Wouldn’t it be great if every customer gave a 5-star review? Unfortunately, no matter how hard business owners try, businesses always have and always will receive negative feedback. No business is perfect and not every customer is a perfect fit for the business.
With the prevalence of online reviews today, negative feedback is given on a public platform and therefore easily accessible to potential customers. That makes it more critical than ever for businesses to have a strategy for dealing with customer feedback.
You may be tempted to ignore negative reviews but that can actually be completely counterproductive. With 89% of customers looking at reviews when buying online, it’s very likely bad reviews will be seen by prospects, whether you like it or not. To counteract the damage the poor feedback could do, you need to work on improving your online reputation by responding to all reviews, good or bad, in a timely manner.
In case you haven’t heard the term before, online reputation management is all about monitoring your online image. What does the content available online make potential customers think about your business? Effective online reputation management considers both the content the business puts out and the content others put out about the business. Be actively involved in both to foster a positive online image that supports business growth.
Understanding the perspective of your customers is always a good thing. So really negative online reviews are a learning opportunity. They may even lead to changes that win back unhappy customers and win over potential customers reading through review sites. A good response to a bad review can transform the impact of the review from negative to positive. So, let’s get into it…
Bad Reviews: Types and Examples
Negative reviews are basically pieces of customer feedback that puts your business in a bad light. Think of customer complaints such as a negative experience with staff, frustratingly slow service, a product that isn’t fit for purpose, and anything else that means your business is not meeting customer expectations. You’ll see plenty of customer reviews like these on Yelp and Google reviews.
However, not all negative customer feedback is equal. Actually, there are good negative reviews and bad negative reviews. The type determines the impact the review will have on your brand reputation and the way you should respond to it. Here’s how to tell the difference between the two.
Good Negative Reviews: 3 Examples
Good negative customer reviews are constructive. The review writer has gone into detail about what they didn’t like about their experience with the business. Essentially, they are justifying their poor review of your business and giving pointers for what they think needs to be improved. Sometimes they’ll even balance out the bad with a positive comment or two.
It’s good because you know what you did wrong, making it easier to respond to and offer a way to make it up to them. This shows a willingness to change according to customer feedback which will impress the reviewer and anyone reading it.
You might even find that potential customers reading the review aren’t put off by it because what the customer complained about wouldn’t be an issue for them. For example, the food being too spicy could be a negative for the reviewer but attract the type of customer that loves really spicy food.
Good negative reviews look a bit like this…
Bad Negative Reviews: 3 Examples
These are harder to come back from because the reviewer doesn’t actually explain what was wrong. They don’t include any details about what made your business so bad in their eyes, leaving you without the opportunity to act on it and improve. All these reviews consist of is angry and disparaging comments.
Biting comments like “waste of money” may push you to get defensive but for the good of your online reputation, it’s best not to stoop to their level even if you feel like they deserve it. Maintain professionalism and politeness.
You may find that your ideal client disregards these types of reviews because they don’t tell them much of use so not all is lost. At any rate, if you are going to win over potential clients who have seen bad negative reviews, you need to act with integrity and respect for your customers.
Bad negative reviews go something like this…
Should I Respond to Negative Reviews?
Reading and coming up with a response to not-so-nice reviews isn’t going to be fun for you or anyone involved in the business. But it’s part of modern-day customer relations. Don’t let negative reviewers control the narrative. Especially when a lot of customer complaints can be resolved when addressed by the business. There are plenty of reasons to respond to both negative and positive reviews including the following.
It shows you care. If you want to make your customers happy, you’ve got to help them out when things don’t go as planned. Ignoring negative reviewers will only make them angrier and more likely to bad-mouth your business. Plus it doesn’t look good to potential customers researching your business. They want to know you care about your customers and are working on resolving issues they bring up.
It’s good for your online reputation. You can counter bad comments about your business with considered responses. Taking responsibility for problems is a practice of transparency. Making amends for mistakes builds trust. Responding to bad reviews is proof that you maintain a high standard of customer service. If you’re going to be active online, you can’t gloss over the bad stuff and act like it isn’t happening. You have to face it head-on.
It shows a willingness to take feedback. No one is perfect. So don’t pretend that you are. Businesses that are willing to own up to mistakes and make changes to serve their customers better are much more attractive than stubborn businesses that won’t listen or change for the good of the people they claim to serve. Businesses in a constant state of improvement are what many consumers are looking for.
It helps with SEO. The more interaction on your Yelp reviews and Google reviews profiles the better. It increases your credibility on these sites and means that you’re more likely to be recommended when a user is searching for a business like yours. Even interacting with social media posts about your business such as Facebook reviews can help your ranking and how easily potential customers can find you. It all builds a strong online presence.
Regularly reading through and responding to online reviews, especially the bad ones, is well worth your time and effort. It can be a bit uncomfortable at first so here’s a strategy for how to approach responding to customer complaints.
How to Respond to Bad Reviews? 6 Tips
Replying to unhappy customers is a no-brainer at this point. It benefits your business too much to lose out on and ignoring them just increases the damage bad comments can have. Following a clearly defined strategy for responding to bad reviews makes it a lot easier. It gives you guidance on how to handle what can be a very awkward situation. It also standardizes the process which you can then share with your team, ensuring the business can consistently interact with even a high volume of reviews. These are some best practices to keep in mind.
