How to Deal with Bad Reviews
If you are lucky your company will never get any bad reviews on the internet, but we all know that nobody is quite that lucky. Rule of thumb in the business world, more often than not it is impossible to provide a perfect experience for every customer, no matter how hard you try. This article will explain how to go about handling these negative comments in a personal, yet professional way. In the end, you should be using the bad reviews to your own advantage. After all, the reason someone writes a bad review is that something during their experience of your business displeased them. This gives you the chance to identify the problem and make sure it doesn’t happen again to anybody else who chooses your product or service.
Quick Responses
The best way to show your clients that you care and are listening to their feedback is to respond to a negative review as soon as possible. This can be difficult since you then have to keep up to date with all of your listings on a regular basis. Today, almost everyone has a smartphone, this makes leaving and responding to reviews much easier. As a business owner, you can make it so notifications are sent to you every time a review is left. This is the most effective way to respond within 24 hours, making sure that the matter is addressed when it is still fresh in the individual's mind. Resolving any negative feelings towards their interaction in a positive manner will influence them to continue using your services. It also helps to flag fake reviews for removal as quickly as possible. Showing other current and potential customers alike, that you want to solve issues quickly. Swift responses are a perfect way to improve your reputation.
Make Your Apologies Personal
First, when you get a bad review it is important to acknowledge the issue that individual has had, and the reason being is they want to be heard. After taking the time to address the problem and genuinely apologizing, this is where you can take the time to explain why it happened. Doing all of this promotes a positive image of your business and makes any third party reading this interaction see that you care about your customers. There is an extra step you can take when writing replies to these reviews as well. Being genuine and humanizing your interactions in reviews also helps display that you listen and care. It is best to use your real name or at least first name and last initial. Even if the entire conversation is made up of just their review and your reply, this little bit extra goes a long way.
Follow Up
That all does a great job of how to handle the negative comments by replying, but there is a second step that also proves beneficial. Continuing the conversation on a more private channel really makes it more personal, showing that you and your business care about resolving the issue. This should always be the case so the individual and anyone they talk to is more than pleased with your service. After all that is done, it is a good idea to go back and see if there are any reoccurring issues. If the same problem persists for more than one person, this will stand out in the reviews and must be dealt with as soon as possible. Once this is done, hopefully, the reviewer will give your business a second chance and will be pleased with your services from that point on.
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