we’ll look at local customer of the OmahaReviewed.com platform that has had great success nipping negative reviews when they first appear, before they go to third party review sites, and also driving a huge increase in positive reviews.
But again, bad reviews shouldn’t be ignored. Below are five ways to deal with a bad review:
- Take the conversation offline: Respond quickly to negative reviews, but NEVER ARGUE THE MERITS OF THEIR CLAIM IN PUBLIC. It is always a losing battle and all prospective customers will see is you arguing, whether you’re right or not. Move the conversation offline and off the review sites as quickly as possible, by apologizing for their experience and offering to make it right.
- Respond publicly to show you care: Don’t ignore those who post an unflattering review of your business. When you respond right away, you send a message that you care about customer satisfaction and want to “make it right.” When potential customers see that you have offered to resolve the issue in a public forum by personally and privately addressing the reviewer’s concerns, they will see that you really care about your customers.
- Keep your cool – In your response, hold your temper and keep it civil. Stay positive instead of poking back at a juvenile or inappropriate review. Talking with the customer directly and offline from the review site itself, try to find a way to change the customer’s perception. Offer a refund, or a discount on future services. This can go a long way with changing someone’s mind. And it can change that bad review into a good review, since the person who posted a negative review can go back and change their review to a more positive one.
- Learn from them – When you receive a bad review, try to learn something from the feedback. Is the reviewer making valid points? If you can learn how to improve your business and make the customer experience even better, then a not-so-good review can actually help your business.
- Remove them (if you can) – That being said, some negative reviews can be removed from their respective sites. There are processes that you can follow on review websites like Yelp and Google. We’ve had some good experiences having Yelp reviews removed or moved to not recommended based on no proof of service or circumstantial evidence. If the bad review is malicious or factually incorrect, contact the review site and make your case.
- Keep the good reviews coming – Load up on more good reviews. Sometimes the best way to combat a bad review is to do everything you can to spur even more positive reviews about your business. Offset that one bad review with several good ones and a potential customer will see that, and realize that one dissatisfied customer does not represent your mostly satisfied customer base.
The bottom line to bad online reviews is that you shouldn’t loose too much sleep over them. No need to freak out. There are ways to deal with them, whether it’s appealing to have them removed from a specific review website, or by changing a disgruntled customer’s mind with a refund or discount.
And again, the more positive reviews your business has, the better. One bad review won’t offset all of your good reviews, and overall your business should have a positive reputation.
