To make sure you’re not getting negative reviews. it is a good idea to regularly check your Google Business Profile, your Facebook Business Page and anywhere else online where people can write reviews about your business.
If you see any negative reviews, you’re probably wanting to do something about them. Here are some positive ways to address them:
- Think carefully before replying.
- Do reply to them. It is better to reply to them, vs not doing so. Negative reviews that don’t get replied to indicate to other people who see them that either: A. You don’t care about your business, B. You’re not monitoring reviews (which indicates you don’t appreciate them), C. You may no longer be in business.
- Check your records to see if the person was actually ever a customer. Do this to make sure this is not some random spammer. Even if it is a spammer, you should still reply. Just be very careful how you do it (I good example is below)
- Sometimes you might be willing to ‘thank them’ for their feedback and make it known that you always appreciate constructive feedback.
- Acknowledge the problem in your reply.
- Take the conversation offline. Do this by suggesting something like, “We are very sorry you feel this way, and your experience was not what you had hoped. Please contact our office to discuss further.”
- If it was from a legitimate customer, it can be good to offer a way to resolve their issues or concerns. Again, ask them to contact you directly and maybe allude to possible ways you might be able to compensate them and/or help sort it out.
- Don’t ask them to remove the review as this could make the situation even worse.
- De-escalate. Don’t add ‘fuel to the fire’, don’t let them get under your skin, don’t give them any ammunition, don’t allow them to turn this into a ‘storm in a teacup’, etc.
As per any business situation, remember too that you can’t please everyone. As much as we ALL would like every single person we ever have contact with in our business lives to like us, it sometimes may not always happen. Don’t beat yourself up if you get a negative review. Move forward with confidence and positivity. Chalk it up to a learning experience.Â
If you visit YouTube and search “what to do if I get negative reviews online” you will also find additional ideas and suggestions. There is also some good information in this article on Search Engine Journal.Â
Note: Spammy negative reviews from people who have never been a customer can sometime be part of what is called a ‘negative SEO’ attack. ‘Negative SEO‘ activities are meant to sabotage your business.
If you do get any spammy negative reviews, also consider contacting the website that these reviews are on, show them the negative review(s), explain that it/they are not from known customers, and ask them to remove it/them. If the spammy review(s) are on Google, they are pretty good at getting reviews like this removed. You can report reviews to Google here.
The ACCC provides more information about this topic.
If you need a hand with any of this, let us know.