Forbes reports a 1-star review will scare away at least two customers a month. It takes 4-5 months to bury that review with good ratings. 1 Star reviews are like a pimple on a prom date- the first thing you see and the last thing you remember. It will scare away customers for months- even years!
Do the math. What is a single customer worth? $150? $300 for most service businesses. $1000 and up for attorneys, accountants, and professional services.
So why fool around when we are talking $750-$5000!
Hire an expert! I have seen too many 'rebuttals' that made it worse for the business. One of them was just on this site a couple weeks ago. Screw up the response and you are pouring acid on an open wound. It's only going to make it a lot worse.
Hire a professional! Someone who does this for a living, who understands how to use specific words to turn around bad reviews.
You can try to fix an aching tooth yourself. Good luck. But this is business! You want more sales? The easiest way is to get someone to turn around 1 and 2 star reviews.
Open admission: I turn around 1 star reviews in less than 36 hours. So yes, I am passionate about it. I've seen the devastating effects on a hard working entrepreneur getting slammed by an unfair ugly 1 start vindictive review.
First, I would recommend talking to the person who left the bad review if that is an option. If it isn't, then I would think about the comments for a day or so before responding. Draft a general response that accurately represents your business philosophy without trashing the person who left the negative response. If their review was unwarranted, you don't want to bolster their credibility by taking stabs at their character or otherwise sinking to their level. Be honest about your practices and if you made a mistake, own up to it and offer resolution. Don't give too much detail, just say something that conveys the message that your intent is to provide quality services and that if you have failed in some way, you are more than willing to discuss options to resolve the matter. Maintain your integrity and you will do much to preserve your reputation even when someone else is trying to tear it down. Hope that helps.
The best way to respond is to RESPOND. Unfortunately, you can't remove a negative or critical review. Your best strategy is to respond to and even reach out to the person with a call as to "What went wrong?", "What can we do to fix that?". Sometimes you can have them "update" their review if you've addressed their issues. However, if they are unwilling, it's good to post your side of the story as the business owner so that potential customers can read about your concerns to your customers and how you are concerned about customer / patient satisfaction. Unfortunately, sometimes there are people leaving reviews who are not actually even a customer or patient of yours and that even complicates it more. The best approach is to get more postiive 5 Star Reviews to overwhelm the readers so they can see that was an exception more than the rule. You might consider some methods of enabling your customers / patients to leave their reviews through a software system that makes it easy for them to find your review sites and also allows you to filter out the "negative" reviews so you can deal with them before they are made public. Reviews are the "currency of the internet" now so it behooves you as a business owner to pay attention to them and build, monitor and market them. Good luck!
Yelp reviews like many others are best for you if answered.
I had a client who sells tools and a customer gave them a harsh but true review that similar tools could be bought at the big box store for less. My answer was also harsh but true. The tools that the customer bought at the box store were made in China. China's government subsidizes the Chinese manufacturer so they can flood the US Market with cheap priced tools so that American businesses cannot compete and may eventually go out of businesses. If you wish to support China, buy on price alone. It is your right, but please don't disparage American businesses for not being able to compete with the Anti American China subsidies. Look into the truth and please remove your review.
A good way to respond to criticism or even misrepresentation on Yelp is by simply being honest and transparent. It's difficult to satisfy everyone, but for the folks who may leave critical responses to your business, its best to respond diplomatically, with acknowledgement and clarity regarding the possible misunderstanding. After this has been expressed, it's typically a good practice to offer a discount or some type of incentive benefits that will provide the unhappy customer with a way to improve their perception of the business. This generally leads to the customer willing to give the business another chance to serve them even better. Hope this helps.
Since we are all aspiring grammarians here, Al....be careful not to throw stones at glass houses. Look at your last sentence. Just trying to help a writer out!
I think the key is to respond kindly to the post, thanking them for the heads up on a less than perfect experience with your company/product/service/representative. Let them know you will send a private message to work with them to address their specific situation and to learn with them how to prevent this happening with future customers/clients.
Most customers will appreciate the public apology and the private addressing of their situation. There may be a few who will never be happy no matter what you do, but if others see that you made a good faith effort to rectify the situation, they will realize the issue is with the unhappy customer and not with you.
Responding to criticism no matter where it comes from is so important to your brand because it tells customers who you are and what you believe in. Authentic responsibility for real issues that come up in business where your organization has made a mistake or treatment. Sharing on the comment how you rectified the situation with that customer.
All good answers. Consider the type of complaint, too. Some complaints do require wise and compassionately professional responses. Some complaints, however, can be ignored. There's a tiny percentage of the population that just likes to complain and beat people up, for whatever reason. The more visible you are, the more likely this is. No amount of data, placation, correction, or appeasement is going to help someone who just wants to lash at people. All you can do is pray and aim for the bad review to get buried by a loads of good reviews. If you're doing a good job in the first place, the higher resonance wins.
