Increasing business and achieving growth resolutions requires maintaining a better image online. Almost 90% of customers who research online businesses go through reviews to get an idea about the quality of their services. As an online business, you need to manage your reputation in cyberspace and deal with obstacles like bad reviews. Commonly, businesses get positive reviews online as a part of successful ORM (Online Reputation Management).
However, rather than worrying and losing hopes, you need to pick yourself up and face the situation in such cases. If you are a business, you will be reviewed online. If you have never been reviewed before, and the review is bad – don’t panic. Not a single business on the internet has only 100% positive reviews. Reviews depict the experience users had with your business, and it is possible to get some negative ones now and then,
All reviews should be taken with a grain of salt. That said, there are certain steps that you can take to respond to the review appropriately and without hostility/defensiveness. Take a look at a few steps to ensure your response is constructive and professional (even if it might not seem so in the moment).
#1; Understand & Work On The negative Experience of Your Customer
The first thing you need to do is understand the negative experience and work on it. You can start by figuring out what went wrong, why, and how you can fix the problem and turn it around. If someone has reviewed yo negative, you must apologize to them in the comments and assure them that you are properly addressable of the issue.
It is easy to respond negatively when faced with a bad review, but try not to reply defensively or get into an argument with the customer. When a customer complains about something, no matter how long it has been since the incident occurred, try your hardest not to take their review personally, even if your business has a legit complaint.
Rather than being aggressive or lamenting, be smart and work on improving as a business with every single opportunity. This way, you can rest assured that you will not receive any negative feedback due to the repetition of that particular issue.
#2; Keep You Ego Aside and Think Logically
When you receive a bad review, the first thing to do is not to respond immediately. Instead, take a few minutes and think about what you want to say. Because if you do not reply wisely, it might affect the entire flow of your business.
It is always best to use a professional tone and maintain a calm demeanor as a possible response to bad reviews by trying to keep your cool, even if the review is written in an attacking way.
There is always an option to increase positive reviews so that your business has a healthy reputation online.
You need to remember that you do not have to respond simply because the reviewer says so. Keep searching for negative reviews that are still on your website and see what customers are saying about it. Stay positive and choose to always work on improving as a business rather than get defensive. Respond slowly and carefully when handling any kind of negative feedback.
#3; Reply Appropriately Right From the First Time
After analyzing the situation, you need to reply right away without delay. Make clear how you can deal with each part of the review, and then plan your response appropriately. However bad the review may be, you need to be professional on your end and hold your guts together. Here are a few things you must look for replying to bad reviews:
- First, show empathy and understand what your customer has been through.
- Second, try to sound helpful in a calm tone.
- Third, turn to seniors of your team to tackle the situation more professionally.
- Finally, always rely on a positive note that depicts a better picture of your business.
Acknowledge the issues raised in customers’ feedback by understanding them fully. Now assure your customers that their problems are taken care of. Respond by presenting facts and figures and show that there are no more excuses for what happened. You need to ensure that particular person and the future readers of those comments you are working on are better.
#4; Do Not Promise Anything You Cannot Deliver
Any business that offers a service or product may want to make a promise that it cannot deliver. However, it is best to do this step carefully and take the criticism as an opportunity to improve and evolve as a business and not get defensive about what is being said about the matter. Rather than arguing or getting into a debate, try your hardest not to promise anything you cannot deliver.
Instead, make sure your responses are clear and to the point. Reply with sufficient information that a customer would need to know to avoid further confusion or disappointment. If you want to add extra information to the review, then do so that people can decide in an informed manner.
#5; Keep it Professional
You need to maintain a professional tone in your review responses and make sure that you are polite and helpful. Every response for the review has to maintain your business’s dignity and goodwill with the customer. Remember, you cannot please everyone all of the time, but no matter what happens, you need to stay confident while remaining professional.
Never get caught in an argument with your customers or send them a response full of defensiveness or insults. Instead, you need to strive to always respond professionally, keep it short without starting an argument, and be sure to never use profanity in any of your responses.
If you are struggling with bad reviews as a business, then go online and buy trustpilot reviews. Customer reviews are meant to help people make a purchasing decision. Therefore, they should be honest, simple, and mostly positive to attract more eyes to your business. You get it all by simply buying decent and positive reviews online.