The Delicate Art of Dealing with a Bad Online Review

Your business is rightly very precious to you, so it’s understandable that you’d be a little peeved if someone were to publically disparage it. Unfortunately, in the world of online business, it’s an inevitability. In today’s article, we’ll show you how to delicately respond to a negative review in a way that will not only save face, but build customer confidence for others.

What not to do

There have been countless reports about what can happen if you fail to respond to a negative review in the right way. With social media exposing business-consumer dialogue on a global scale, it’s very easy for it to all go wrong. Examples include authors who have taken jabs at honest Amazon reviewers for disliking their books, as well as restaurant owners who can’t accept that we all have different tastes in food. The problem is that when a business owner flies off the handle, it can quickly go viral – we all love a bit of drama, right? The issue with that is that your reputation can be irreparably damaged.

Steps to resolution

So you’ve had your first negative review. Maybe it was on Facebook, maybe on a site like Yelp. But either way, it’s there, and you have no power to delete it. What can you do? Well, below are our recommended steps for dealing with the review in a mature and measured manner:

• Act quickly. The longer the review sits in isolation, the more damage it can do. Most sites give you the right-of-reply, so be sure you take it. As soon as you can, add a response to the negative review explaining that you are very sorry, and adding any extenuating circumstances (but only if they really exist!).
   
• Offer an olive branch. When someone posts a negative review, the last thing they’ll expect is an apology or an explanation. But if someone has had a bad experience with your business, it’s possible that it was out of your hands. In that case, it makes sense for you to offer a one-time discount or maybe even a refund. Be careful, though – make sure the complaint is legitimate before doing so.
   
• Put yourself in their shoes. Before you even tap out that first response, try to read their review or complaint at least twice. This will give you plenty of context for the problem and hopefully allow you to respond to it in a more considered way. Imagine that it wasn't your business: would you agree or disagree with the problems mentioned in this review?

Keep your eyes open

So there you have it: three very reasoned and mature ways to deal with negative reviews. There’s no reason for you to fly off the handle or get angry; everybody has the right to his or her opinion, whether you agree or not. Remember, you want to act quickly whenever a review like this appears, so make sure to keep an ear to the ground. Or should that be an eye on social media?

For a better way to manage your customer experiences, and to potentially prevent complaints before they arise, why not check out AutoVu CRM? It’s the UK’s first hybrid CRM and field service management system, and it makes managing customer relationships a breeze.