Negative reviews are a nightmare for businesses, pushing them down the line in the online reputation game. But leaving them unaddressed is the actual thing that may hamper your business, giving a bad impression to your online viewers.
Companies also often try to remove negative Google reviews, but this solution can imply that you want to hide your faults. As around 93% of customers expect businesses to respond to their online reviews, ignoring it means disappointing them directly.
Therefore, the best option is to address your negative reviews with honesty and professionalism. This blog will help you in managing your negative reviews in the most innovative and effective ways possible.
How to Know If Your Brand Is Suffering from Negative Reviews?
A dissatisfied customer is more likely to leave a negative review than to contact you directly. These negative reviews can be the real reason for turning your customers away, reducing your customer inquiries, or conversion rates.
To know if your brand is suffering from negative reviews, you need to check your Google Business Profile for downward trends in customer feedback and star ratings regularly. With lots of negative feedback, your brand can lose online credibility.
Many business owners drastically underestimate the impact of a few bad reviews on their overall image. But potential customers often trust online reviews as much as a recommendation from a friend or family member!
This is why you need to take quick action on customer feedback management. So, understand how to bury negative results on Google to improve your online image and overall visibility.
What Should You Do When You Receive Negative Reviews?
Irrespective of how much you try, negative reviews will occur at some point in your business venture, threatening your reputation, but they are pretty useful too.
You can sometimes remove negative Google reviews, but there are other effective ways to address them.
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Reply Professionally to Negative Reviews
Maintaining a professional and gentle tone while addressing negative reviews shows that you care. So, always be polite, empathize with their concerns, and address them effectively. Do not be defensive, as a well-thought-out response demonstrates your commitment to being customer-centric.
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Apologize Immediately For the Inconvenience
A well-meaning, thoughtful apology can essentially turn a negative experience into a positive one. You can start by apologizing and offering better solutions, promising improvements, and saving yourself from further escalating the situation against you.
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Ask For A Second Chance To Improve
You should always ask your disappointed customers for another opportunity. Signing up for compensation may provide them with another point of view regarding their previously unfavorable experience. This may even change their thoughts and review of you.
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Address The Customer Personally
In your response, addressing the customer by their name and referencing specific parts of their review will genuinely make the customer feel valued and listened to. This will certainly cement a stronger relationship as you show genuine observation.
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Take Appropriate Actions To Repair The Problem
Be sure to address the issue in the review internally, but also let reviewers know you take your feedback seriously. Actions based on feedback are likely to reduce the possibility of a recurring complaint in the future.
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Thank Customers For Leaving Feedback
It doesn't take much to say, "Thank you for the review!" or something similar to customers who take the time to provide critical feedback about your business. It shows you value their thoughts and are open to factful criticisms.
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Take The Conversion Offline
If the topic is more complicated or sensitive, always suggest taking the conversation offline. Discuss the matter via email or over the phone, as this can help you potentially remove negative Google reviews from unhappy customers.
While managing negative reviews with these tactics can be helpful, you may even think of removing negative Google reviews as a solution. So, let's understand whether it will be good to delete them entirely or not.
Should You Delete Negative Reviews? If Not, Why?
Deleting negative reviews should not be your first thought when you get them, as this may appear dishonest. Also, platforms like Google don't even allow you to delete negative reviews directly if they are not fake or derogatory. But you can always ask them to remove the negative reviews.
So, focus on addressing those negative reviews with the above clever ways and subdue them politely. Your authentic responses can tame the reviewer and show upcoming customers that you care to act on criticisms.
Conclusion
Negative Google reviews can be damaging to your brand reputation if you simply think of ignoring them. But with thoughtful responses and corrective measures in place, a challenge can be turned into an advantage.
So, take it as an opportunity to show how much you respect your customer's opinions, good or bad. Do not remove negative Google reviews; use them as your weapon to highlight brand views and service dedication.
Furthermore, you can always buy Google reviews from BuyReviewz. We aim to deliver real and authentic reviews that amplify your brand’s image.