1. Don’t Take Negative Reviews Personally
While the reviewer in question may have written their post with seemingly unbridled emotion, it’s best to keep your emotions in check and maintain a professional distance to prevent the situation from escalating and turning into a full-blown argument. Arguments aren’t good for online reputation management!
That means you shouldn’t take the review to heart. Most likely, the reviewer sees the business as an anonymous entity. They’ve forgotten about the real person behind the screen. Don’t get bogged down in the negative comments. Focus on using it as an opportunity to learn from, listen to, and improve your relationship with customers.
2. Respond Quickly
We live in a world of immediate gratification in the form of next-day delivery, 24-hour call centers, and the like. Consumers don’t expect to have to wait long for responses from a business’s support team no matter the day or the hour they initiated the interaction. So to meet the expectations of the reviewer and potential customers looking through your reviews by responding to comments in a timely manner.
It shows you have an attentive customer service team and genuine care for what your customers have to say about your business. The sooner you can give a reputation-improving response to negative comments, the better. Don’t leave them to linger unresolved and potentially put off new customers.
3. Personalize the Response
Copy-and-paste responses aren’t going to cut it. Not if you want unhappy customers to give you a second chance and if potential customers are going to believe the response is sincere. So yes follow a strategy and even a template, just make sure to adapt the response to the specific review.
Start by including the customer’s name so it feels like a personal message to them. Mention the details they included in their review to prove you’ve read it and taken it onboard. Let them know of any changes you can commit to making to prevent mistakes from being repeated. Personalization adds integrity which is vital to bouncing back from negative feedback.
4. Thank the Customer for the Review and Apologize
Kind words go a long way. So demonstrate that you appreciate the customer for going out of their way to write a review that brings faults to your attention and creates an opportunity for you to improve. Give sincere apologies for their poor experience. It shows a real level of professionalism from your side if you can maintain respect and politeness in the face of any unsavory comments that might be left.
Not everyone is humble enough to write the words “I apologize”. It says a lot about the character of the business that you are willing to thank customers for bad reviews and apologize for any inconvenience and dissatisfaction caused.
5. Don’t Argue with the Customer
The best way to sour customer relations even further is to get defensive and write an argumentative reply. A high standard of customer service is a major buying factor for consumers today. Don’t let it slip online where it could become the first impression for some potential customers.
Maintain respect for the customer and the experience they have reported. Don’t hesitate to admit fault – it will do a lot more for your online reputation than overlooking problems. Direct the response towards solutions rather than debating over the problem itself. Do what you can to make it up to them. That’s your best shot at resolving the situation. Arguing over what they’ve said won’t make anything better.
6. Offer the Customer the Opportunity to Talk Directly with the Company
Taking the conversation offline and onto the company messaging service or even a good old phone call is the best next step for some interactions. First, it looks good because it shows you are being thorough in resolving problems and helping unsatisfied customers. Second, it allows you to gather extra details that are on the personal side so shouldn’t be shared publicly like contact information or order numbers.
One of the main factors in customers swinging from unhappy to loyal is actually being listened to. If you make a mistake but then go out of your way to fix the situation and make it up to them, you could win a raving fan. The power of active and attentive listening cannot be overstated.
5 Negative Review Response Templates & Examples
Coming up with a good response to a negative review on the spot isn’t easy. You want it to show appreciation and care, that you’ve actually read and taken on what they said, and for it to be problem-solving and de-escalating in nature. While you don’t want to get it wrong and make the situation worse, you can’t afford to spend hours and hours formulating each response. That’s not the best use of company time.
That’s why we’ve come up with some negative review response examples that you can use as a guide. Keep in mind this is a starting point. You need to make it make sense for your industry, business, and the specific review you’re responding to.
1. Response Template for Automotive Businesses
Responsiveness is essential in the automotive industry. Customers looking to buy a vehicle or associated product could easily go to a competitor if customer service representatives aren’t quick off the mark. Additionally, customer patience will quickly run thin if they are turning to the business to fix an issue with their vehicle. That means responsive communication is essential but due to unforeseen events, this doesn’t always happen. If a customer complains about poor communication, try this.
“Thank you [customer name] for putting your trust in us and turning to the team at [company name] for help with [the service they wanted].
Please accept my sincerest apologies for your bad experience with our website. We replaced our phone booking system with an online booking system for more ease and efficiency. However, there have been some teething problems moving over to the new system.
The issue has been fixed by our tech team so you will now be able to book an appointment for [the service they wanted]. If you would like to be walked through the new booking system, start a conversation with a customer service agent through the chat box on the bottom right of our website.
We look forward to seeing you in store soon and thank you for your patience as we modernize our systems!
Best,
[employee name] at [company name]”
This works well because:
- It thanks the customer first, giving the response a positive start.
- It outlines the good intentions of the business and what went wrong with communication.
- It gives the customer the chance to continue to get support in fulfilling their aim of booking an appointment.
