A single negative review of your business can feel frustrating and overwhelming. You’re worried what everyone else will think. How you respond to negative online reviews can make an incredible difference in how they impact you both online and in your local business. Having a few best practices for responding to reviews can minimize the impact.
First, realize online reviews are a critical component of building your brand. Consumers trust reviews from their peers. In some cases, customers may even pay more for services from a company with a better reputation. That’s especially true for service companies whose customers are within a community. You need good reviews.
Negative reviews don’t kill businesses, but the way you respond to them, could. Used properly, they can actually help build a positive reputation for your business. It’s all about how you handle them. Effective management and response strategies can turn negative feedback into opportunities for growth and customer loyalty. Consider these best practices for responding to reviews to get the type of outcome you need.
Here’s a simple example. A small family restaurant received a negative review over a waitress’s service and the food. The owner responds with criticism of the family that let their children throw food on the floor and were loud. That’s going to show other patrons the business isn’t family friendly. Instead, if the owner responded with recognition of the rough day and asked for the upset customer to contact them, no harm would be done to the location’s reputation.
How can you apply this to your own small business?
Understanding the Landscape of Online Reviews
Consumers use reviews to make decisions. For example, if you are an attorney, the services you offer are likely similar to those of your competitors. The only differentiating factor for some clients, then, is how you treat them and the results you obtain for them. This makes it critical to both have reviews and to have good reviews.
Common platforms for reviews range based on the industry. Explore all types of platforms where customers can leave reviews. Some of the most important to focus on include:
- Yelp
Consider statistics on the importance of online reviews for consumers from Moz:
- 96% of people read reviews.
- 79% report Google as their priority in seeking reviews (with Facebook and Yelp behind, respectively).
- 53% say that reviews are somewhat important to them when determining whether they can trust a business, and 33% say they are the most important factor.
- 36% of consumers use star ratings when deciding between local businesses.
- 51% report that 4 stars is the lowest they’ll consider when choosing a company.
The Psychology Behind Negative Reviews
Before you fret over negative reviews, understand them. Why do customers leave negative reviews?
- They want the business to apologize.
- They want other consumers to know what to expect.
- The experience left them emotionally impacted.
- They want someone to care about what happened to them.
- They want you to fix it.
Look for common themes in negative feedback. If you notice that the same employee is receiving the same comments, that’s something to look into right away. Alternatively, if you see that customers continuously complain about one product, it may be time to make a switch to something else. Common themes in negative reviews are opportunities for you to make changes that could influence customer success in the future. You shouldn’t change everything just because of one review, but when you see common themes, that’s an area to consider as you perfect your business.
Don’t overlook the emotional impact on business owners. You’ve worked hard for your business. This review means you failed or disappointed someone. It’s likely you’re angry, frustrated, and overwhelmed. Because of the emotional impact, take a step back. Don’t respond right away, and certainly don’t respond in anger. That may seem easier to say than to do, but there are a few strategies to help you overcome negative reviews more meaningfully.
Strategies for Managing Negative Reviews
Good reviews are fantastic, but negative reviews are opportunities. The key is to know how to deal with them meaningfully and effectively. These strategies can help you manage negative reviews about your small business.
Acknowledgment and Empathy
After you’ve had some time to get your thoughts together, it’s time to get to work building a bridge with your customer. Validate your customer’s feelings. A statement such as, “I understand how this can be very frustrating.” Show empathy for what they are experiencing in a heartfelt manner. “At ABC Company, we strive to provide our customers with excellent service. I certainly do not want you to feel like we didn’t provide you with great service.”
Addressing Specific Concerns
In some situations, you may be able to offer your customer a solution right away. Most of the time, you’ll want to ask your customer to take the conversation offline. Here is an example. “I am not sure what happened in your situation, but we are always available to provide customer service when you call (NUMBER). I would like to learn more about what happened and how to make this right for you.”
Provide your customer with a way to get help. You’re putting the ball back in their court, and if they need additional help, you tell them where to get it. Keep this empathetic, though. Don’t say, “If you have a problem, call us.” Remember that it is not just this customer that is reading the review.
