Bad reviews are bound to happen, and they don’t have to keep you down. With a few simple actions, you can turn bad reviews around to work for you rather than against you. Here are six ways to survive those negative reviews.
1. Move on
Don’t dwell on the negative review. This is only a waste of your resources. Instead, use the review to fuel your change for better business. A customer was unhappy enough to take time out of his or her day to speak out about a problem he or she faced. Your customer should be important enough for you to take time out of your day to address and fix that problem. This is one step closer to having customers be happy with your company, so they take the same time to share their positive experiences.
2. Address it
Few things can feel worse than being ignored. It reflects that you don’t care about the problems your customers are facing. Taking the time to address the review on the same platform it is posted on gives you the opportunity to show that site’s traffic you intend to do something about it. Never respond defensively. Instead, respond with positivity, thank them for taking the time to give you feedback, and provide an opportunity to help them. Then, offer alternatives to how the problem could be solved or what you plan to do to fix it. The last thing you want to do is make an attempt to hide the bad review; always meet it head-on.
3. Adjust your practices
The bad review stemmed from some kind of issue, whether it be from a product, customer service interaction, or tech problem. Regardless of what it is, it is something that needs to be assessed for change. It’s hard to be grateful for criticism, and how will you know a customer service representative has a tendency of being aggressive if no one provides you the feedback? This is the chance to have a meeting with an employee, call your IT department, or redesign a popular product for the future. Improve your practices, and your customers will notice and be grateful for it.
4. Encourage current customers to leave reviews
Don’t track down a customer you haven’t seen in six months. Start making more of an effort to provide current customers an easy ability to leave reviews (good or bad). Even a brief, friendly interaction can be enough to make people want to leave a positive review. And if you have helped them out, they will want to help you out. This is the opportunity to approach your die-hard customers for aid, and they are generally more than happy to give it to you.
5. Bring in new customers
Offsetting the bad reviews with more positive reviews is key. Negative news stands out more significantly than positive news in a consumer’s mind. Therefore, it takes much more to offset it. Finding different, innovative ways to bring in new clientele is always a desirable thing to do and when bad reviews pile up, it becomes necessary. Having a new wave of customers provides new opportunities for positive reviews to flood in.
6. Utilize a review management software
Harnessing the benefits of a review management software automates a lot of stress for brands. These work not by removing the negative reviews but by encouraging positive reviews as well as highlighting them for viewers.
Use software like ReviewMaxer to highlight your customers’ positive reviews. This will bring all praises to the top and allow your company to be seen in the best light possible.
