Negative Online Reviews – How Businesses Deal With Them Properly

Online reviews are the cornerstone of many businesses. Reviews have the ability to propel a business’s growth forward, but when these reviews are bad, they can also leave a business in ruin. United States companies are most vulnerable to reviews, and 68% of people state that trustworthy reviews are a key reason for making a purchase.

If your product or business isn’t reviewed highly, you’ll have trouble making sales.

No one wants to struggle to make sales or close a client. You have to be strategic when negative online reviews pop up because a negative reaction or not responding at all will be even worse for business. How should you handle negative reviews?

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1. Don’t Ignore The Review

A bad review is amplified when you allow it to exist without a response. Consumers or clients are leaving a bad review to tell you that something didn’t meet their standards, and this demands a response. Not responding is bad for customer service.

When you don’t respond, you’re showing:

• Other potential customers that you don’t care
• Validating the reviewer’s negative opinion about your company

Instead, try and make it “right” by the customer or client. Respond to the review in a professional manner and show the extent of your customer service. By showing that you acknowledge an unhappy customer and are willing to find a solution to their problem, you’ll be able to turn a negative review into a positive one.

2. Show Off All Of Your Good Reviews

When you have more negative reviews than positive reviews, this looks bad for your business. But, when you have a good mix of reviews, take a pointer from NE Pipe and display all of these great reviews on your site.

There are always going to be customers and clients that you can’t please.

A lot of potential customers will go with the majority, or they’ll go with a group that has more positive reviews than negative reviews. I am not saying that bad reviews aren’t going to hurt your business, they definitely will.

But when you have a lot of good reviews and one or two bad reviews, most people will overlook the negative.

The one exception is when a lot of negative reviews are posted in a short period of time. Consumers are afraid your quality will slip, and an abundance of new, negative reviews will be bad for business.

3. Follow These 4 Recommendations To Success

Success with a negative online review can be difficult to achieve, but it is possible. While there are a lot of tips and suggestions that may help, a few that I have found personally useful include:

1. Take matters offline with the person, via in person or by phone, to discuss the matter more thoroughly.
2. Be authentic and personal in all of your responses.
3. Never beg for a positive review or for the person to change the review.
4. Control your emotions and never lash out at the reviewer.

Negative reviews are common, but the way that you approach each review will make a big difference in how your audience perceives the negative review.

If you are interested in even more business-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.

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