Online reviews now play an integral role in the commercial landscape. Reviews influence how consumers view your business before even stepping foot in the building. It could lead someone right to your doorstep or drive them away. Google has one of the most prominent review systems online, and you need to regularly check the site to see what people have to say about your business. However, reading reviews is not enough. You need to respond to all of these reviews appropriately, so you show consumers you value your customers’ input.
How To Respond to Negative Reviews
Bad reviews happen to every business sooner or later. Instead of ignoring the criticism or beating yourself up over it, you need to build back that customer’s trust. You can actually retain a customer’s patronage by responding properly to a negative review. Here are the steps to take every time this happens.
Avoid Emotions: When someone attacks something you have worked so hard to attain, it is natural to lash out in anger. However, this comes across as unprofessional. If you need to, then step away from the computer for an hour until you feel calmer and more collected.
Provide Private Feedback: You should be able to send a private message or email to the reviewer. Do this first before responding publicly. It shows the customer you care about mending the relationship.
Offer Useful Solutions: You need to do more than just apologize. You need to offer a real solution to get the customer to come back to your business. Many companies offer free products or coupons to these consumers to get them back in the store.
Learn From the Experience: Over time, you may find multiple customers leaving the same kind of feedback. Several people may complain how your store did not have enough cash registers open. You need to rectify this situation, so it does not happen again. With this example, that may include scheduling more people during certain shifts, so you have more registers open.
When you publicly respond to online reviews, prospective consumers see you dealing with bad experiences. They know if they have a problem with your business, you will handle the situation. This helps you gain customers rather than the opposite.
How To Respond to Positive Reviews
As you browse your Google reviews, you will hopefully come across plenty of positive reviews. These reviews serve as great esteem boosters, and you should definitely give yourself a pat on the back. You can further bolster your company’s reputation by responding to these reviews. This should start with a simple thank you where you express your gratitude toward the customer for taking the time to leave behind some kind words. You should personalize your gratitude because it will not come across as sincere if people think a chatbot left the response.
For customers who leave lengthy, positive reviews, you should leave behind an equally impressive response. It can still be short, but you should personalize it to the reviewer’s experience. You can leave a quick joke or let the customer know about an upcoming promotion. Either way, you need to cement that business-to-customer relationship.
What To Do Next
You can greatly increase your brand’s visibility with the help of Opiniion. You can instantly gather all of these reviews with our help. Contact us to learn more about how our services can benefit your business in the long run.
