5 Ways to Deal with Negative Customer Reviews
Reading Time: 4 minutes The word of mouth has reached a new level of influence these days. According to Forbes, even one negative review on Yelp can cause your business to lose tens of thousands of dollars. For this reason, if you are running business in our digital era, you cannot avoid an issue of negative customer reviews. It is just inevitable. Still, it does not mean that your business is doomed to failure and you need to give up immediately. On the contrary, if you are talked about, it means that you are already in the public eye.
Today, we are going to discuss how to deal with negative reviews, why it is important to listen to your customers’ feedback and communicate with your clients. Check out 5 efficient ways to try straight away!
#1. Remain Calm
First and foremost, calm down. Face the fact that you have received some negative feedback and give yourself some time to process the information. Let your emotions cool down, because you can truly damage your reputation by replying to a customer in an anger. Always rethink twice what you are going to respond. Take time to collect your thoughts and only then talk to a client. Be polite and respectful, even if the customer isn’t right.
#2. Offer Fast & Personal Response
Even though you need some time to cool off, your response should be prompt. This is how you show that customer reviews are important to your business. It will be a great idea to set some time limits within which your company has to reply to a client. Make your response personal and show that you really care about what they have to say. Address them by name, try to understand what really made them leave the negative review, make them feel heard.
The competition today is rough, so great service can make your business stand out among the others. Your client wants to have their problem solved, why don’t you offer the fastest solution?
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#3. Stay Professional
Never take the reviews personally. It is your business we are talking about. To deal with customers, you need to be objective and professional. No matter what kind of rage your body is trembling with, you need to forget about it and apologize for any inconveniences your client faced.
When you are dealing with customer reviews, it is not your face they see, but the face of your company. That is why, always keep it in mind.
#4. Show that You Care
Another thing that is of crucial importance is offering individual approach to every client. Provide a personalized response. You can contact your clients via email, or call them to solve the matter. Tell them about the actions that you’re taking to address the issue, show your customers that you care.
Taking responsibility and showing concern often results in positive outcome. It’s a nice tone for a company to personally respond to every customer. As a result, the client may change their opinion and may even continue working with the company. If not, they will at least be less angry and less likely to tell about their negative experience to their friends.
“Don’t let the negative word of mouth spread. If you won’t treat the angry customer with respect and take quick measures to counteract negative word of mouth, you may lose a few prospective clients. More than 80% of people trust personal recommendations, so you should be very caring and polite with customers who leave negative reviews,” says Adam Simon, Senior Editor at LegitWritingServices review website.
#5. Turn a Minus into a Plus
Finally, do not let negative reviews kill your spirit. If the negative feedback is constructive and adequate, try to think of how to turn it into something positive for your company. Sometimes negative feedback is even more valuable than positive, as constructive criticism shows the ways of improvement that you wouldn’t even think of.
For example, 1Touch Studios (Android game developer) answered almost to every negative feedback relating to the company’s mobile game Dragon Rivals. After taking into account all the comments and adjusting the app, the company received more positive reviews and higher ratings. By showing that they care, they boosted their own business.
As you see, dealing with reviews have become an essential part of running any business. At first, it seems difficult and insufferable. However, as soon as you find out the way how to benefit from such feedback, your company will only expand and get more successful.
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Co-Authored With
Rhonda Martinez is a blogger and English teacher for adults. Rhonda is passionate about marketing, teaching and technology. She is constantly finding new & effective ways of teaching and sharing her knowledge with her students.
