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Imagine this: you’ve invested so much into your business. All those meetings, early mornings, and late nights can be instantly destroyed by just one negative review. It doesn’t matter how perfect your business could be, there is definitely something that didn’t hit expectations of different customers out there.
Plus, negative reviews have actual consequences:
- As low as 13% of customers will consider a business with 1-2 stars
- More than 4 negative reviews about a company or product may decrease sales by 70%
- Small businesses with a 1–1.5 rating on Google generate 33% less revenue than the average business
It’s no wonder every business gets so defensive with negative reviews. But wait – this doesn’t mean it’s all about bad things. In fact, sometimes they add a bit of authenticity to your brand. And a great response toward negative reviews can help to increase your brand reputation too!
5 Great Responses To Negative Reviews
1. Respond Promptly Within 24 Hours
The most critical step to dealing with a negative review is to respond immediately. In the customer’s mind, the stopwatch starts when he or she posts a negative review for your business, and your reputation drops with every minute you delay in providing a response. If you are able to react to their issue within 24 hours, this makes that reviewer 33% more likely to bump up their rating and upgrade their review.
2. Provide a Public Response & Take the Issue Offline
It’s always best for you to provide a public response and then talk directly about the problem they had offline. This saves any further embarrassment on your side of the issue and prevents interference from outside sources. For this reason, you should provide direct contact information for customers in your review response.
Bear in mind that never ask the customer to remove the review, as this could make the situation worse. Simply ensure the customer feels that his/her complaint was heard.
Here’s how you can extend that invitation following your initial apology:
- “Please reach me personally via email at [email protected], and our team would be happy to discuss the issue at your earliest convenience.”
- Make sure to provide your name, title, and direct contact information (or that of a manager at your business who has the authority).
3. Apologise and Sympathy
Saying sorry to make your customers feel that you care about them and that you’re there to give your helping hand whenever they want.
Perhaps it is a late parcel delivery or something that totally not your fault, apologize to your customer anyway. This is a great opportunity to establish and strengthen trust between you and your customers. Besides, people can turn away from businesses that are too proud to apologize.
The only tip is to keep your apologies short and sweet:
- “We apologize that our service did not up to your standard.”
- “We’re so sorry that your experience did not match your expectations. This is on us.”
- “We set a high standard for ourselves, and we’re so sorry to hear this was not met in your interaction with our business.”
4. Offer A Solution
As a customer, there’s nothing worse than having a negative experience with a company and have them brush it off like it was no big deal. In their eyes, the fault either has cost them time or money.
As such, be willing to go above and beyond and incentivize or compensate the consumer to use your business again. An apology goes far, but a 20% credit on their next service is much more incentive for them to use your business again. If you’re willing and able to go that extra step it could mean the difference between a one-time customer and a lifetime customer.
5. Follow Up & Ask For A 2nd Chance
Don’t slam the door on negative reviewers or leave them behind after the case has been settled. Instead, extend a hand to invite them to come back and welcome them with open arms.
Not only does this create an opportunity for you to change the impression; it also establishes confidence in your ability to deliver an experience worth raving about.
Here’re what you can say:
- “Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We’re very sorry we failed to meet your expectations. I would appreciate another chance to serve you.”
- “Does everything works well for you? We appreciate your understanding and hope to serve you again in the near future.”
Online reviews influence the way customers think about your business. Keep in mind that your brand reputation is shaped not only by what your customers say about the business but also by how you respond to those negative reviews.
Customers’ expectations might out of your control, but you can still actively participate in improving their customer experience and make a positive impact on your brand reputation by responding to negative reviews. Don’t panic when receiving negative reviews, just follow the 5 steps above to win back your customers!