Keeping It Professional
It’s easy to get overwhelmed when responding to a negative review. That’s especially likely when the client isn’t being honest or fully transparent in their statement. It’s not your job to call them out, though. Instead, you want to avoid any type of defensive or confrontational language.
Do not say, “This isn’t true.” “You’re not telling the full story.” “I was there, and you were rude to my employee.”
None of these statements will accomplish anything. They will be considered unprofessional by anyone else reading the review. They are not going to save that customer either.
Instead, create a more positive tone, even in criticism. You may say, for example, “I have never heard of my employee acting in that manner, and it is certainly not what we expect. I would like to learn more about what you experienced.”
Turning Negative Feedback Into Positive Outcomes
A negative review is only a bad thing if you don’t use it to better your company. First, remember that the way you respond to this negative review tells other customers what type of business you operate. No one expects perfection from a small business, but the response you offer could influence them to work with you or not.
Learn from the criticism. There’s often something valuable within even less-than-accurate negative reviews that could help you make better decisions about your business. Use this feedback to identify trends and areas for improvement. It’s not ideal to use it to punish employees (your reputation as an employer matters to customers, too). However, it is a way to teach your employees and create better future opportunities.
Encouraging Positive Reviews
That one negative review may be a thorn in your side—it certainly is frustrating. However, there are many times when your customers who receive great service don’t come online to vouch for it. Most often, people like to bring the negative to light, but positive reviews are harder to obtain randomly. There are several ways you can encourage positive reviews.
Ask your loyal customers to leave you a review. Specifically, ask. They expect it. Just tell them where to go to leave it. The best customers are sure to do this.
Create a review-friendly environment. Make sure you’re using tools to encourage customers to leave reviews. For example, you can send customers a follow-up email after their service appointment to leave a review, or you can do this through text messages, too.
If you know a customer was very happy with their service or received an outstanding outcome, contact that customer. Ask them about their experience. Then, send them a link to your review sites (Google, Facebook, and Yelp) to leave a review. Encouraging positive reviews like this in a hands-on manner helps you push those negative reviews out of sight.
Building a Strong Reputation Over Time
It’s always important to work towards building a positive reputation for your business. There are many ways to do this:
- Provide consistent service.
- Ensure positive customer interaction on the spot of service.
- Build relationships with customers by getting to know them, their family, and their needs. These customers are less likely to leave a negative review.
- When you have negative feedback in person, take care of it then. Reach out to that customer before they post a negative review. Be sure you value customer service as a component of your business.
- Be open and transparent about your reviews and their importance. Communicate with your customers and employees about them. Talk to your employees about the steps they can take to create positive experiences for customers.
Being a customer-first business could lead to more positive reviews. It always leads to a better reputation, and over time, that can help you grow your business.
Use the Right Tools to Support Negative Review Best Practices
Effectively managing negative reviews is a must for all types of small businesses, and it doesn’t have to take away from your day-to-day tasks. View those negative feedback moments for what they are – an opportunity for you to find a way to improve. Investing the time into exploring why those reviews occurred can help you build better relationships, a better reputation, and more effective customer service.
To achieve this, local service businesses need to put in place a proactive review management strategy. We can help you with that process.
Handling negative reviews is never a fun experience. It can feel overwhelming to manage criticism and maintain your business’s credibility. But you don’t have to go at it alone—Surefire Local is here to support you every step of the way.
With the Surefire Local platform, you can efficiently manage online feedback and turn criticism into an opportunity for growth. Here’s how we can help:
- Centralized Management: Our platform allows you to see all your pending reviews requiring a response and manage them across various platforms in one easy-to-navigate timeline feed. This way, you’ll never miss a chance to engage with your customers.
- AI-Powered Responses: No need to stress about what to say! With SurefireAI, you can select from a range of recommended responses tailored to fit your needs. Choose the one you like best and post it directly.
- Boost Positive Feedback: One of the best ways to counteract the impact of a negative review is to gather more positive ones. Use our platform to send review requests to your happy customers, increasing your overall rating and reputation.
If you’re ready to learn more, attend a Surefire Local demo. Find out how we can help you.