5 Tips When Responding to Negative Reviews

Did you know that it takes 40 positive reviews to negate the effects of just one negative review?

This expresses just how important it is to address negative reviews especially for small businesses that serve local audiences. Negative reviews are hard to avoid sometimes even though you try to best serve your clients. We will walk you through tips on how to respond to negative reviews.

Address their review promptly
With your business just being one search away, one negative review can be seen by hundreds of people in just a short amount of time. It’s important to set a periodic time to check on reviews left by customers about your business and respond to them. When potential customers see that you have addressed negative reviews it could lessen the effects of how they perceive your business.

Acknowledge their experience.
When responding to a negative review, an important step would be to validate their experience. It’s important to let customers know that their experience is heard by your business. This can be done by apologizing to the customer about their negative experience or simply sympathizing with their experience.

Keep it concise and brief
Keep it straight to the point and short. This will help ensure that your message is not wordy so that the message you are trying to get out is conveyed clearly. Sometimes when a response to negative feedback is trying to explain a lot of information, your response may come out as a way to avoid taking responsibility.

Take it offline
A way to keep it concise and brief is to take the conversation offline. After acknowledging that their experience is valid, a way to take it offline is offering an email address for them to contact to help rectify the situation and make it right.

Taking this step could help bring your business into positive light in the view of the customer who wrote the negative review and future customers.

Be authentic
When addressing a negative response, it would be inappropriate to respond in an ingenuine voice. It would show that you and your business do not really care about the people they service which will further put your business in a negative light.

When responding use a conversational tone and common language. Your customers will appreciate keeping the conversation real and that they are cared for.

Addressing negative reviews is a fundamental part of running a business. Do you need a bit more help with managing all your digital marketing needs? Let us help, our team is filled with marketing professionals who can help you with your digital marketing needs especially addressing negative reviews. Contact us today!