You’ve spent a great deal of time and effort training your employees, and you’re proud of the culture you’ve created within your company. Unfortunately, one day during a transaction with a customer, a misunderstanding occurs, and the customer leaves feeling unsatisfied with the level of service he received. Before you know it, you’ve lost half a star rating on your Google business page because the unhappy customer left a negative review. Here are three things you should do immediately.

1. Read to understand. 

Take your time when reading the review. You want to understand your customer’s point of view. By putting yourself in your customer’s shoes, you’ll reply empathetically instead of defensively.

2. Do your research.

Before responding to the review, do some digging internally to find out exactly what occurred when the customer interacted with your company. The more informed you are about the incident the better.

3. Respond timely.

Now that you’ve had the opportunity to gather information, it’s time to respond to the customer. Begin by acknowledging the customer’s experience. Apologize, even if no one at your company made a mistake or acted inappropriately. Next, assure the customer that you have standards in place that you expect all employees to uphold. Last, invite the customer to return to your company.  

Negative reviews can do real damage to your company’s reputation. It’s imperative that you address each one. According to statistics provided by BrightLocal, 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a company and, of those, 97% will take the time to specifically read the company’s responses to reviews. Additionally, 84% of consumers think that reviews older than three months aren’t relevant, and 48% of consumers only read reviews written in the past two weeks. 

Applying these three steps when you’re dealing with a negative review is a productive way to respond effectively and maintain your online reputation. 

It can be challenging keeping up with your online reviews. ReviewMaxer makes managing your online reviews easy and improves your online reputation. Want to learn more about it? Sign up for a complimentary demo today.

Amide Jean is a spring intern at Axia Public Relations and a communication student studying at the University of North Florida. She is detail-oriented and passionate about exceeding expectations and goals. Amide joined Axia in January 2020.

In the age of technology, online reviews are often the deciding factor for prospective customers. For instance, online statistics website Qualtrics found that 93% of consumers reported online reviews impacted their purchasing decisions. What happens when the good intention of online reviews goes awry?

Thew Brewing Company received backlash in the form of negative online reviews in August 2019 after hosting fundraising events for an LGBTQ organization. The brewery held two drag shows in support of Tanager Place LGBTQ Youth Center. The first drag show was for people over 21, and after many teens who attended the center shared their interest, the brewery held an all-ages bingo drag show. 

Once word about the shows spread, online reviews began flooding in, most of them displaying disapproval of the company’s LGBTQ support and events. Thew Brewing’s dedicated regulars took note and began posting positive reviews and recommendations on the company’s Facebook page. In just two hours the brewery received 24 positive reviews and 16 negative reviews. 

Many of the negative reviews were dishonest; however, they still had an impact on the company’s overall rating. Unfortunately, many other companies have been the subject of false reviews, and some companies have even taken legal action, like this business owner in Forest Lake, Minnesota. Luckily, Thew Brewing had the support of its regular customers and other individuals to combat some of the negative backlash. 

Online review sites are a platform for honest and helpful reviews of companies. Is it OK to use them to show disappointment or disagreement with a company’s business practices? If you’re disappointed in a company’s services, then a negative review is acceptable. However, reviewers shouldn’t tarnish a company’s image if they’ve never done business with the establishment. Negative reviews can be detrimental to an organization. Thew Brewing was able to recover from its negative reviews. Would your company recover from something similar?

Your reputation and reviews are a big part of how customers decide to do business with your company. ReviewMaxer can help your company build a positive online presence. Schedule a demo today!

Reviews can have a measurable impact on your company, both good and bad.

Luxury skincare company Sunday Riley settled with the Federal Trade Commission after an accusation that it had been posting fake online reviews to Sephora’s website for years.

A user on Reddit exposed the company back in October 2018. The whistleblower was allegedly an employee at Sunday Riley and posted an email from an executive in the company encouraging employees to post fake positive reviews on Sephora’s website. Employees used a VPN so their computers were untraceable. The company also requested that employees dislike any negative reviews, because with enough dislikes, Sephora would remove the negative reviews.

Many skincare brands don’t test their products long enough to have solid scientific evidence that they work, so they rely on online reviews to build brand recognition and loyalty. What Sunday Riley did was deceptive and unethical. Companies should earn authentic positive reviews from customers.

What brands can learn from this

Sunday Riley should have focused on reaching out to customers instead of its employees to write reviews. The brand has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media as well as customer emails it could market to. Additionally, since the focus was on obtaining online reviews, Sunday Riley could have posted signs in stores asking for feedback on review sites including Sephora.

From this scandal brands can learn that customer service should come before reviews. By giving the best experience possible to a customer, good reviews will flow in on their own. And ReviewMaxer can help make that happen.

What consumers can learn from this

Customers are getting better at evaluating the credibility of online reviews. Buying a product based on glowing reviews and then finding out it was all a lie is infuriating. Ultimately, when companies try to trick consumers, it turns them into smarter shoppers. Consumers should learn not to trust reviews at face value and how to spot when a review is fake, so in the future, they can find a brand they can trust.

5 ways to thwart fake bad reviews and manage your online reputation 

It’s easy to spot when your company’s online reputation is under attack. Often, multiple critical reviews pop up at the same time with similar language repeated throughout. Do the reviews sound like a story rather than facts of the reviewer's experience? Check the reviewer’s profile. Does this person have a history of leaving only negative reviews to get free products or services?

