By: Sentry Marketing Group

February 28, 2015

Online reviews can be as powerful as word of mouth in this digital age. Do you know what to do when they’re not all thumbs-up? Well, here’s what the experts say.

If you’ve found this post, you probably already know how important it is for businesses in service industries to manage their online reputation.  Whether you are focused on engaging customers on social sites like Twitter and Facebook or filling out your Yelp! and Urbanspoon pages with glowing reviews, you are well aware that online reviews are as powerful as word of mouth in this digital age.

But, like anything, building an online reputation has its perils.  A 2013 survey by Zendesk found that customers are much more likely to leave a review on social media when they are displeased than when they are satisfied.  Unfortunately, it also found that 88% of respondents said negative reviews would affect their purchasing decisions.

So what do you do when some of those reviews you’ve worked so hard to generate aren’t so glowing?  Well, the first thing to do is to take a deep breath.  There’s no need to panic.  A couple of bad reviews aren’t going to sink you.  There are, however, some strategic moves to be taken when reviews turn sour.  Here, we’ve gathered advice from the experts in online reputation management about what to do next.

How negative reviews can help you

First, it’s always important to look at the bright side of things.  Yes, someone may be mad at you because the bread that was brought to their table was only lukewarm or may give you a one-star rating because the rep they met with was having a bad day, but comments like this, even public ones, can almost always be turned to your advantage.  How?

Even negative reviews can make an unknown known.

According to an article in TechCrunch written by Tim Handorf, President and co-founder of G2 Crowd, smaller businesses tend to benefit from the awareness brought to their brand by any reviews, whether positive or negative, during the initial stages of growth.

Jan Vels Jensen, Chief Marketing Officer at Trustpilot, points out in an article from Business News Daily that a recent survey by econsultancy.com indicated that shoppers who read negative reviews are still 67% more likely to convert into customers than the average consumer.  When someone reads a review, positive or negative, they at least know that people are visiting your store or using your products.  Truthful reviews, even negative ones, give potential customers more information about your business, giving them more confidence as they weigh their spending decisions.

You can only win back trust when you know it has been lost.

A dissatisfied customer will always spread the word about their experience.  However, when they do so online on sites that you are monitoring (if you are not monitoring you reviews, please read out earlier article on managing your online reputation).  This means that you know what they are saying and to who and can respond appropriately, offer a solution, and potentially win back a customer that you might otherwise have lost.

No one trusts review pages with only positive feedback.

Almost every study or article we’ve looked at confirms that customers have more confidence in the authenticity of reviews if at least a couple of them are critical.   It is widely accepted that no one can please everyone all the time, and consumers expect to see that reality reflected in the reviews they read.

A public forum gives you an opportunity to shine.

One of the benefits of public scrutiny is that it gives you a chance to show potential customers the quality of your customer service.  When you respond to critical comments with genuine concern and gratitude, everyone has a chance to see that you pay attention to your customers and are ready to make an extra effort to see that they are satisfied.

Negative reviews are an opportunity for growth.

Criticism, especially public criticism, can be hard to take.  But it usually hurts the most when it highlights our weaknesses.  The great thing about running a business is that it’s within your power to build strength.  While you can’t please 100% of your customers 100% of the time, it probably won’t hurt to try.  Monitoring reviews can be a great way to identify areas in which company and brand standards may not be being met (a useful hint in determining some of the checkpoints for your mystery shopping program).

To respond or not to respond

The Kansas City Business Journal recently reported, based on a Retail Consumer Report by Harris Interactive, that when retailers respond to negative reviewers, about 1/3 of those reviewers tend to follow up with a positive review and 34% delete the original negative review. Even more impressive, some 18% of the reviewers in the survey who had initially been naysayers purchased additional items and were converted into loyal customers.  In a similar vein, Inc.com reports that, according to travel review site TripAdvisor, businesses that respond to reviews on that site are 21% more likely to receive a booking inquiry than their competitors who don’t.

Pretty much all the experts agree that it is in the best interest of a business to respond to negative comments and reviews whenever possible, as quickly as possible.  However, the camp is split on whether it is necessary to respond to every negative comment or just those for which you can provide a solution.  Of course, when a customer has a legitimate complaint, part of providing good customer service is responding to that complaint and trying to rectify the problem, whether it is made directly in person or anonymously through a review site.

However, it is increasingly acknowledged that the anonymity of review sites has led to an increase of unreasonable complaints from “trolls”, individuals who use these forums to spew vitriol and ruffle feathers.  Many reputation management professionals recommend ignoring comments from such users, particularly as their complaints are often vague and tend not to be based in a true experience of an establishment.  A few experts, however, recommend responding even to these, in order to set the record straight.  If you choose to follow the advice of these rebels, though, be sure you know what you’re doing.  You don’t want to fan the flames if a reviewer is just looking to start a fire.

Tip: Consider not responding to, and even reporting, reviews that are not in keeping with a site’s policies:

http://www.yelp.com/guidelines

https://www.facebook.com/help/434605260012677/

https://support.google.com/business/answer/2622994?hl=en

How to respond to a negative review

Looking at advice from some of the leading social media and online reputation professionals, we gleaned a few common threads that we thought might be of help to you:

Do

1. Be timely.

You don’t want to let more than a day or two pass without responding to a bad review.  You should, however, take the time to craft a thoughtful and professional response.

