In the age of social media, reputation is everything. Especially when it comes to owning and running a small business. With sites like Google and Yelp, the difference between a 3 and 5 star rating could mean a lot more to consumers than you might think. In fact 93% of consumers use local reviews before making purchasing decisions. While some potential customers may understand that reviews are highly subjective, it only takes one bad review to scare off more hesitant consumers.
So with that in mind, what are you supposed to do when a negative review comes across your screen?
Read reviews completely
While it may be hard to read a bad review, it can be helpful to remember this person took the time out of their day to leave feedback. Return the favor and completely read about their experience with your business. This is not easy to do, but it will help you craft a better, more thoughtful response. Try to put yourself in their shoes and don’t be dismissive. If specific information is given about the time or date, see if you can pinpoint why the situation happened. For example, did the customer come during a shift where you had half your team call out sick?
Respond thoughtfully
When you see a negative review for your business, you may feel both angry and upset. Your instinct may be to either get defensive or to ignore the situation completely. Neither of these are good approaches to take when you’ve received a negative review. Most customers prefer that companies address their concerns, and seek to correct them if possible. Even if you can’t make it right, you can apologize and show everyone that sees the review that you take their concerns seriously. Never get defensive or argue, it will not work and will scare off anyone that sees the exchange.
Validate the customers experience
When responding to a poor review it’s best to remain objective and professional. Placing blame on the customer won’t solve the problem and will not win you any fans. Remember this is a chance to repair your business’s reputation. Recognize their feelings, apologize and move on. And remember, you won’t be able to win over every customer. Even if they are being unreasonable, say something general but validating such as “I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy your experience.”
Use it as a chance to improve
Even a negative review can have a positive impact on your business if you use it as a chance to improve. Read the review and see if it points to process or training problems that you can address. Maybe it highlights an issue you never thought of, and could improve the experience for future customers. Even if the compliant unreasonable, you can use it as a training tool on how to respond to difficult customers.
With the availability of online review platforms, getting a negative review is just about unavoidable. Especially because people are more inclined to take the time and write a review if they are upset about something. Just remember, there is no shame in a bad review. Everyone makes mistakes so don’t focus on the negative, what really matters is how you respond.