Negative reviews can bring out the best in your business in more ways than one. While most companies prefer not to receive bad feedback, negative reviews can turn into significant marketing opportunities for your brand. In many instances, the way brands have responded to the negative reviews has been key to the company becoming a trusted industry leader. Often, the correct response to a negative review goes a long way toward tackling online reputation repair. The challenge is to learn how to respond to negative reviews without losing your customers (or your temper).
Most business owners find it difficult to deal with negative online reviews and the impact on their operation. No business owner is thrilled to receive a negative review from a customer. It places the brand in a bad light and potential customers might be deterred from engaging after seeing a negative review.
A Reputation X study reveals that 65 percent of consumers don’t want to use a company with bad reviews. However, it’s long been established that negative reviews present an opportunity for learning, customer engagement, and establishing your brand as customer-centric and solutions-oriented.
Here are 10 ways that you can use negative reviews to your advantage
1. Show Your Customers You Care
One of the best ways to turn a negative review into a positive marketing experience is by providing excellent customer service. Responding appropriately and promptly can show customers that you care about their experience and are willing to do what you can to resolve the issues. Be sure to apologize and assure the customer that their feedback is essential and that you’ll improve your service or product to avoid the same issue.
Rize Reviews can help you manage negative reviews with its review response service. We respond to all negative reviews within one business day.
2. Provide Helpful Information
Sometimes, customers leave negative online reviews about your product because they are using it incorrectly or have not completed the specific steps to achieve the desired results successfully.
No one likes to be corrected, but you can provide a helpful response and include product tips or tutorials that demonstrate how to get the best experience when using your products. In this instance, you can share engaging and relevant content with your audience while preventing more negative reviews.
3. Improve Your Products and Services
When you get a consistent stream of similar issues in your reviews, it’s time to take a closer look at the problem and see if it’s something that can be fixed or improved. Customer feedback is invaluable information regarding the quality of your products or services. You need to pay attention to this insightful feedback if you wish to grow a successful business. No amount of online reputation repair tactics will work if the problem is with your product, service or customer support.
4. Build Customer Trust
Research has shown that consumers do not trust businesses without any negative online reviews. They think companies that have consistent five-star review scores are gaming the review system and are being dishonest. Having negative reviews is a sign that your business is legitimate and you are transparent to your customers.
5. Create an Online Reputation Management Process
Building a strategy that will streamline how to respond to negative reviews is a wise move for any business that wants to develop long-term success. If you want an online reputation repair strategy that works today and for years to come, you need to create one.
Online reputation management involves proactive methods like review response and online reputation repair to improve your review rating and reputation online. It may be time-consuming and not always pleasant, but it boosts your business’s growth and revenue. Whether you want to outsource it or do it yourself using online reputation management software, having a refined online reputation management plan is an excellent investment.
6. Run Targeted Paid Ads
If you have a specific product or service that’s getting negative reviews, you can run pay-per-click ads to target new customers and acquire new and positive reviews. This method can help outnumber negative feedback.
To get your desired positive reviews, you have to provide exceptional product quality and after-sales customer service. Delight and surprise your new customers, so you stand a chance of getting new, positive reviews that are more recent than the outdated negative ones.
7. Attract New Customers and Win Over Existing Ones
When your prospects see how you respond to negative reviews, they might appreciate your efforts to fix the problem identified by your customer. Companies who know how to respond to negative reviews on Google or any other review platform have seen an increase in their review responses. It’s no surprise that responding to reviews on time and with the right approach positions your business as invested in its customer care, to those reading your online reviews.
With Rize Reviews, you’ll be trained on how to effectively respond to customer reviews and establish your brand’s voice.
8. Fix Problems While They are Small
Ignoring negative reviews that speak to a small but valid problem may hurt your company’s reputation in the long run. Using negative reviews to identify and resolve issues while they are still manageable can save you thousands of dollars in lost sales.
To make sure you don’t miss any reviews, Rize offers review monitoring services that help you track, manage and respond to reviews and identify repetitive issues in need of a resolution. We also provide customer communication via a phone call or email to resolve the problem offline.
9. Create Genuine Customer Connections
Negative reviews are not always from people who may never return as a customer to your business. Sometimes, these disappointed customers are misinformed or mildly upset patrons who wanted a better experience. When you respond to these reviews, you can rebuild a positive relationship with the customer despite the negative feedback. Always tell the customer that you are thankful for their input and you hope they return as a customer in the future.
With Rize Reviews, your review responses will be thoughtfully crafted by our highly-qualified writers who know how to connect and empathize with your customers.
10. Turn Negative Reviews into Positive Ones
If you respond to a review and fix the issue, the customer might go back and change the review. It does not always happen, but even a few negative reviews turned into more positive feedback can significantly impact your overall review rating. Not only have you retained your customer, but you’ve shown others that you take customer feedback seriously and will do what you can to resolve issues.
Now that you are aware of how negative reviews benefit your business growth, let’s look at helpful tips for responding to negative reviews on Google and Yelp — as these two platforms are the ones with the most reviews.
Tips on How To Respond To Negative Reviews on Google
Google makes up for 57.5 percent of reviews worldwide. If your business is listed in Google My Business (GMB), then expect to receive reviews on this platform. Here are some tips on how to respond to negative reviews on Google and come out a winner:
• Be timely
More than half of consumers who write reviews expect a response within 48 hours.
• Be polite and straightforward
Apologize to your customer and explain how you can help make things better.
• Don’t mention the company name
You don’t want the negative review to show up on your company’s search result, so don’t put your business name or brand in your review response.
• Protect your customer’s privacy
Don’t mention the customer’s name and other confidential information such as an address, phone number or email in your response.
Tips on How To Respond to Negative Yelp Reviews
Yelp has gained popularity as the go-to review platform for local businesses. Forty-five percent of consumers will check Yelp reviews before visiting a company. Here are some tips specifically about how to respond to negative Yelp reviews and get great results:
• Respond to the review within 24 hours
Yelp states that responding to negative reviews in less than a day increases the likelihood of an upgraded review to 33 percent.
• Address the person by their name
Using the first name of the person writing the review is a more personal way of communicating than using generic titles like “Sir” or “Madam.”
• Use a template but add details specific to the review
It’s okay to use a template as a guide but you need to address the particular customer concern in your response.
• Flag inappropriate reviews
If a review is abusive or inappropriate, you don’t have to respond. Learn about Yelp’s review guidelines and flag reviews that violate the rules.
We hope you’ve learned from our tips on how to respond to negative reviews on Google and how to respond to negative Yelp reviews. Although crafting the best negative review response should follow the same general rules, these tips are more specific to how Google and Yelp manage customer reviews.
If you’re looking for a great online reputation management solution, contact Rize Reviews today.
Leave a Reply