2. Response Template for Healthcare Businesses
A customer visiting a healthcare business is probably already experiencing heightened emotions. Not many people like going to the dentist and needing to visit the doctor doesn’t usually equate to good news. That means customers can be particularly sensitive about their customer service experience, getting frustrated about wait times and such. If a customer complains about poor customer service, try this.
“Hi [customer name] thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. We absolutely fell below standard in this case and I cannot apologize enough for this.
We strive to serve customers with care and consideration and in a timely manner. I’m sorry this was not your experience with [business name]. While we usually keep scheduling, the nature of our work means that emergencies and unexpected events can happen which disrupts appointments and staff can be under immense pressure to meet the needs of multiple clients at once.
Thank you for being a loyal customer. I hope we can move forward from this incident and continue to support you and your family.
All the best,
[employee name]”
This works well because:
- The company accepts full responsibility for what went wrong.
- There is an explanation for why customer service fell below standard.
- It recognizes the loyalty of the customer and the relationship they have built over the years.
3. Response Template for Retail Businesses
Retail businesses have the potential to serve thousands and even millions of customers at a time. Working with customers at such a volume almost guarantees mistakes will be made like customers receiving the wrong order or broken products. In those situations, a swift response that fixes the issue is needed to calm customer concerns. If a customer complains about a defective product, try this.
“Hi [customer name],
I’m so sorry that your [product name] arrived in such a condition and I completely understand your disappointment. It doesn’t meet our high standards either. Please give us a chance to make it up to you.
Send me a direct message via this email address [the email address] so I can collect your postal address and send you a replacement free of charge.
Thank you for giving us a shot as a local business and I hope we can work on rectifying this issue for you.
Take care,
[employee name] – Customer Support at [business name]”
This works well because:
- It validates the feelings of the customer without antagonizing them.
- It admits that the business is in the wrong and responsible for sorting out the issue.
- It offers a solution that comes at the cost to the business, not the customer, demonstrating goodwill.
4. Response Template for Restaurant Businesses
Anyone who has worked in the hospitality industry knows that it can get intense on the restaurant floor, especially during busy periods when the tables are full and there isn’t time for mistakes. However, mistakes still happen, especially if employees are running around to keep up with customer demand. If a customer complains about an employee mistake, try this.
“[Customer name], I sincerely apologize that your experience with [company name] has fallen far below the high standard of customer service we usually pride ourselves on. I can assure you that this is not a situation we take lightly. We will be launching an investigation into how such an incident was able to occur and any changes we need to make to prevent this from happening again.
We would value your input so please call our customer service line on [phone number] whenever is convenient for you. As a thank you for your time spent reporting this issue and as a symbol of our sincerest apologies, we will be fully refunding you. We will ask you to confirm your details during your call to complete the refund.
Thank you,
[employee name]
General manager of [business name]”
This works well because:
- It demonstrates genuine concern about the incident (particularly as the response comes from the general manager) and that there are consequences for employees who don’t meet the company standards.
- It initiates the gathering of extra information about the incident which will ensure the business has a full picture of what happened.
- It makes an effort to make it up to the customer by refunding them, again showing genuine care for customers.
5. Response Template for Home Service Businesses
The home service industry can range quite a bit in pricing, from businesses that will get the job done as cheaply as possible to businesses that focus on quality and care to achieve the best result possible. Not all customers understand the pricing structure of home service businesses and that misunderstanding can cause problems. If a customer complains about pricing, try this.
“Hi [customer name],
Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. It is our aim to leave customers happy and I’m sorry that in your experience this wasn’t the case. I apologize for the miscommunication about pricing. Our pricing structure works like this [explain pricing structure]. This should have been made clear to you when booking the appointment and when our team arrived to complete the job.
Please email me personally at [individual employee email address] with your full name and the email address you booked with so I can check in with the employees who handled your booking and remind them of our company policy around pricing.
Thank you for your time,
[employee name] at Team [business name]”
This works well because:
- It explains what went wrong while still taking full responsibility for the problem the customer experienced.
- It takes the conversation offline in a way that ensures consistency as the customer will continue to interact with the same point of contact and therefore won’t need to re-explain the situation.
- It offers a solution to prevent the issue from occurring again which shows that the business takes complaints seriously and is willing to act on areas for improvement.
Generally, keeping it short and simple is best. Focus on gratitude for their review, regret about their experience, and the action you’re going to take to resolve the situation. Unsatisfied customers probably aren’t going to go to the effort of reading paragraphs and paragraphs of a response. As already mentioned, if your response to the review needs to go further, take it to another platform where you can talk one on one.
Reach the Top of the Podium
As your business grows, it will become increasingly difficult to request reviews, monitor your online review profiles, and respond to comments due to the sheer volume of customers you’re servicing. A manual approach won’t really cut it.
So get the right technology in place sooner rather than later. Podium is the digital tool to elevate your business’s online presence with efficiency and ease. Check out our review management capabilities if you’re serious about leveraging business reviews to boost your brand reputation.
Unsatisfied customers exist. Negative reviews happen. Is your business prepared to deal with them? More than that, handle negative feedback in a way that elevates your online reputation.
Eager to give it a try? Start a free trial of Podium today.
