You already know how important it is to keep up with what is being said about your business online. When you see a bad review of your business, your first instinct is to respond, fight back. This instinct may not always be the right one to act on.
Following Yelp’s announcement a few weeks ago, saying they will soon let businesses respond to the reviews they receive from the site’s users, Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media, wrote a great article on when and how businesses should respond to negative reviews.
She observes that responding to every negative review of your business may not be the best course of action.
Not all bad reviews are created equal. Sometimes going in and engaging a disgruntled customer will help them see your company in a new light and other times you’re just opening yourself up to more negative attention.
Here are some of the situations that Barones list as warranting a business owner’s response:
You genuinely need to make amends: … If you goofed and someone is legitimately upset about it, it’s typically in your best interest to engage them and to do your best to make it right. It often doesn’t take much to smooth over one bad experience.
They’re misstating the facts: … If it’s a matter of bad facts, you should step in to correct them.
When the review develops legs: Sometimes things that shouldn’t be a big deal gain traction and “me too” responses anyway. These situations absolutely need to be addressed and need to be addressed fast…
Here are the tips Barone gives for how to respond to negative reviews, once you’ve decided a response is appropriate:
Listen: Listen without reacting.
Be Honest: If you’re going to engage a negative reviewer, come at them completely honest, sincere and with your hands where they can see them.
Remain Calm: … The moment you lose your cool, you’ve not only lost the discussion, you’ve also just thrown 20 gallons of kerosene into the blaze.
Speak Like a Person: … People don’t like robots or spokespeople who think they’re smarter than everyone else. We like normal people.
Promise to be better: … [G]ive them a sign that you heard them, you care, and that you want to be better for them. It’ll go a long way in establishing some goodwill.
To read Lisa Barone’s full article, go to: http://outspokenmedia.com/reputation-management/respond-negative-reviews/
