How to Respond Proactively to a Negative Review

No matter how hard you try to avoid it, you will most likely get a negative online review at one point or another during the lifetime of your business. You and your staff can aspire to excellence; however, something will happen, which may or may not be your fault, to spur someone to post a less-than-flattering review on a site such as Yelp. Even though negative reviews aren’t exactly flattering, the way you respond (or don’t) can actually do your business good. Before rebutting that negative review, there are a few factors you need to take into consideration.

While you want to broadcast to your current and potential customers that you care about their experience and want to rectify any complaints, there are times when it’s just better to not say anything at all. Namely, if the person seems to be mad at the world and is complaining just for the sake of getting attention, you don’t want to touch them with a 10-foot pole! Before engaging in a dialogue with someone like this, you should research their profile and look at the other reviews and comments they have left. Trolls aren’t too hard to spot, so after some digging around, it will become readily apparent if the person is even worth a response. In the same vein, if the person seems to be, uh, “unstable” and uses bad language and doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, it really wouldn’t behoove you to engage them at all. Finally, if you are shaking with rage from something someone has written about you, definitely don’t respond. If you feel like you can’t be objective and put aside your anger, have one of your staff address the issue.

Once you’ve determined that the reviewer isn’t a psychotic troll, it’s extremely important for you to respond to their complaints and to do so quickly before the comment gains traction and spirals out of control. Don’t toss off a knee-jerk reaction though; before responding, research the situation and familiarize yourself with all of the minute details of the transaction/experience being criticized. Perhaps your company wasn’t even at fault and the reviewer simply was misinformed or confused. Just remember that while you are responding to the initial person who made a complaint, a lot of people, including potential customers, will be reading your reply. Therefore, it’s extremely important to take some time to create a thoughtful response that paints your business in the best light possible.

So, now that you’ve cooled off, have researched the incident completely and are ready to craft your rebuttal, make sure you’re doing it in a way that will build the most goodwill between you and your customers.

1. Be Honest. If you did, in fact, mess up, you have to acknowledge this and apologize for it. Even though it may be hard to fess up to a mistake without getting defensive or making excuses, you must do it. Remember… not only are you addressing the customer with the complaint, you are communicating with potential customers, and if they see you as being contrite and willing to accept responsibility, that will go a long way in your winning them over. After apologizing, discuss the steps you are taking to avoid any recurrences of the issue in the future and offer to rectify the situation by providing them with an incentive to give you another chance.

2. Keep it Brief. This isn’t your time to set the record straight or tell your side of the story. The client doesn’t want to read a book of why x, y and z happened or hear about the hardships going on at your company. Instead, they want their issues to be acknowledged and amended. So, keep your response short and non-defensive while owning up to the issue and detailing how you are taking action to avoid any similar issue in the future.

3. Be Calm, Personable and Polite. As mentioned earlier, it’s crucial that you make sure you’re calm, cool and collected once you are composing your response. If you write it while you are still angry, you will be putting yourself in a world of hurt by allowing everyone to see you at your worst. You’ll want to keep your tone conversational and pleasant; this isn’t the forum for you to impress everyone with your exceptional vocabulary skills or corporate jargon. Take off your salesperson hat and treat the reviewer as you would a friend, not just as a customer. Being authentic and empathetic will get you a lot farther than slick salesmanship.

4. Have an Unbiased Person Review Your Response. Before hitting send on your carefully crafted, well-though-out reply, have someone who isn’t a part of your company read it and have them identify any parts that sound defensive so you can take them out. As objective as you think you are, it really is worth the extra time to have someone unassociated with the whole situation to review your response.

If you are providing a product or service, you will at some point receive a negative review. When you do, it’s essential to not panic, keep your wits about you and calmly react in the manner that best suits the particular situation. Remember… how you react in situations like these will speak volumes about your integrity and can help you to come out of it looking even better than before!