At some point, all business owners will encounter negative reviews. Most will find it quite an emotional experience – frankly, there is not one person who is a fan of being criticised, especially in front of millions of other people.

If you just received a cross enquiry from a customer, don’t panic. This article will tackle ways of dealing with negative reviews.

How Negative Reviews Affect Your Business

A psychological study by Brent Coker revealed that people who saw a positive review first remained positively influenced even if a negative review came afterwards.

This confirms the importance of reviews in commerce. It is intuitive that a positive comment is likely to increase your marketability, whereas a negative might take away your consumers.

Regardless, you can always take advantage of any sort of assessment.

5 Best Ways to Transform Negative Reviews Into Advantages – Delete or Transform?

There are several ways in which an angry client can help you promote the growth of your business.

1.               Show them you care.

By responding to negative commentary, you’re speaking not to a single person, but to an entire audience. This will demonstrate that you’re ready to communicate.

2.               Make it clear that you’re not embarrassed.

If you choose to stay silent, users might perceive that you are indifferent to feedback. By replying, you’re indicating that you are able to take responsibility.

3.               This is your opportunity to solve the problem.

If you’re successful, the customer might change their opinion and delete the review.

4.               The resolution might increase your profit.

Studies show that keeping an existing customer satisfied makes them twice as likely to purchase from you again.

5.               Responding makes you stand out.

Many businesses ignore negative reviews. This is your chance to show you’re better than your competition.

How to Work With Negative Reviews: A Step-By-Step Guide

Despite all the seemingly optimistic standpoints, you still must be disheartened. Use a few tips for handling negative reviews.

  1. Take a moment to compose yourself. Take some time to settle down.

  2. Respond quickly. The best customer service is served hot. Don’t keep them waiting; instead, respond within 1-2 days.

  3. Take the discussion offline. Do not reply more than twice to the same person and don’t have an argument with that person in front of everyone. Suggest they call you for a private conversation.

  4. Make positive reviews cover the negative. Statistics show that people read only about 10 reviews before they develop the sense that they can trust a business. Look into ways to create reviews about your company – there are some quite helpful tips out there.

How to Respond to Negative Online Reviews

Now that you’ve stabilised your nerves and sorted out everything in your head, you should think about constructing a clear and concise answer. Here are a few important points so that you know how to respond to negative reviews.

  1. Be sympathetic. Apologise and say that you are sorry for their unfortunate experience. Express your concern.

  2. Refer to your usual service quality. Make sure they know that you are willing to give your customers a five-star experience.

  3. Keep it simple. It is not a good idea to write a long report in response to a negative review; doing so would make you sound anxious. Your best bet is a short and polite message, ideally three sentences or less.

  4. Get someone to check your review. A neutral opinion from an uninvolved party will refresh your perspective.

Tips to Resolve Issues and Avoid Negative Reviews

Knowing how to deal with negative reviews is not quite enough for a professional. You must also try to prevent any issues that could lead to more negative feedback. You can do several things:

  1. Work on whatever issues the individual had. Fix the solution in place so that the problem doesn’t emerge in the future.

  2. Add a box for complaints on your website. This gives clientele a chance to contact you directly before leaving a review.

  3. Monitor your reviews. Know what people say about you. Set alerts in Google and social media to stay in the loop.

  4. Contact buyers shortly after they have received their services or products to make sure they liked them.

  5. Keep in contact with your customers through social media. Converse with the community. This way, rather than leaving a negative review, they just might choose to speak with you.

Conclusion

It is essential that any specialist knows how to handle negative online reviews because the way they reply creates their public image. However difficult it might be, you must be understanding and polite. Work on resolving the matter to avoid similar problems in the future.