Google reviews on your business profile can be both positive and negative. However, negative reviews are not always bad.
In fact, consumers spend four times more time scrolling through negative reviews on your profile than positive reviews. Therefore having some bad reviews is as important as positive reviews. But you must respond to them correctly to enhance your reputation.
This guide will cover everything related to negative Google reviews and how you can respond to bad Google reviews of your brand or business to help you outrank your competitors.
Also, we will find out how some businesses are using negative Google reviews in 2024 to gain more credibility. But first, let’s find out what counts as a negative review and the reasons behind getting bad reviews.
What Is a Negative Google Review?
A negative Google review is when a customer expresses his disappointment, leaves a low rating, and writes a critical or unfavorable comment about your brand or business on Google.
There can be multiple reasons behind such reviews that prompted the consumer to share their dissatisfaction online on the GMB profile.
3 Top Reasons You Are Getting Negative Reviews on Google
Understanding the reasons behind getting negative reviews can help you resolve them on time to improve your reputation and build trust. Here are some common reasons behind getting negative reviews for your business:
1. Product or service quality issues
This is the most common reason behind your brand or business getting bad reviews. Customers who faced issues with the product or service you delivered are more likely to share their concerns on your GMB profile.
2. Unfair Google reviews left by competitors
If your business has been flourishing, your competitors might use such tactics where they leave negative reviews on your profile to bring down your ratings. For such unfair reviews you can easily report on Google.
3. Lack of responsiveness
Sometimes, when a business fails to respond to its customers' inquiries, complaints, or concerns promptly can lead to frustration, and they might leave negative feedback on your Google My Business page.
If you have received bad reviews on Google for your brand or business, you need to respond to them to save your reputation, retain your customers, and build trust among potential customers.
How to Respond to Negative Reviews as a Business Owner?
Gaining bad reviews is one thing, but handling them and using them to your advantage is another. Here are some effective strategies you can use to respond to your negative reviews in a manner that preserves your online reputation and also helps your customers:
1. Acknowledge the negative feedback
Now, most business owners fail at this. They don’t want to accept the negative feedback they have gained from their own customers.
But if you want your customers to stay and gain more footfall, you must acknowledge what they say. So next time you have a negative review, express that you acknowledge the feedback by saying, "Thank you for bringing this to our attention."
2. Offer a solution or an explanation
After acknowledging your customer's concerns, try to provide them with a solution or an explanation of why things have gone wrong and apologize if it was your business’s fault.
For example, if you own a restaurant and a customer left a negative review on slow service, you can simply answer, ‘That it was busy that day and when they can visit the next time to avail your service at best.’
3. Be professional in your response
Always be professional yet polite when you are responding to negative reviews. As the saying goes, it doesn’t cost one cent to be polite, and it is also important for your brand image in the long run.
Therefore, always keep your response courteous and professional, even if the review feels unfair or overly critical. Avoid getting defensive or engaging in arguments with the reviewer, who can again become your future customer.
4. Respond promptly and publically
Since your own customers are facing an issue, you must make efforts to respond to them as soon as possible. Time your response and, ideally, respond within the first 24 to 48 hours.
Also, since negative reviews have been added to your Google Business profile publicly, you, too, should respond to them on the same platform so that the people visiting your profile in the future can see how you can address their issues.
5. Showcase your commitment to customer satisfaction
Finally, reassure the reviewer and your potential customers with your actions and words that you're determined to resolve any issues that may arise for your customers.
This way, you can express your commitment to prioritizing customer satisfaction and also retain your customers by addressing their concerns in the best way possible.
Do Businesses Need Negative Google Reviews to Grow?
Now, it is true that no business desires a negative review on its profile, but bad reviews on Google can be helpful too in growing your business. They can allow a business to become more credible and even outrank their opponents. Let’s find out the how.
How Are Negative Google Reviews Important to Outrank Opponents?
Negative Google reviews might seem unfair, but they can actually help your business in multiple ways, especially when it comes to outranking your competitors. This is how they can help:
1. Make your business seem more authentic
How would you feel as a customer if all you see is another positive review about that one product you want to buy? As a buyer, we all want to know the negatives of the product, too, when we are spending our hard-earned money.
Similarly, your customers need that transparency instead of only such reviews that praise your products. If your competitor has only positive reviews, your customers will come to you since the negative reviews will give them a more real picture of the product they want.
