How do you respond to negative reviews? Do you delete them or try to engage with the customer?
If someone leaves a bad review of your business, you might want to consider deleting it. However, some businesses don’t take these reviews seriously. They believe they are too insignificant to worry about.
However, if you choose to ignore the review, you risk losing potential customers. In addition, you also risk damaging your reputation. This is because negative reviews tend to get shared more often than positive ones.
What To Do When Someone Leaves A Negative Review of Your Business
Respond to Reviews
If someone has left a negative review of your business, there’s no need to panic. It’s important to understand why people leave reviews, so you can address any issues with your service or product.
The best thing to do if you receive a negative review is to respond to it. “If you’re going to be upset about something, then take the time to write back,” says Lisa Gansky, founder of ReviewTrackers.com. “It shows that you care.”
If you get a negative review, try to see it from the reviewer’s perspective. “I think people who leave negative reviews are often frustrated because they feel like they’ve been treated unfairly,” Gansky says. “They want to vent and share their frustration. That’s why they left the review.”
Monitor Reviews Over Time
One of the first steps to addressing a negative review is to monitor how often it appears in search results. This will help you determine whether the problem is temporary or permanent.
When you see a negative review, it’s important to remember that people often leave negative reviews without reading the entire post. In fact, according to a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers who read the entire text of a product review were less likely to trust the review than those who skipped to the end.
If you notice that one particular review keeps popping up in search results, it could be because it has been flagged by Google. You can check if a review has been flagged by clicking on the three dots next to the review and selecting “Flag Review.” Once you flag a review, it won’t appear in search results until you remove the flag.
If you find yourself receiving a lot of negative reviews, it might be helpful to look at the overall rating of the business. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) offers a free service called Complaint Status Search, which allows you to enter the name of a company and view information such as complaints filed against them.
Be Proactive About Removing A Negative Review
If you find that a negative review has been left by a customer, try to resolve the issue before it escalates into a dispute. Contact the reviewer directly to ask them why they left the review. If you cannot reach the reviewer, contact the company who owns the listing.
When a customer leaves a negative review, it can be difficult to know whether it’s because of a genuine problem or if the person simply didn’t like what they ordered. In either case, it’s important to take action quickly to prevent the situation from escalating. The first step is to contact the reviewer directly to ask why they left the review, then follow up with the business owner to see if there is anything you can do to fix the situation. If you cannot reach either party, contact Yelp to report the review.
How often do you get negative feedback from customers or clients? If you don’t take these comments seriously, they can hurt your reputation and even cost you sales. In fact, according to research, nearly half of consumers say they would never return to a company after receiving bad customer service.
Whether you run a local restaurant, a chain store, or operate a brick-and-mortar business, you want happy customers. Unfortunately, sometimes unhappy customers leave negative reviews online. This can damage your brand and hurt your bottom line.
Negative reviews can be damaging to your business. They can also affect your ability to attract new customers. If you receive negative feedback, you should respond promptly and professionally. Here are some ways to handle negative reviews.
This only scratches the surface of what do with reviews online reputation management! Some companies have whole teams managing just their reviews and customer engagement and it can be an enormous undertaking managing the day-to-day of your business while trying to keep on top of your online presence. If you need guidance on how your business can better navigate or get it’s reputation management under control, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!
