You pour your heart and soul into your business, working to perfect every aspect and deliver 100% customer satisfaction every time; then all of a sudden, a negative review pops up on social media, and it stings.
It’s so easy to take negative reviews personally, but no person or business is perfect, so a bad review probably will come your way sooner or later. Today we wanted to share our top tips for handling a negative social media review, that may actually end up boosting your reputation!
Never delete a review
If you take one thing from this article, let it be this: Never delete a review, no matter how tempting it may be. Having some less than glowing reviews on your page amongst the good ones will give you an opportunity to demonstrate great customer service and show you take feedback seriously. On top of this, a mixture of good and bad reviews will create a rounded, and more trustworthy view of your business. If all ratings are outstanding with nothing critical to note, your business reviews can easily look fake and that can have the opposite effect!
Respond
When a customer has taken time out of their day to write a review about your business, the least you can do is respond. That’s easy when it’s positive feedback, but especially important when it’s negative; this will make your customer feel valued and show their experience is important to you. We would recommend highlighting the key points they have raised and acknowledging how disappointing it must have been for them with a considerate tone. End by inviting them to contact you privately to further discuss the matter and come to a resolution. The nitty gritty points are best kept between you and the customer, but publicly recognising the review will show other customers that you do take any feedback on board and are keen to resolve any issues should they arise in the future.
Take responsibility
This is not a time for excuses! Ok, it may have been a particularly busy day, maybe you were understaffed and perhaps your internet went down too. But the truth is that’s not your customer’s problem or concern. Ensure you take responsibility for the disappointing service they received and try to put yourself in their shoes when you do. Remember that your business may be work, but for them you’re providing a service or product that they really want or need to improve their lives, and it’s important you fulfil that.
Don’t take it personally
Try and separate yourself from your business when you see a negative review. Remind yourself it’s not a reflection of you as a person but a subjective experience of your company. Remember the times you have received disappointing service or an unsatisfactory product and you’ll know it’s rarely personal. This is a time to develop a thick skin, and deal with the review objectively.
Trust us, we know how it’s hard to hear negative things about something you put a lot of work into, but every business experiences this and how you deal with bad reviews can say more about your business than the review itself. Keep these points in mind the next time one pops up, and we promise you’ll feel empowered to own this opportunity to grow your brand’s reputation.
Thank you to our guest Blogger Chantelle Davison – Choice Words By Chantelle