Once you identify that the reviews are fake, it’s time to follow through with your crisis plan. Your crisis plan should be in place long before anyone posts a negative review of your company. 

Here are some ways you can combat fake negative reviews:

1. Proactively seek out positive reviews before you’re attacked.

If you have hundreds of 4- or 5-star reviews already, they’ll provide a cushion when multiple negative reviews pop up at once. Post signs around your company encouraging customers to leave honest reviews about their experiences. Potential customers who come across your review page are smart enough to trust a longer history of excellent reviews over a short spam of negative reviews.

2. Make sure you claim your social media and review pages.

By claiming your review pages, you’re able to respond quickly and efficiently to negative reviews. Not claiming them before a spam attack results in extra steps that waste time and could result in more negative reviews or a loss of business.

3. Have review management software in place. 

ReviewMaxer gives you the ability to see reviews across hundreds of review platforms all on one page. The attack of fake reviews may not just be on Yelp or Google, it could be across multiple sites. Review management software allows you to see where the attack is taking place and regularly updates you on new reviews as they come in, so you can respond to the negative reviews quickly.

4. Report the fake reviews.

Each review site has its own policy on how to report reviews. However, this isn’t an instant problem-solver. Support for review websites is often understaffed compared to the number of reports they handle each day. 

5. Turn off the review feature.

As a last resort, you can turn off the review feature. This mainly applies to Facebook. Since you should own your business page on Facebook, you have the ability to control the review feature. Most review sites, like Yelp, don’t allow companies to remove their page. If you do turn off reviews, it’ll prevent new positive reviews from coming in. Most of the time, people don’t trust old reviews. That’s why it’s better to be proactive rather than reactive when a fake review crisis happens.

Want to learn more about how to manage your business reviews? Watch this free demo today to find out how ReviewMaxer can protect your company.

Learn customer service strategies from other companies

When it comes to your company’s online customer reviews, sometimes you have to sift through several bad ones to get to the good ones. Occasionally, you might come across a truly ugly one that makes your blood boil, but how do you respond? With anger or love?

Companies, whether small or large, need to be at the top of their game when responding to customer feedback. This requires them to be prompt, witty and gracious. The goal is to earn public approval with exemplary customer service. Take a hint from these businesses in learning what to do and what not to do with your customer service strategy.

Here are the good, the bad and the ugly examples that represent some dos and don’ts of customer service.

The good: An example of a company doing it right

JetBlue is scoring points with customers due to its awesome customer service track record. The airline is serious about pleasing its customers and is willing to go the extra mile for a positive review. The company has more than 1.8 million followers on Twitter, more than 1 million likes on Facebook and hundreds of positive reviews on Yelp.

A tactic that JetBlue employs is that it doesn’t leave its customers hanging. The company responds to complaints and feedback quickly – most times within 10 minutes. The airline doesn’t stop there; it works toward surpassing customers’ expectations. For instance, when one customer, Alexa Burrows, was flying home to Boston, she went on Twitter to express her happiness about arriving home and jokingly tweeted for JetBlue to throw her a welcome home parade. JetBlue’s Twitter team sent a message to the Boston airport staff to throw Alexa a welcome home parade when she arrived, which they did. How awesome is that?

One secret to JetBlue’s top-notch customer service is that employees engage with customers cleverly, using their wits and creativity. They can’t make everyone’s wishes come true, but they do selectively respond to the online comments that provide an opportunity to add value to the company.

The bad: An example of a company doing it wrong

American Airlines is doing it wrong and customers are noticing. The airline is known for its over-the-top positivity, even when its optimistic responses don’t make an ounce of sense.

Customers suspected that something was up when American Airlines kept replying to customer complaints on Twitter with repetitive, upbeat responses. No matter what the commenter said, American Airlines replied with something along the lines of “thanks for your support.” Confused customers quickly got on Twitter to tell American Airlines that the jig was up and that robo-tweeting is lame.

Sending automatic responses is tricky. In the case of American Airlines, the automated responses didn’t make sense in the situation. The lesson: Have robotic responses, but also have humans to address the public when the situation turns sour.

The ugly: An example of a company doing it really wrong

If you are running a company, your first priority is to satisfy your customers, especially those who dislike your company. One restaurant’s response to a negative online review provides a perfect example of how not to treat your customers – ever.

The chef at Pigalle in Boston lost his cool when a patron lambasted his cooking skills on Facebook. She wrote that the pumpkin pie tasted like vomit and that it wasn’t worth the price she paid for it: $200. Instead of offering a free meal or refund, the chef responded viciously and rudely – with several expletives. It took some time – and a public and very nasty online exchange – but in the end, the chef realized his mistake and made amends with the miffed customer. Let’s hope he learned his lesson and leaves the “angry chef” gimmick to Gordon Ramsay.

Regardless of what a customer says about your company, you have to handle it with grace. If you do anything else, the entire Internet may turn against you – and ruin your company.

Responding promptly to online reviews and complaints is an important step in providing terrific customer service. It’s also extremely time-consuming. ReviewMaxer is an online review management software application that helps companies manage customer feedback and also improves their online reputation. ReviewMaxer efficiently monitors, collects and promotes your online reviews from one central dashboard. Sign up for a free demo to see how this cloud-based software can save you time and protect your company online. Read the ReviewMaxer blog for more tips on how to handle negative reviews and how to get your company at the top of search listings today.

Photo credit: 123RF Stock Photo

Written by: Paul Cook