Negative customer evaluations are never good for a company owner, but they won’t doom it either. Leveraging bad reviews to strengthen your procedures and responding with honesty and empathy may build customer loyalty from the reviewer and other consumers who read your reply.
This blog covers handling unfavourable customer feedback and improving your brand’s reputation, as suggested by top SEO agencies like King Kong.
How to manage bad reviews
When you receive a poor review, you should recognize the consumer and reply in a manner that encourages them to give your company another opportunity. This will show other prospective customers that you have great customer service.
Here is how to handle and react to bad reviews:
- Respond immediately and personally
As communication is quick and continuous, clients want rapid pleasure in their customer experience, including post-purchase brand interaction.
Reading and responding intelligently to every critical remark takes work but will improve client retention. After receiving a satisfied response to their query, more than a quarter of 30-year-olds and a third of 20-somethings changed bad evaluations to good ones and erased the bad ones, according to 2020 Zen Business research.
One option to monitor and react to unfavourable reviews is to hire an employee or reputation management organisation. Set up notifications and use all-in-one social media management tools to find and reply to comments across platforms rapidly.
- Apologise and empathise
Customers may be mistaken, but telling them they’re wrong may lose their business and other customers. After a negative review, a brand should show empathy and apologise for the poor experience. Learn what your consumers want and how you can help them feel heard and understood.
- Request a second opportunity
Asking consumers how you can enhance their brand experience in the future will keep them.
Companies must learn from bad comments. Customer complaints include significant information that may enhance customer service and brand confidence.
Offer a discount, certificate, or replacement product after a bad encounter for a second chance. Free items or services aren’t the usual solution, but they can be effective if they don’t solve the customer’s problem. Encourage the customer to offer a better review.
If a client complains about a defective product, typically the corporation should replace it for free. Understanding why a client is unhappy with a service or staff is crucial to finding a solution.
- Encourage more reviews
Accepting criticism, particularly from your business’s most important customers, is difficult. However, leveraging bad evaluations to enhance customer service can offer your brand longevity and demonstrate your commitment to consumers. Encourage consumers to post reviews to maximise branding.
Promoting review sites using signage, table toppers, or window clings is beneficial for brick-and-mortar companies. Add a note to invoices or receipts to submit a review on specific sites. These reminders encourage customers to share their experiences. After a review, offering discounts for future business helps build client loyalty and ensure a return visit.
Allowing consumers to remark on your business and responding helps them feel valued and appreciated. Reviews demonstrate that you listen to and react to all input and respect your consumers’ business.
Turning negatives positive
You can’t satisfy everyone despite your best efforts, so expect poor evaluations. Each customer engagement is a chance to learn about your client base, product reception, staff customer service, and other daily interactions that company owners seldom experience. Responding promptly to negative reviews with empathy and responsibility can improve a customer’s experience and demonstrate care for all consumers. While active review management requires effort, the long-term benefits are worth it.
