Three vital steps to addressing fake negative reviews
Before you can address fake reviews, you must be able to spot them. A fake review is commonly written in an angry or malicious tone and will not feature specific criticism. Authentic negative reviews will usually include specific reasons for leaving the review and what the customer disliked about his or her visit or experience.
Fake reviews are a quick way to make a business look bad. Here are some steps to combating fake reviews so your business can stay on top.
Step #1: Remove the review
The first step is to report the fake review to the website the reviewer posted on. This step is crucial for dealing with the problem. One of the most common places for fake reviews is on Google. To have a fake review removed, you must hit the flag button on the comment after responding to it. Google advises contacting a Google support team member about the review.
Step #2: Respond to the review
While you wait on the review to be taken down, it is important to respond professionally to maintain and restore your reputation with current and future customers. This also shows customers that you can take the situation seriously and handle criticism. To respond, you will need to first ask the reviewer, “are you sure you are leaving a review for the right business?” This shows other customers seeing this review that the review might be incorrect or not valid.
Next, let them know you have no record of their name or experience. Then you want to mention the other positive reviews by saying something like “as you can see from our other reviews, our clients are extremely happy with our business.” Next, tell them to reach out so you can resolve the issue, such as by saying, “if you are a real client of ours, feel free to reach out to one of our team members.”
Step #3: Monitor reviews
Now that you’ve dealt with the fake review, it is important to not let any more fake reviews go unresolved. To monitor and maintain these reviews on a daily basis, you must create a plan. A good site for doing this is ReviewMaxer, which allows you to set up daily alerts that help manage and review your activity.
