How to Handle Negative Online Customer Reviews
If you market your business online, negative reviews are bound to happen. It is important that you know how to properly handle them, so you do not damage your credibility.
What should be your game plan for handling negative customer reviews?
Don’t Panic
First of all, do not panic. Every business gets a few bad reviews here and there. You are not the first business to have an unsatisfied customer and won’t be the last.
Assess the situation and see why the person is giving a bad review. Was it a problem with your product? Was it customer service related? Does the customer have a legitimate reason to be upset?
Whatever the case may be, always take reviews seriously to keep your reputation intact. Evaluate all issues to ensure everything is okay on your end, and if it is not inform the customer your plan of action to fix it.
Responding
Always address the person who wrote the review in a positive manner. If the individual sees that you are willing to fix the issue, they too may be willing to change their negative review once they see improvements. Positivity goes a long way with people.
Arguing with the person who wrote the bad review or leaving equally nasty feedback will only make your business look worse. You want to do all you can to show that if there was a problem, you tried to solve it.
This way people can see that you care about your customers; this will speak volumes to them. It is impossible to please everyone all the time. So learning to deal with negative reviews and complaints is a must-have skill for any business owner.