Responding to Nevative Reviews Online

In today’s world, online reviews can make or break your small business faster than you can say “customer feedback.” With just a few taps on a smartphone, a customer can broadcast her experience to thousands – or even millions – in seconds. Every review is a potential reputation landmine – or a golden opportunity.

One thing is sure – don’t bury your head in the sand hoping bad reviews will disappear. Get proactive
and respond effectively. You are not powerless. Here are some tips that will help turn a bad review into an opportunity:

Timing is everything
A negative review can go viral and gain steam to become a reputation issue that needs to be addressed. But if you respond quickly, calmly, and effectively, you can minimize the fallout. Responding as a hothead
will create another viral moment, making things worse instead of better. The first thing to do is to take a deep breath and calm yourself. Do not let your emotions get the best of you. Even more importantly, do not use inappropriate language or personally attack the reviewer in your written response. Remember, many people will see this.

When crafting a reply, read each sentence carefully and out loud. This will help you respond in a professional way versus replying with your emotions on your sleeve. Craft a response for each sentence, then pull it together for one response. Having your VA respond may be an even better solution as we do often for our clients. The end goal here is to turn the negative review into a positive opportunity. Winning back a customer is very powerful for your business. Every negative review is a chance to showcase your commitment to customer satisfaction. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate professionalism, empathy, and a genuine desire to make things right.

Words are powerful
When crafting a response to a negative review, you have one opportunity to get it correct. The reviewer needs to know how much you care. Do not copy and paste an AI response. Here are some examples:

• “I’m truly sorry we fell short with you …”
• “We are deeply sorry for your experience…”
• “Thank you for bringing this to our attention – we take your feedback seriously…”

Acknowledge their feelings and repeat the details they shared – this makes your customer feel heard and validates their feelings. Now is not the time to let your ego fuel your response.

Pro tip – While AI can help generate response ideas, be cautious. Customers can often detect a copy-and-paste AI response. Use AI as a brainstorming tool but personalize your final response.

Take responsibility

Take complete responsibility for the customer’s poor experience. You can do this without admitting legal
fault. This is where you need to put emotions and defensiveness aside.

Take it private
Requesting that the customer reach out to you privately can help to discuss the situation on both sides while tempering emotions. The key is to sound genuinely concerned, take full responsibility, and show a clear path to resolution.

Here’s an example of pulling everything together:
“I can understand your frustration. I would be frustrated, too, if I experienced xyz when xyz. We definitely missed the mark with you, and I apologize and would like to work with you to make it right. Please feel free to reach me at …”

A few years ago, I had a friend who bought a bag of mini sweet peppers. Surprisingly, hot peppers were mixed in – not what she expected. She emailed the company with photos, and, within an hour, the president reached out personally. He listened intently, empathized with her concern, and outlined a clear plan to investigate the process, identify how and why it happened, implement safety measures, and follow
up personally.

Not only did he call her back as promised, but he also offered a gift card. His response was so genuine that she has remained a loyal customer and has gained them more customers by sharing the response.

Review violations
If the review violates the platform review guidelines, you can report it and request it be removed. Before reporting, make sure to take a screenshot of the review for your records. But remember, this can take time depending on the platform.

Alternatively …
Some people lie on reviews for various reasons, and you do not have to take that! If the person was never a client, mention that you’ve searched your records, and it appears that the person has never been a client here. Or if they have been a client and things did not go their way, feel free to (within reason) respectfully respond to their review with facts from your end. I have had several clients that have gotten new clients because those clients liked their response to a bad review!

Monitor reviews regularly
A good habit to get into is checking regularly for online reviews across all platforms so you can respond in a timely manner. Your Virtual Assistant can regularly monitor and report to you when a negative response is left.

Remember this Empathy is a powerful tool, especially when it is genuine and personal. Most people respect when others take responsibility and act quickly to resolve issues by providing solutions to right the wrong. Let us help you not only respond to reviews in the best way possible but also get your more reviews.

Reach out for your free consult today!