2. Be professional.

This might seem to go without saying, but it is surprising how many business owners, upon reading a review that they find unfair or just unfavorable take the review personally and respond defensively.  An emotional response will only make you appear petty and unprofessional, not mention insecure. One piece of advice that appears in almost every article on this subject is to take time to step back, if you need to, and regain your professional objectivity.  A delayed response will always be better than an angry one.

In an article he wrote for Entrepreneur magazine, Terry Powell, founder of AdviCoach and The Entrepreneur’s Source, suggests asking yourself, “Do you want to be right or rich?”  He goes on to explain, “Your objective is to have a successful business. Don’t sabotage yourself by turning current and prospective customers off with an emotional or defensive response to an online comment.”

3. Be authentic.

Consumers will spot a canned response a mile away, and they will not be impressed.  Make your responses original, thoughtful and authentic.  Write person to person, not B2C.  Hopefully, you will not have so many negative reviews that this will take up too much time – if you do, there are some other things you need to look at (Sentry can help you with identifying exactly what).

4. Be gracious.

Thank your reviewers for their feedback, even if you think that feedback is unfounded.  If you’re having trouble feeling grateful, move to numbers 4 and 5, then come back and add a “thank you” to your opening sentence.  After all, at least they gave you a shot.  Now it’s time to try and get them to give you another.

5. Be objective and try to empathize.

Try to get in their shows and understand where they’re coming from.  You may find that you understand their point of view better than you thought you would and see a new way that you can improve your business.

6. Apologize.

If their bad experience was the result of some real shortcoming on the part of your business or staff, own it and say you’re sorry.  Make it clear that this is not how you choose to do business and that you are taking steps to correct the mistake.  Even if you don’t feel their complaint is valid, something caused them to have an unsatisfactory experience in your establishment.  Acknowledge their feelings and express your regret that they did not have the experience you want all your customers to have.  This is a great way to open up a road to rectifying the situation.

7. Offer a solution.

Think about what you would do if this customer were in your store right now.  How would you try to appease them?  Is there something comparable you could offer now?  In some cases, an apology is all that is really needed.  But if you see in their feedback a genuine problem, address it and say in your response what you are doing to fix things.  Ask them outright to give you a second chance.

8. Remember that this is not a private conversation.

This is something that reputation management specialists can’t seem to emphasize enough.  Some recommend taking the conversation offline as quickly as possible – either by sending a private message to the reviewer or by inviting them in an online response to contact a specific person, perhaps a manager or customer service representative, directly to find a resolution.

Others note that an online response on your part provides an opportunity to demonstrate to potential customers your commitment to satisfying them.  However, even those who support initial online responses recommend moving the conversation offline after that initial public contact.  This indicates that you are willing to do the work to make the customer happy, and are not simply trying to moll them with a public apology.  Taking the conversation offline also give you an opportunity to offer compensation or restitution without setting a public precedent.

Whichever approach you choose, remember that no conversation is immune to public display.  Quite often, especially when a matter cannot be resolved, snippets of private emails and messages will appear online.  It is hoped that, as a professional, you would ensure that all communications written on behalf of your company would remain professional and conciliatory, but this is especially important in the case of someone who has already exhibited a tendency to airing complaints to the masses.

9. Be consistent.Create a set of guidelines for monitoring and responding to reviews, both positive and negative.  Make a schedule for checking them and set a timeframe for responses.  This consistent presence is another way to show customers that you are committed to their satisfaction.

Mark Hayward, Founder & CEO at The Startup Project, provides a helpful example of a simple response to a negative review in his post on Linked-In.  Take a look, it might give you some ideas.

Don’t

While most of the advice experts give on handling negative reviews tend to be more proactive, there are a few things that they all warn adamantly against:

1. Don’t try to remove negative reviews.

Unless a reviewer leaves a personal attack or uses unacceptable language in their comments, don’t ever remove reviews that are negative.  This makes you appear petty and guilty, as though you are trying to hide evidence instead of owning up to mistakes.  It also will often result in a more irate and disgruntled reviewer who will not hesitate to point out the injustice of having a review removed simply because it was not favorable.  Be bigger than that.

2. Don’t try to use a personal account or made-up user to defend your establishment.

People do it, but it is not good practice.  The reasons for this should be obvious.

3. Don’t get caught up in drama.

Take the steps outlined above and move on. Don’t get wrapped up in a back-and-forth with a customer who refuses to be satisfied.  Don’t let a negative review weigh on you.  Do everything you can to make things right and focus on providing new and loyal customers with the great service you know you can offer.

 

One additional tip that several experts have mentioned is to include a comments link on your website and feedback cards in all of your locations.  This way, dissatisfied customers have a way of letting you know what went wrong privately.  It can also be a great way to collect positive reviews and testimonials that you can them display on your website or around your establishment.

Obviously, the best way to tackle negative reviews is to prevent the experiences that spur them from happening.  Make great customer service company policy.  Take steps to make your staff and management aware of your expectations and bring it to their attention when the standards you set are not being met.  Happy customers are good for everyone.