As we all know reviews are good thing to have…..when they’re good. When you get a bad review it can definitely drown a business, unless you have a smaller ratio of negative reviews compared to positive ones.
What to do with negative reviews?
So what do you do when you get a negative review? This is a question I get asked often. When you get a negative review, people wonder….should I respond to them (and how) or should I try to delete them. The latter, of course, is not recommended. I always suggest to respond to them and then bury them.
Bury a review?
What I mean by burying a review is to flood that channel… wherever it is…Google+, Yelp, Facebook or wherever. Get more reviews! Obviously you will want to flood those channels with positive reviews, so how do you get those? You reach out to your past and current customers. They obviously were happy with your services, so ask them. Simple!
[tweet_box design=”box_07″ float=”none”]Bury negative reviews by flooding the channel with good ones! #reviews[/tweet_box]
Best practices on reviews
But the point about this was to mention the best practices with reviews. So as I stated before, a negative review can harm a small business, so you need to continuously solicit your current customers (because they are happy, right?!) so you can build up your reserve so to speak of positive reviews. Also I highly recommend responding to your reviews… good and bad. The hard part is always, HOW to respond to negative reviews. You know you have to be careful on how you respond and obviously your goal is not to belittle the customer, not to tell them they are wrong, even if the customer isn’t right and find a way to acknowledge their frustration and smooth things over.
An example – this recently happened
Something like this recently happened to a client of mine. It is a restaurant and this industry is one that is usually judged often and reviews can definitely hurt this business. A customer posted on his Facebook wall about his poor experience about this business. The client contacted me asking me what to do and whether they should comment on his post on his personal page or comment somewhere else. I suggested yes, to reply where he made the comment. He actually tagged the company, which is how she found out about the review.
The end result: the restaurant apologized for his experience, explained that this was not of their high standards and asked for another chance and offered a free meal. The customer replied positively, thanking them for acknowledging his concern, refused the free food (happy they acknowledged his concern) but would still give them another try. We all want to be heard and have someone validate our concerns which is why many go out to complain or share our experiences.
Acknowledge the situation
This just goes to show that noting that somebody is hurt or bothered by the situation that happened at your place of business and understanding that this was not the fault of the customer but that the business did something to rectify the situation is essential for the consumer.
[tweet_box design=”box_07″ float=”none”]Respond to reviews, acknowledge negative ones & attempt to resolve. #reviews[/tweet_box]
Disgruntled or customers in the wrong?
Note, if the customer is clearly disgruntled, the response to the review acts as due diligence… not just to the customer but to other potential customers. When you leave negative reviews alone, it may send the message to other customers or potential customers that you don’t care, or wouldn’t care if the same thing happens again. Should the customer clearly be in the wrong, feel free to respond in a non-accusatory way but by explaining the situation and offering contact with the customer to help solve the issue. They may never respond but you did your due diligence….. then bury those reviews!
Bottom line
Just wanted to wrap this up and keep it simple for you.
- Actively obtain reviews from current and past customers (positive)
- Bury negative reviews with more (flood the gates)
- Respond to all reviews
- Acknowledge negative reviews and try to rectify their concerns
- Shows all customers/potentials that you care about customer service
[tweet_box design=”box_07″ float=”none”]Reviews are good…unless they are bad ones, then they suck. See how to deal w/ them.[/tweet_box]
If you have any questions on how to respond to review or tips and tricks on how to bury your reviews, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help you create a plan of action with email marketing or otherwise.
~Kristen
Great advice, Kristen. A good friend of mine had this happen–a really negative review. My friend wanted to take it down, but we convinced her to leave it, and then did just as you said–flooded the page with great reviews, which were truthful and heartfelt. The response was amazing!
That’s awesome Susan and great news that it inspired others to write better ones!
Brilliant advice once again, Kristen. You are so right that people want to be heard and validated and just by acknowledging their complaint you can calm their anger. If you ignore the complaint their negative feelings may fester and they could go on to give you even more bad reviews via word of mouth. Much better to respond and then bury it.
Yes, that is exactly it Tami! Thank you!
This is such good advice, Kristen. A bad review can be very devastating and it is great to have a policy – such as the one you outline – in place before it happens.
Thank you so much Reba, that is exactly it!
Having people give negative reviews is a big part of social media. The concept of “What people think of you is none of your business,” doesn’t work when you have an internet presence. A couple years ago my granddaughter, age 16 then, found a negative review about me on Yelp. It was really difficult for me especially because my granddaughter read it. I read the review and thought back to my clients in the last couple months. There was only one client who I was no longer seeing. She had an EAP (Employee Assistance Program) so she had six sessions and didn’t have to pay anything. I remember that I diagnosed her (my job) as being alcoholic and she didn’t like it. She would show up but was not enrolled in getting better. This is the case often with those who are not ready to quit drinking. I sat with the issue of the negative review and then decided to send her a beautiful card thanking her for seeing me and asked how she was doing and offered to help her if she needed it. A week later I checked Yelp and the negative review was gone. Whew!
