Picture this, you’ve just made it into the office. You routinely make your morning cup of joe and log onto your computer. After checking some emails, you make your way over to your business’s Facebook page and check for notifications, only to see a new not-so-glowing review from a customer about their negative experience with your company. You may be tempted to just sweep it under the rug. Or maybe you just feel powerless and wish it would just go away.
We get it, seeing people complain online about the service or the products they received from your company sucks. But ignoring them isn’t helping your business, it’s hurting your online presence. As much as we’d like to get only good reviews, the sad truth is not even the best customer service experts can make everyone happy. Bad reviews are inevitable, but by coming up with a review strategy, you can improve your online presence and build trust with customers.
In many industries, positive reviews are hard to come by, and there’s a reason for this. When people visit a restaurant, clothing, store, go on vacation, or do anything else that involves giving up their hard-earned money, they’re more likely to recall bad experiences over good ones. It’s human nature to remember what went one wrong over what went right, as the New York Times explains in this article. Does this mean you’re destined to a dark future of only receiving negative reviews? No, but you’ll have to put forth some effort if you want those five-star ratings!
If you’re waiting around for someone to leave you a great review on Google My Business, Yelp, or any other platform, you’ll be waiting a long time! Be proactive and follow up with happy customers you’ve recently worked with by email and ask them to leave you a good review. Make it easier and provide a direct link they can go to so they’re more likely to follow through. Here’s how to set up a review link on Google My Business.
Another tip: don’t direct everyone to the same website to leave you a review. If your business is listed on several different platforms, rotate which platforms you send customers to. This will make your online presence consistent across the web and help your business’s reputation all around. It may be helpful to do a quick google search to see which review websites your business is showing up on.
Just because others are doing it, doesn’t mean you should.
Leaving fake reviews about your business is not only unethical, but it can ruin customers’ trust in your brand. Fake reviews aren’t all that slick either, up to 80 percent of consumers say that they’ve spotted fake reviews online before. And in the long run, those artificial compliments can come back to haunt you. When your business doesn’t meet those perceived expectations you’ve created, it will lead to, you guessed it, more negative reviews from let-down patrons. Even worse: Google can sniff out fake reviews and penalize your listing.
Let’s just cut to the chase: you can’t prevent negative reviews. There’s always going to be someone who wasn’t satisfied with their experience at your business. But ignoring or deleting the review isn’t the way to handle it. Instead, it’s best to come up with a game plan on how to deal with it and make amends with the customer.
Access the situation: Read the review carefully. Why is the customer unhappy? Was it bad service, a product they purchased, or a little bit of both? Getting the full story is key.
Respond, quickly: Address the customer’s complaint and come up with a reasonable way to resolve the issue. Was their product broken or missing an item when they received it? Offer them a refund or a replacement. Did their order take a long time? Give them a discount on their next purchase if you can swing it. Whatever you do, don’t take a week to respond. More than 40 percent of consumers say they want a response from a company within an hour.
Ask for Additional Feedback: Once you’ve gotten in touch with the customer and offered a solution they’re happy with. Ask them if there is anything else you can help them with. People appreciate being listened to and considered. After you’ve gathered more feedback, ask them if they’d be willing to update their review or leave a new one.
You’re not alone if you’ve ever received a review that was totally off base.
Report the review: most platforms let you flag a review if it contains inappropriate details, a conflict of interest, or violates the platforms’ terms. If the review was left by a disgruntled employee or the review states that the review is not a customer, you have a good chance of getting it removed. But if you’re contesting the factual accuracy of what happened, it’s much less likely to be removed because these platforms don’t want to be the Customer Experience Police.
Take the high road: if the review is completely inaccurate, or you don’t have any records of the situation, state that in your response. There are polite ways to maintain your company’s reputation without getting contentious.
Negative reviews are a real downer, but you should take them as a lesson on how you can improve your business, not a personal attack set out to ruin you. By responding to reviews in a professional manner, asking satisfied customers to leave your business a review, and developing a review strategy you can improve your business’s reputation and customer service skills.