The Most Effective Way To Handle Negative Reviews On The Internet

As long as you provide excellent customer service and high-quality products, you should be able to avoid the majority of negative online reviews.

Even if you do everything right, however, someone may occasionally leave a scathing review of your business. How do you deal with a situation like this? What is the most effective way to handle negative reviews on the Internet?

1. Don’t ignore the complaint. Instead, acknowledge and address it

Ultimately, the majority of people who leave negative reviews online on sites like Yelp and Google Reviews have one primary goal in mind: they want their voices to be heard.The first step is to acknowledge their complaint and to issue an apology.

Even if the customer’s complaint is unwarranted, it is important to let them know that you are sorry that they didn’t feel their needs were met. You can read more about meeting needs on Yelp and other review sites on this blog from VelSEOity.com. 

After apologizing, give the customer more details about what went wrong and how you plan on correcting the problem. On Yelp, customers change their negative reviews to positive reviews approximately a third of the time when they feel their complaints are adequately addressed by the company.

2. Explain some of the positive aspects of your business

When replying to negative reviews, let the customer know that their experience was a one-off event. Make sure that they understand that your business usually provides much better service. 

Depending on the nature of the complaint, you may even want to highlight some of your company’s strong points. With a little bit of tact, you can use your response to showcase positive aspects of your business while at the same time helping your customers feel like their needs are being addressed.

3. Personalize your response

Anytime you reply to a negative review, you should be as genuine as possible, responding directly to the needs of the customer. Avoid using the same template or format for all of your responses. Instead, write a personalised reply, making sure to include your actual name, your job title, and your contact information.

Authenticity is important when handling negative reviews. By taking a personal approach, you can help customers feel like you genuinely care about their needs.

4. Move the conversation offline

After posting a public reply to the negative review, encourage the customer to continue resolving the issue offline. Not only does this make the customer feel valued but it also prevents all of the details of your exchange from being publicly posted.