2. Helps win customer trust
Since negative reviews make your business appear more genuine, they help you win the customer's trust. On top of it, if you are responding politely to your bad reviews, your customers will start preferring your business over others.
Also, when you take clients' feedback reviews seriously and proactively resolve issues, it instills confidence in your business showing you care about customer satisfaction, which helps win the customer's trust in the long run.
3. Initiates conversations with customers and boosts engagement
Reviews increase the engagement on your business profile, whether they are positive or negative. Also, they initiate some conversations with your customers where you get the opportunity to understand your customer choices better.
These conversations and increased engagement increase the overall activity on your Google My Business profile, which can positively impact the search ranking for your business profile and help you outrank your competitors.
4. Make your more transparent and credible
A business with only perfect and five-star reviews might appear suspicious at first glance, and therefore, negative reviews are important to make your business appear more transparent.
Also, how you handle your reviews can help you appear as a more credible business than your competitors, as you can display your professionalism in your responses while being transparent about your methods.
5. Differentiates your businesses from competitors
The negative reviews on your profile can set your business apart if you take them with the right perspective. If you address your negative feedback professionally and constructively, it can differentiate your business from your competitors.
In fact, responding politely to those terrible reviews on your profile is not harming your online reputation but instead providing you an opportunity to demonstrate your business ethics as superior to those competitors who ignore negative feedback.
So now that you know the importance of having some bad reviews, it is time to understand how businesses are using negative reviews to their advantage and attracting the attention of potential customers.
How Are Businesses Using Negative Reviews in 2024?
Currently, some businesses are taking their marketing efforts to the next level with negative reviews. They are using negative reviews to appear more authentic and come across as a genuine business that attends negative feedback with utmost sincerity.
In fact, some businesses are buying negative reviews to balance out the positive and negative feedback on their business profile and showcase their business as a more real and trustworthy one than those who only bought positive reviews.
Does Buying Negative Google Reviews Work?
Yes, it absolutely works if you do it in the right manner. Once you purchase and add negative reviews that actually express a genuine concern that might be relatable to other customers, you create for yourself an opportunity to showcase your authority and reliability as a business with your responses.
The way you address the negative feedback can bring you closer to your customers. So, buying negative reviews is an option worth trying, and you can experiment with such a method to boost engagement on your business profile, too.
Is Buying Negative Google Reviews Safe?
Buying some negative Google reviews for your growth strategy is entirely a safe option. But the only thing you must consider while buying your negative reviews is the authenticity of the service provider.
As a buyer, you must check whether the service provider adds reviews from active and real accounts so that your efforts are within the boundaries of Google policies.
Final Thoughts: Negative Reviews Can Make You More Real
Now that you understand how bad Google reviews are not necessarily bad and how they can actually help you rank better and overrank your competitors. It’s time to respond to your negative reviews.
Use the above-mentioned practices to answer your customer’s concerns and manage your Google reviews.
Also, remember that the bad and unfair reviews might seem daunting at first, but they can make you more real and credible as a business for your customers.
Moreover, you can paint a better brand image for your business while you respond to those negative reviews with authority and transparency.
FAQs
1. How to respond to negative reviews professionally?
To give a more professional response to a negative review, take the time to carefully read and understand the customer's stance.
Then, address each concern raised in the review and offer either an immediate explanation or a solution that you can implement to solve your customer’s problem.
2. Is it possible to buy negative Google reviews?
Yes, absolutely. There are numerous websites that are currently providing both positive and negative Google reviews for businesses.
Always select an authentic social media growth service provider like BuyReviewz.com, which offers genuine reviews from real and active accounts.
3. What are the benefits of buying negative Google reviews?
Having negative reviews on your Google business profile makes your business seem more authentic and trustable.
Also, when you buy negative reviews, you can improve the activity on your profile by responding to those reviews and later even using them in your marketing by highlighting how your business solves customer problems.
4. Should I buy negative Google reviews for my business?
Yes, you can try adding some negative reviews to your business profile to experience the benefits of having negative Google reviews.
With a balance of positive and negative reviews, your business looks genuine, and you know how you can outrank your competitors with these negative reviews. This option is definitely worth a shot.
5. How can I purchase negative Google reviews safely?
You can consider trustworthy service providers to purchase some negative reviews for your business. For example, BuyReviewz.com provides both positive and negative genuine Google reviews for any type of business.