Repairing Your Reputation After a Negative Review

Consumers depend heavily on peer reviews when researching local businesses to engage with. Before considering any company for specific products or services, people tend to turn back to peers and online reviews to determine whether they want to associate themselves with a certain company or not. Advanced technology gives a lot of power to online reviews when it comes to business reputation. Due to this, it is very important to repair your reputation after a bad performance review simply because it can cost you dearly over time. 

Below are some of the most productive ways to take care of bad review and improve your business reputation.

1: First things first….SET UP ALERTS!

“Respond as quickly as possible to ALL review (both negative and positive, but definitely negative!). Being the first person to see the bad review will help you respond quickly and recover from the crisis. A simple google alert of your business name will help you see when people mention your company name anywhere in the web. This is a great way of finding reviews quickly. Remember, one bad review among 10 great reviews might just be a deal breaker to some customers. So it is important to get a jump start on responding to it before someone sees it.” Naima, SEO specialist at Minuteman Print Longwood. 

2: Respond and tell your side of the story

Getting a bad review might not be your fault. It is possible that a review can come from a difficult client who may not have been the “ideal client” or even a competitor who may take pleasure in damaging your reputation. You still are responsible for addressing all concerns about your company!

The easiest way to address any negative review is to respond directly using these 3 methods.

1. Apologize for the inconvenience and the customer feeling negative about any experience
2. Address the issue presented by explaining how the company’s service or product would generally work. (Make it brief…this gives the customer insight into what was to have happened and if it didn’t allows you to correct).
3. Present an opportunity for personal dialogue

Example: If a customer were to say they did not like the end result of a website.

“Hi, Clara, thank you for voicing your concern. We want to apologize that you did not like the end result of your website. Generally, all of our website designs are approved by the client prior to any further development. If you feel that this was not the case with your project, we would love to speak with you again directly to resolve this issue. Please contact info@your company.com. We look forward to finding a resolution to your issue very soon.

Also, consider offering your hand in making their experience better, whether by giving them discount, invite them to revisit your company for better services, or offering some other gesture. Some clients might appreciate the effort and even leave you with a great review in the end.

3: Don’t delete the review

Deleting reviews can work if done quickly, unfortunately, there are some platforms like Google that will not let businesses delete reviews without proper investigation. Having said that, we still don’t recommend deleting reviews simply because it shows that you are covering up the issues that your company have instead of addressing them properly.

4: Get new reviews and testimonials

Brands can ask for honest reviews from their current customers on Google, Yahoo, Yelp, and social platforms. Even though bad review will still be displayed, at least you will have other people who give their honest opinion about your business.

The only issue about asking for reviews is getting them when you need them. It is well known that people are more likely to review a business when they are extremely unhappy. Very few people take their time to review businesses when they are happy unless they get something in return. In order to get reviews and testimonials easily, some companies even opt to offer discounts for their opinions and honest reviews, however, sometimes simply asking is enough for some clients.

5: Change your ways

One bad review is okay, but if many people have the same complain about your business, then you have a serious issue that need to be addressed. Use negative reviews as an opportunity for you to fix an existing issue in your business that may have gone unnoticed.

After taking care of the review, make sure that you make all necessary adjustments to avoid any more complaints. This will show the progress and dedication to customers by providing the best services possible. At the end of the day, it comes to the actual services and products you are selling and not what you tell people. Determine if there are additional areas of trainings that need to be made for your employees or even if there may be a complimenting service that would assist a gap in your current service offerings.

The most important thing is to address all reviews with customer’s needs in mind. Great business marketing plan and customer service will help any business maintain its reputation and attract new customers.