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September 14, 2020

How to Handle a Negative Business Review

You and your team work hard everyday to make sure your customers get the best of your product and service. But, despite your best efforts, things are bound to go wrong sometimes and you may find yourself the recipient of a negative online business review. Let’s be clear: this stings. But, it can also be a catalyst for growth and discovery.

Here are some tips to manage a negative review with grace.

Remain Calm

It’s tough to receive (or read) negative feedback about you or your business. Give yourself some time to process and even cool down before you respond. Although you may want to fire off the first response that comes to mind, responding immediately may lead to a regrettable response that can make things worse. Taking a short walk, praying and/or talking with a friend or co-worker can help you decompress before responding. 

After you’ve had a minute to process your feelings, consider the feedback. Ask yourself:

  • Is this feedback actionable?
  • Is the complaint reasonable?
  • What helpful insight can I gather from this situation?
  • Is there an involved team member who I can talk with to get a fuller picture of what happened?

With facts gathered and nerves calmed, you are ready to respond. While responding too quickly can backfire, waiting too long to respond can also backfire. Online comments move quickly, so try to respond in a timely manner. This lets you intervene before the situation spirals to a new level.

 

Respond Professionally and Politely

The first step is to draft a response that is both professional and polite. Put the first draft into an email or a document instead of the platform where it will ultimately be posted. This lets you think and edit freely without the worry of someone seeing a version that’s not final. Your response should do four things:

  1. Establish your credibility to address the problem.
  2. Acknowledge that you saw the feedback and appreciate it. 
  3. Own the issue and apologize without going into unnecessary detail.
  4. Move the conversation offline to avoid a public spectacle.

Here’s a good base response that you can use:

@JaneSmith I’m the (title) at/of (insert business name). Thank you for your feedback about our service. We continually look for opportunities to improve and your insight helps. We are so sorry that XYZ happened to you. We always try to provide ABC and I’m disappointed to learn that we missed the mark. Please call or PM me so that I can help resolve this issue as soon as possible. 

Once you have a draft, ask someone less involved to review it for tone, accuracy, and clarity.

Tip: Consider hiring a freelance writer to draft a template library of responses to possible complaints. Having pre-drafted responses that you edit as needed can make responding to complaints faster and easier. You can find a writer to help with this on HireMyMom.

 

Avoid Common Pitfalls

You can avoid common mistakes by following this list of don’ts when you respond.

Don’t:

  • Attack the person who provided the feedback by questioning their motives or asking if the interaction was real. Remember this is not a personal attack, even if it feels like it. 
  • Recount the reviewers actions during the interaction that led to the complaint. For example, don’t say: “You were rude” or dispute what happened.
  • Suggest that the reviewer is wrong or minimize their complaint For example, avoid saying “I’m sorry you didn’t like that product, but everyone else does.”
  • Make comments that could be viewed as defensive. Avoid: “You are wrong. We ALWAYS do XYZ, we never do ABC, like this review states.”
  • Ignore the review. While it may be tempting to ignore a bad review, doing so can make you look out of touch. It’s better to address it in a constructive way.

 

Learn From the Feedback

Receiving a negative business review is challenging but it also offers a silver lining in the form of growth and improvement. After the passion has ebbed and your response is posted, consider if there are nuggets that can help you or your team improve in the future. Also, consider if your response made sense based on the situation and identify anything you might do differently next time.

 

Move On Quickly

You pour your heart and soul into your business and it’s never fun to get a negative review. But, it happens to everyone and it’s important not to dwell on the negative feedback. When you get a negative review, hold your head high, follow the tips outlined here, and see what you can learn from the experience. 

I’d love to hear your stories about responding to negative reviews. Drop me a line sharing your experiences.

 

 

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Written by
April 1, 2019 0 Comments

#1 Complaint Job Seekers Have…

We hear it over and over again…

“I never hear back from the jobs I’ve applied for.”

I’ll tell you why that’s not good for your business.

1.  It puts your company’s reputation in a negative light as unresponsive and unprofessional.

2.  The next time you post a job, those applicants are less likely to apply because they’ve felt rejected without any feedback or communication at all.

You don’t have to craft a long, drawn out response to every candidate but even a simple, professional response is much appreciated!

Your email can be as quick and simple as:

 

Dear _________,

Thank you for your interest in our position posted with HireMyMom.com.  
 
I wanted to let you know that we have selected another candidate who we feel more closely matches the skills, traits and expertise we are looking for at this time. 
 
We truly appreciate your time and thank you for your interest in our job. We wish you much success in your endeavors. 
 
Warm Regards,
Your Name

If the candidate was a close runner up, let them know. You may need to hire additional help or replace your current hire. Keep the lines of communication open!

We look forward to helping you with your hiring needs.

Please contact us and let us know how we can help.

 

 

 

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Written by
August 10, 2017 0 Comments

3 Ways to Handle a Negative Business Review

It’s something that every business owner dreads in today’s digital world – the negative review. Between SiteJabber, Facebook, Google, and similar sites, reviews are everywhere – and they’re very important. We do our best work to avoid the negative ones, but sometimes customers aren’t satisfied, whether rightfully so or not. Although negative reviews can and do often happen, the way we respond makes all the difference.

Since we can’t stop negative reviews from happening, read along for some best tips to handle them effectively.

Always Respond

It can be tough to want to respond to harsh words about your business, but it’s very necessary. Responding to the negative review shows that you care about your customer’s experience and your reputation. Future clients and customers put a lot of stock in online reviews these days, so it’s important to have a response.

It’s always better to have negative reviews with responses versus unhappy customers that appear to have been ignored.

Although responding to negative reviews is crucial, it’s also nice to respond to the positive ones! Give your raving fans some attention too, and show them that you appreciate that they took the time to give you a glowing review.

Stay Calm

When you see a negative review, you probably feel angry, hurt, or disappointed – or all three! It would be easy to respond with emotion and anger in the moment, but that won’t fix the problem or make you feel any better.

Once you spot the review, take a minute to calm down. Take a deep breath, step away if you need to, and come back when you feel that you’re able to respond calmly and rationally with facts and apologies if appropriate. Focus on the points that the unhappy customer made, instead of seeing it as a personal attack on you and your business. Express understanding and acknowledge the complaint, while taking the next steps to listen and fix it.

Correct the Issue

If your customer’s unhappiness is fixable, do your best to fix it. Sometimes, they just want to be heard and your response can do that.

Can you offer a coupon, something free or perhaps a consultation to address their concerns and try to win them back over? Offering something small can make a world of difference, especially if the offering is based on their specific concern.

In the case of most negative reviews, the customer just wants their frustrations to be heard. If you can offer something of value, do so! Remove emotion from your responses and address each review with concern, understanding, and professionalism.

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