How To Handle Negative Customer Reviews

It’s inevitable. You’re going to at some point receive a negative customer review. Even if you’ve done everything by the book, it only takes that one bad experience to ruin your flawless record of positive feedback. Of course, you may be thinking that just because one person has nothing better to do than nitpick, it won’t really affect business, right? Wrong.

Research has proven that “80% of people have changed a purchase decision due to a bad review they saw.” That’s a fairly significant stat, and that’s putting it lightly.

Just follow the following suggestions and you will be able to perfectly navigate your way out of those tricky negative customer reviews.

Have a Plan of Attack

Before you can handle any negative customer reviews, you should have a plan in motion on what to do if this happens and how to prevent customers having a bad experience. But, that’s a vague and broad area to focus on. Where’s a good starting point? Typically, according to MarketingProfs, these are the areas you should be keeping tabs on:

• Dominant Search Engines - attempt to have your brand rank highly and make sure that all information is correct; having first page results can establish authority.
• Brand Monitoring - use tools like Google Alerts, Social Mention, Hootsuite or Spout Social to be aware of when people are talking about your brand.
• Perfect Social Media - find the social media outlet that best fits your brand and reaches your audience effectively and maintain that network as best as possible.
• Highlight Reviews and Recommendations - don’t be afraid to showcase both the positive and negative comments.
• Customer Service - this can make or break a business, make sure that your customer service is top notch by being timely, polite and helpful.
• Negative-PR Management - discuss with your team how to handle every scenario possible so that you are not caught off guard; regardless of the situation use that stellar customer service of yours to at least acknowledge the problem or concern until it can be resolved.
• Brand Advocacy - thank your loyal customers by asking for their feedback, inviting them to an event or offering some sort of incentive that will make them speak highly of your brand.

Now that you have a game plan, it’s time to break the film down and discuss how to handle those negative comments.

Be Familiar With the Culture

Where are your reviews or comments coming from? It may not sound like a big deal, but each culture is different, which means your response will vary. For example, you could have a follow-up call with a customer. This may not work in all fields, but think about the businesses that have followed-up with you in the past. Not only did it make them stand out, it showed that they cared about their work and wanted to make sure that you were satisfied. This connection can go a long way to establish trust and a repeat customer, or at least someone who would recommend your brand.

As for online reviews, you have to remember that not everyone leaving a review is out to harm your business. Someone could leave a comment on your preferred social media network because there was a legitimate issue. In fact, this person may be a repeat customer and was only bringing the issue to your attention. The same could be said of someone leaving a comment on your website or blog.

Then there’s review sites like Yelp. While a lot of people turn Yelp for advice, you have to understand that most of the people leaving reviews are people who enjoy making recommendations. Again, not everyone is is out to get you. However, the reviews on Yelp may be coming from a first-time customer who is sharing their first impression of your brand with a dedicated community.

Understanding where the comments are coming from, like Yelp, Trip Advisor, social media or your blog, can help you understand the concerns of those customers and how to handle them in the right manner.

Don’t Ignore The Negative Comments

No matter where the comments are coming from, you just can’t ignore them. While we’re not saying that you have to publicly respond to each comment, you at least have to acknowledge that person, such as sending them an email to resolve the matter if you don’t want to make this open to the public.

When responding to comments, make sure that you take the high road. Don’t follow in the footsteps of the epic breakdown behind Amy’s Bakery. Be polite, apologetic (if you are at fault), share your side of the story and figure out how to make the customer happy. While you may be offended initially, there’s a good chance that you were wrong in the first place, so make amends.

Of course, there people who like to stir up trouble. You may not be able to win with those kind of people, but others can tell if that is a troll, so don’t keep engaging them. Regardless of the situation, however, you should at least send out a one-time response that informs others that you are listening and do care about customer satisfaction. And, if you make good, that individual may go and change their comment or share an update that places you in a more favorable light.

Here’s one final tip when responding to negative comments; match the response to your brand or the situation. Take Taco Bell, for example. Overall their social media campaign is fun and lighthearted, so when people do have a snarky remark, Taco Bell offers a witty comeback. But, when things get serious, Taco Bell delivers the appropriate response.

Make it an Educational Moment

Sometimes we can learn from a major mishap. It may be embarrassing or hurt business a little, but in the end, it will make you stronger. For example, let’s say you have a restaurant, cafe, etc. and you switch to a new brand of seasoning and your customers have begun to leave comments noting the difference. You notice these comments and figure out that the new brand isn’t as good as the previous seasoning and you switch back. What do you think will happen? We best customers will pleased that you made the change.

Of course, there are a million other scenarios. Perhaps the delivery service you use is unreliable. Maybe that Groupon experiment was too much for your business to handle. Whatever the case may be, you learned a lesson. And, most importantly, you made the adjustment to correct the problem.

However, you also don’t have to wait for a serious PR moment to occur. You could learn from the experiences of others. Take some time and view examples of what not to when handling negative comments, like the aforementioned Amy’s Bakery. And, what some of the pros have successfully done, like what photographer RJ Hidson did on his Google Plus page.

Ask For Positive Reviews or Help

Instead of sitting around and waiting to defuse any negative comments that may come your way, be proactive and ask for your customers to leave some positive feedback. You may even be surprised that many happy customers will be more than willing to share their good experiences with others - 78% of customers actually. In fact, these customers may be, or become, brand advocates who will do what they can to help expand your brand. And, don’t be shy about promoting those positive comments - just don’t overdo it.

Just keep in mind that when receive positive comments that you respond as well. A simple “Thank you for the comment and your support” will work just fine. This keeps the conversation going and makes it visible. So, if that customer has their friends and family see the positive comment and conversation, that could influence their decision to give your product or service a try. In fact, about 86% of people have their purchasing decisions influenced by friends and family.

Finally, if you notice that you’re being harassed by negative comments, don’t hesitate to reach out to the review site. It may be a long process, but at least you’re taking the issue out of your hands. If you are in control of the comments on your website or blog, you may consider removing comments that are hurtful, offensive or factually incorrect.

Have you gotten any negative customer reviews? If so, how did you handle the Situation

By: John Rampton