More from Yelp Rants and Raves
Join Your Local
Business Network
Connect & get quality referrals
from Small Business Owners
Answers (1-10)
Forbes reports a 1-star review will scare away at least two customers a month. It takes 4-5 months to bury that review with good ratings. 1 Star reviews are like a pimple on a prom date- the first thing you see and the last thing you remember. It will scare away customers for months- even years!
Do the math. What is a single customer worth? $150? $300 for most service businesses. $1000 and up for attorneys, accountants, and professional services.
So why fool around when we are talking $750-$5000!
Hire an expert! I have seen too many 'rebuttals' that made it worse for the business. One of them was just on this site a couple weeks ago. Screw up the response and you are pouring acid on an open wound. It's only going to make it a lot worse.
Hire a professional! Someone who does this for a living, who understands how to use specific words to turn around bad reviews.
You can try to fix an aching tooth yourself. Good luck. But this is business! You want more sales? The easiest way is to get someone to turn around 1 and 2 star reviews.
Open admission: I turn around 1 star reviews in less than 36 hours. So yes, I am passionate about it. I've seen the devastating effects on a hard working entrepreneur getting slammed by an unfair ugly 1 start vindictive review.
If I can help, let me know.
Good luck.
Mark
First, I would recommend talking to the person who left the bad review if that is an option. If it isn't, then I would think about the comments for a day or so before responding. Draft a general response that accurately represents your business philosophy without trashing the person who left the negative response. If their review was unwarranted, you don't want to bolster their credibility by taking stabs at their character or otherwise sinking to their level. Be honest about your practices and if you made a mistake, own up to it and offer resolution. Don't give too much detail, just say something that conveys the message that your intent is to provide quality services and that if you have failed in some way, you are more than willing to discuss options to resolve the matter. Maintain your integrity and you will do much to preserve your reputation even when someone else is trying to tear it down. Hope that helps.
The best way to respond is to RESPOND. Unfortunately, you can't remove a negative or critical review. Your best strategy is to respond to and even reach out to the person with a call as to "What went wrong?", "What can we do to fix that?". Sometimes you can have them "update" their review if you've addressed their issues. However, if they are unwilling, it's good to post your side of the story as the business owner so that potential customers can read about your concerns to your customers and how you are concerned about customer / patient satisfaction. Unfortunately, sometimes there are people leaving reviews who are not actually even a customer or patient of yours and that even complicates it more. The best approach is to get more postiive 5 Star Reviews to overwhelm the readers so they can see that was an exception more than the rule. You might consider some methods of enabling your customers / patients to leave their reviews through a software system that makes it easy for them to find your review sites and also allows you to filter out the "negative" reviews so you can deal with them before they are made public. Reviews are the "currency of the internet" now so it behooves you as a business owner to pay attention to them and build, monitor and market them. Good luck!
Yelp reviews like many others are best for you if answered.
I had a client who sells tools and a customer gave them a harsh but true review that similar tools could be bought at the big box store for less. My answer was also harsh but true. The tools that the customer bought at the box store were made in China. China's government subsidizes the Chinese manufacturer so they can flood the US Market with cheap priced tools so that American businesses cannot compete and may eventually go out of businesses. If you wish to support China, buy on price alone. It is your right, but please don't disparage American businesses for not being able to compete with the Anti American China subsidies. Look into the truth and please remove your review.
A good way to respond to criticism or even misrepresentation on Yelp is by simply being honest and transparent. It's difficult to satisfy everyone, but for the folks who may leave critical responses to your business, its best to respond diplomatically, with acknowledgement and clarity regarding the possible misunderstanding. After this has been expressed, it's typically a good practice to offer a discount or some type of incentive benefits that will provide the unhappy customer with a way to improve their perception of the business. This generally leads to the customer willing to give the business another chance to serve them even better. Hope this helps.
Since we are all aspiring grammarians here, Al....be careful not to throw stones at glass houses. Look at your last sentence. Just trying to help a writer out!
I think the key is to respond kindly to the post, thanking them for the heads up on a less than perfect experience with your company/product/service/representative. Let them know you will send a private message to work with them to address their specific situation and to learn with them how to prevent this happening with future customers/clients.
Most customers will appreciate the public apology and the private addressing of their situation. There may be a few who will never be happy no matter what you do, but if others see that you made a good faith effort to rectify the situation, they will realize the issue is with the unhappy customer and not with you.
I would respond as truthfully and honestly as possible in a positive way.
Responding to criticism no matter where it comes from is so important to your brand because it tells customers who you are and what you believe in. Authentic responsibility for real issues that come up in business where your organization has made a mistake or treatment. Sharing on the comment how you rectified the situation with that customer.
All good answers. Consider the type of complaint, too. Some complaints do require wise and compassionately professional responses. Some complaints, however, can be ignored. There's a tiny percentage of the population that just likes to complain and beat people up, for whatever reason. The more visible you are, the more likely this is. No amount of data, placation, correction, or appeasement is going to help someone who just wants to lash at people. All you can do is pray and aim for the bad review to get buried by a loads of good reviews. If you're doing a good job in the first place, the higher resonance wins.