You want to make your customers happy. If nothing else, happy customers are more likely to come back, meaning you earn more money. That said, no business can make every customer happy all of the time. You’re bound to get at least some negative reviews from time to time. So what do you do when that happens?
Reach Out
It may be tempting to ignore negative reviews and hope they just get buried, but that’s not the way to go. There’s a better way to handle them. Reaching out and responding to negative reviews is an important first step in addressing the problem. Answering reviews can help you build better rapport with your customers. It shows that you’re paying attention to what your customers are saying and that you care enough to open a dialogue with them.
Offer to Make It Right
While there are plenty of things you could say in your response, one of the things you definitely should include is an offer to make things right. The specifics in how you would go about doing that aren’t necessarily important at this point, though you can make specific offers if you want. Whether you choose to extend a specific offer for how you would like to make things right in your response or in a more private setting is up to you. Whatever you choose, offering to make things right with your customers shows that you care about their experience with your business and are invested in making it a positive one.
Resolve the Problem Privately
Responding to a review is like you opening the door after your customer knocked. As a part of your response, invite them to reach out to you with a more private method of communication. Email and phone often work pretty well for this. This allows the two of you to come together to have a discussion about what went wrong. If you didn’t make a specific offer about how you intend to make things right, this is the time to do so. It gives both parties a chance to come to an agreement about what an appropriate solution might be. If it goes well, you’ll be helping your customer feel valued and more positively inclined towards your business.
Figuring out what to do about negative reviews when you get them can be a little tricky when it comes to the specifics. As a general rule, however, it’s best to reach out and offer to make things right. Try to resolve the problem privately. It can be a lot of work, but if you do it right and the customer is receptive to your efforts, you may find that you’ve earned a customer for life who will bring others to your business as well.
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