Wow.. that is a GREAT response Candess and a great job on your part… super idea.. because of the nature of your business, it would have been hard for you to reply to that.. so that was the perfect solution!
As always great content Kristine. I was discussing this issue with a friend who helped me reinstate my website. She had a few problems concerning negative reviews, and we had to brainstorm on what to do. I am glad that I found this and will forward it to her.
Wow.. that’s great Apolline.. and please do let me know if you both need help!
Great advice, Kristen! This is the same advice I’ve given my clients – always respond to negative reviews in a positive manner. I think that not responding is like saying you don’t care what the customer thinks. Unfortunately, a client of mine just got a one-star review from someone because they didn’t like the company’s policy (which is a standard policy for the field) so this un-warranted bad review kills her 5-star rating (like those damn B+’s killing your 4.0, never to get it back! 😉 ).
That’s exactly right and I can relate to that GPA… I have a 3.99 for my Bachelors because of ONE A-.. urgh. But she could respond that it was company policy however, if you need extra help, blah blah (depending upon the industry). So yea.. there are things they can do Mindy… but you get it
Negative reviews are a bit scary! Your advice is super smart, though. Don’t avoid them! When the negative review isn’t written as a means to be malicious and unkind, it can often be improved with acknowledgment and an apology. Responding also shows your other potential customers that you’re upstanding and a caring human, which matters to consumers these days. Burying the negative reviews with good ones is clever! It’s good to take the high road when you can. 😉
Yes Meghan… I am all about ethics and taking the high road. It’s part of life and business… our human nature, ya know!
Negative reviews don’t have as much impact on me when I see there was a response from business and they tried to work it out. Responses are a big deal and should always handle in a professional way. Great tips.
I agree Teresa because sometimes people that complain are aholes. lol
When I got my first bad book review, I was quite devastated and it was on Amazon, so it is hard to bury it no matter how many great reviews you flood the page with. They separate them. I took some advise from Gary Vaynerchuk and replied to her and said I was sorry I had disappointed her… and so on. She was very gracious, replied with a very nice comment back and that made the entire experience feel less upsetting. Great advise in this post, Kristen! The world is not skewed in one way or the other, so learning how to graciously manage bad reviews, is just part of the online world.
Yep.. can’t please everyone but best to reply appropriately.. just to acknowledge it Bev. Well done!
Awesome advice on how to deal with those reviews whether they are good OR bad 🙂 I agree with you Kristen to always respond to any kind of review so people know you understand how they feel 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
That’s exactly it Joan!
Kristen, this is great advice. Anytime a customer is gracious enough to offer feedback we need to take the time to acknowledge them. I love to hear positive feedback, but I learn more from constructive feedback. In today’s online world more and more consumers look to reviews to determine if they will do business with you (or me or anyone else). How we handle both positive and negative reviews could truly determine the fate of our business.
You are so right Christy and maybe the fact that you have 100 awesome reviews over the other lender who has none, just goes to show some insightful stuff too!
Such great advice! In the world of social media we live in a world where someone who feels they were treated unfairly, even if they weren’t, can whip out a phone in the heat of the moment and post something rude and negative. How to deal with these situations is not a matter of IF it happens but WHEN.
Oh you are so right April… WHEN!
How to handle a poor review is such a common question and I love how you address it, especially your advice to get it buried with great reviews. Personally I don’t always look at a bad review as something horrible. It can be a great opportunity to educate and even to hear some needed feedback!
Awesome, thanks Crystal! It is a great opportunity, but when businesses in certain industry need good reviews, it can turn bad for them.
Terrific advice about responding to negative reviews and honoring their experience and feelings. With so many places to rate and review companies, it’s inevitable that most of us will have at least one bad review in our lifetime. That’s a good thing because it means we are expanding and growing! I agree with you about getting floods of positive reviews to cancel out the bad one(s). Thanks so much for this.
Yea.. not totally a bad thing because you just can’t please everyone and in that same sentence, not everyone will like us and have other intentions for writing a review. You are welcome Tandy.
A bad review can be a blessing. By that I mean if someone is genuinely disappointed and takes the time to complain, apologizing and making an offer to compensate them is good business. But, don’t dismiss the complaint without checking if there is a valid reason behind it. If everyone tells us we’re great and the disappointed ones never complain, we never get the opportunity to make things better. So, as bad as a review can be, it still can be a good thing.
That’s exactly it Joyce.. don’t dismiss it, for sure!
I actually like seeing a negative review that has been responded to publicly with a positive resolution. It makes me feel like if something goes wrong, they will make the effort to make things right.
I get what you mean.. and while I don’t like negative reviews… when they are responded to.. you get the point. Thanks Jennifer
Good advice to always reply also to negative reviews, and to keep it positive and neutral.
Thanks Kata.. and with you… how could you have negative reviews.. with wine! lol