You’re having a pretty great day so far as a business owner, and you decide to check your email. You see that you have a new review on Google My Business. But then you stop in your tracks as you read a scathing review filled with words that would get your child’s mouth washed out with soap.
You may feel shocked. You may feel hurt. You may be angry. You may be helplessly confused. Chances are that all of these swirl through your head at once.
What you do next has the potential to affect your business for months or years to come. Negative reviews happen to businesses every day, but open conflicts with customers have the potential to go viral. After one airline had a poor response to a passenger complaint about mishandling his guitar, he wrote a song that attracted 17 million viewers. On the flip side, some customers become loyal brand advocates once their issue is handled correctly.
So, what are the best responses to negative reviews? Read on to learn a step-by-step approach to handling negative reviews in a way that makes your business look good online.
STEP 1: DO NOTHING …YET
Your first step is to take a step back. The last thing you want to do is respond to the review when your emotions are still high. Even if you feel sympathetic rather than combative, responding reactively in a non-strategic way can still damage your online reputation when compared to responding with a well thought out plan.
Find something to take your mind partially off the issue for at least 10 minutes, and then revisit the problem once you have had a chance to breathe.
Remember not to take the review personally, either. Even if someone seems like they are “out for blood,” they could be dealing with personal issues or just having a bad day, which caused them to be meaner than they usually would be.
STEP 2: ASK YOURSELF THE RIGHT QUESTIONS ABOUT THE REVIEW
After you’ve given yourself a bit of emotional distance, you can approach the problem analytically. You want to be able to answer a few important questions:
- What was the gist of the review? Can you rephrase it into a less negative but still honest way?
- What is the customer’s goal? Do they want to warn people about having certain expectations of your business, like getting orders on time? Do they want their issue resolved? Do they want their money back? Do they just want to tear your business down on a public forum?
- If you were the customer, what would you need to hear or have happened to change your emotional state? The goal with responding to reviews is not to get the reviewer to change their opinion entirely but rather to get them to feel less negative emotion toward your business.
- In addition to an obligatory apology, your customer likely wants something to happen for them to feel satisfied. What would this be? Maybe they just want their money back, or maybe they want an assurance that the issue won’t happen to anyone else. Often, they just want to be heard and have their complaint validated.
Talk these questions over with a fellow business partner, friend or family member whose opinion you trust.
STEP 3: COMMIT TO NOT ESCALATING THE ISSUE
Your worst-case scenario should be that you walk away from a customer who remains unsatisfied. We can’t please everyone, after all.
Remember to walk away at any point you feel like you are not getting anywhere. You cannot force the customer to change their opinion or take their review down. Trying to make them happy doesn’t hurt, but you have to leave the ultimate decision up to them and be willing to move on with your day.
STEP 4: REACH OUT CORDIALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY
If the customer willingly shared their contact information with you, reach out to them to start a conversation. Be extremely polite and indicate that your only wish is to learn more about the issue they had and try to resolve it.
If you do not have their contact information, you may have to simply respond to the review itself with a cordial, professional request for them to get in touch.
During this initial contact, remain personable but leave emotion out of it. Consider it a business process, not a personal conflict.
STEP 5: WHEN TALKING WITH CUSTOMERS WHO LEAVE BAD REVIEWS, REMEMBER THE DO’S AND DON’TS
NEVER EVER
- Be tense, combative or argumentative
- Tell the customer they are wrong or imply they are lying
- Act like you are the victim and the one who needs an apology
- Make the customer prove what they say is true by demanding emails, receipts, witnesses, etc.
- Blame another worker: you have to accept 100% responsibility for your employees’ actions!
ALWAYS
- Listen closely without interrupting
- Apologize sincerely. It doesn’t matter if you think they aren’t 100% accurate or if the issue was the result of their own misconception. You are sorry they had that experience and want to prevent further things like that from happening.
- Ask, “What can we do to make this better for you?”
- Provide solutions to remedy their negative experience, including possible refunds or future discounts/free items
- Indicate that you will make internal changes so that no one else has their experience
- LISTEN to the customer throughout the process. After you say something important, give them a few seconds to respond before you talk further.
STEP 6: WRITE DOWN YOUR PROMISES AND FOLLOW THROUGH WITH THEM
During your conversation with the customer, you are likely to make promises for things you will do for them as well as things you will change internally. Write down every single one of these, and ensure you follow through with them. Customer issues should be resolved within 24 hours or less when possible. Internal issues should be addressed immediately through a team meeting followed by further strategy or policy/practice changes.
STEP 7: FOLLOW UP AFTER YOU THINK EVERYTHING IS RESOLVED
Never just assume that any actions you did to resolve the customer issue worked. Always follow up a few days later and ask if the issue was resolved to the customer’s satisfaction. If they have used your services again recently, ask if their experience was more positive this time.
THE BEST RESPONSES TO NEGATIVE REVIEWS SEE A LESSON IN EVERY ANGRY CUSTOMER
Your ultimate goal when handling a bad review is to ensure that the exact same issue is never repeated again.
If the mistake was on your business completely, you must make internal changes to practices that ensure 100% customer satisfaction at every point. Even something as simple as checking in with the customer regularly before they leave can keep the next blowout from happening.
If the mistake was due to a miscommunication, rethink your policies and how they are worded to ensure no one gets the wrong idea in the future.
If the negative review was from someone who just seems to enjoy being mean online, then use it as a lesson in making your brand look good even when someone tries to tarnish it. Remember that you can only control your business and your behavior, so you are better off trying to prevent future damage from happening than fuming over someone else’s poor attitude.
Through these steps, you can craft a policy for handling negative reviews that ensure your business — and your customers’ experience — only gets better over time!
The post How To Handle A Negative Online Review The Right Way appeared first on Optimized Scribes.
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