Can You Recover from Negative Online Reviews?

Negative reviews. Every single business that exists has had to deal with them… even the BEST businesses with the highest reviews will still, at least occasionally, have to deal with a less than stellar opinion posted somewhere online.

Studies show that 9 out of 10 people who read online reviews allow those reviews to influence their buying decisions. Think about that… 90% of people might not buy something if the reviews were negative. That’s huge. Negative reviews have the potential to wreak some major havoc in businesses- small businesses in particular.

So how can you minimize the damage when that negative review is written?

Here are four tips:

Build a Strong Online Presence:

The best defense is a good offense- or is it the other way around?

Either way, one of the best things you can do here is to build out social media profiles, blogs, and a well-functioning website. It is important that customers see what you want them to see. When customers search for your business, you want them to find all of the things that you have set up- not the negative reviews.

Along the lines of being proactive- be sure that unhappy customers are identified early. Don’t wait until the situation gets so bad that they are driven to write a negative review online. As long as good communication channels are set up, customers are more likely to communicate with the business before heading to social networks and online review sites.

Respond Privately First:

There’s nothing worse than seeing a disagreement hashed out for all of the public to see.

If a customer posts something on your social media sites, send them a private message. The idea is that you want to make it clear to the customer that you are taking things seriously and have every intention of making things right. If the customer continues to post bad things on your wall even after you have done everything in your power to rectify the situation- you may want to consider deleting the comments and blocking the person from your page.

Monitor Mentions:

There are several different online tools that allow for a company or business to monitor any and every time their name is mentioned online.

These tools can be incredibly helpful in identifying potential problems before they become huge issues. Not only can you monitor your own company name, but you can check on what everyone is saying about your competition too.

Demonstrate a Commitment to Improvement:

Every bad review that is received regarding your business- whether completely valid or not- should prompt some sort of action. Your customers should feel that you take customer service seriously, and they shouldn’t need to post a negative review to feel that way. Do things like asking questions and hosting polls to see what your customers think of your service.

Managing an online reputation can be difficult. Sometimes you need professional help.

If you feel your negative reviews have gotten out of control, contact Front Man Marketing for help. With our seasoned professionals and helpful online tools, we will help

get your online reputation back on track.