Negative reviews can be scary, stressful, hurtful, and downright unfair. Sometimes the feedback you get is bad but honest which can suck to hear, and sometimes you receive an outburst from an exaggerated misunderstanding by an angry customer.
One thing is for sure, if you’re running a webshop or providing any product or service worth mentioning, negative reviews are going to happen to you — it’s just a matter of when, not if. And this article is all about walking you through what to do when it does. From expected impact to communication do’s and don’ts, we’ve got you covered.
Why should you care about negative reviews?
Communicating carefully and effectively around a negative review can make it even more impactful than simply receiving a positive review. Because at the end of the day:
Resolving a complaint in the customer’s favor means they will do business with you again 70% of the time. [Click to tweet] — Lee Resources
But botch the job and you’d be better off looking at this inconvenient truth:
News of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many ears as praise for a good service experience.
Don’t we know it.
Here’s a quick story that sums up the point better than any statistic out there.
My sister works at a great startup, a software agency that develops new apps and websites for a diverse range of businesses. The dev and marketing team are a particularly good-humored and fun bunch, but as much as I’d like to these days I just won’t go to lunch with them.
For some reason the group has a bad streak with local Budapest restaurants. They’ve been banned from two lunch menu restaurants now — including a place they frequented at least 3 times a week — for sending what they thought was undercooked chicken back to the kitchen.
In that instance, the fire didn’t stop there. After my sister and a colleague left a 1-star review on the undercooked-chicken restaurant’s Facebook page explaining the entire situation, the owner retaliated with a reply mocking them and dismissing their claim.
Other than the outrageous dinner story that came out of the fiasco, there were some huge lessons surrounding customer service and handling negative criticism to be learnt.
Check out the do’s and don’ts below, where we dissect what can go wrong in a response to criticism and where BB went south.
Negative reviews are rare…
While there always will be room for improvement, living in Budapest has made me truly value the days that I could ask a question and expect a helpful response with a smile.
Now I look back ruefully on the days that I could chat with a US customer service representative about their favorite restaurants while we were waiting for ‘information to load,’ or hunt for an item of food at a supermarket with eager staff members.
As the facts show, I’m not the only one who feels this way. You may or may not already know that:
70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated. — McKinsey
Luckily, according to recent Rivio stats pulled from their Magento, WooCommerce and Shopify user base the likelihood of negative reviews flooding your webshop is far less likely.
According to their stats, there is a steep drop between 4-star and 3-star user-generated reviews, and people tend to favor the former:
*Pro-tip: With Rivio, you can time your post-purchase emails as you see fit. We recommend that customers receive an email requesting a review 10 days after payment, ensuring that they are still in a hyped positive mood when they leave a review. Check out our previous article for more tips on getting reviews.
….But when they happen, you should be prepared
But let’s say your customer and employee have had an off-day, it’s super busy, and some mix-up happens.
Usually the situation is complex — clearly if you care about your business you do your utmost to help customers and provide good service and quality products. But inevitably someone, somewhere may have a bad experience and lash out at you on social media or other review sites.
Here’s what to do.
Step One: Get your head in the game. Reading a bad review sucks. You’re probably not going to come out of it with a spring in your step. So first let’s tick off some of the reasons you should be happy, yes happy, about negative reviews.
1. Research conducted by Reevoo shows that 52% of people like a company more when it responds to a negative comment.
The silver lining: This is a great opportunity to differentiate yourself from your competition and show customers your human side.
2. A typical business hears from only 4% of its dissatisfied customers, the other 96% remain silent. — “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner
The silver lining: This is the best chance you can get to learn from authentic customer feedback. While most of your underwhelmed customers will stay silent, these golden nuggets can help you improve your product and the customer experience.
3. 80% of Americans agree that smaller companies place a greater emphasis on customer service than large business. — American Express survey
The silver lining: This powerful statistic means that the majority of Americans go in assuming that your boutique size means boutique service. Prove them right and differentiate yourself from giants who have a competitive advantage of massive inventory and capacity.
Hopefully your blood pressure has now returned to normal and you’re ready for Step 2: Defuse the tension and resolve the issue.
Here are the Do’s and Don’ts of Neutralizing Negative Reviews:
Do: Admit and apologize.
Own up to any mistake or potential mistake that may have been made and apologize upfront. If the allegations in the review are debatable, apologize for even the potential of an uncomfortable situation arising and investigate the story immediately. “I’m sorry” is a very short phrase that goes a very long way.
Don’t: Get on a high horse.
Dismissing a customer’s complaint as petty, dishonest or exaggerated will only fuel the fire of their dissatisfaction. By leaving a review in a place where you can reply, they’ve given you a chance to redeem yourself, but waste your opportunity and they’ll be motivated to spread the word to social media, friends, and family.
Do: Personalize your answer and make it human.
Talking to a real human who can investigate and rectify the issue effectively is a sure-fire way to make the client feel more forgiving and give everyone a chance to see that you really care. “In the best of times and worst of times” as they say.
Don’t: Use an automated reply.
Do: Respond ASAP (once you’ve accomplished Step 1 of course)
Speed is your ally here, any additional waiting time on the customer’s side will make attempts at fixing the situation increasingly futile and seemingly insincere.
Don’t: Ignore the comment and hope it goes away.
Seriously, don’t count on it. It won’t disappear, but it might turn up on Facebook, Twitter, Medium, Yelp, etc., etc., etc.
Do: Tell your side of the story in a calm and rational manner.
Hey, everyone is allowed to make an honest mistake! If the situation was out of your hands, or a mistake by the customer, make it clear and thank the customer for bringing it to your attention.
Leave out any irrelevant personal details (i.e. how bad your day was, how busy you were) and any reprimands (i.e. there was a sign about it you should have noticed). Just tell it like it is, straight and simple, and communicate what solution you’ve implemented to avoid repeat issues.
Don’t: Engage in tit-for-tat, he-said she-said bickering.
We’re not in middle school, and you don’t need to have the final word. You do need to resolve the issue and make sure it doesn’t happen again. (See the Budapest Bistro review for a real-life example!)
Do: Make sure you can leave replies to negative reviews on your webshop!
Not all tools or review systems perform this vital feature! Tools like Rivio are equipped with a backend that allows you to manage and reply to views with a handy notification system.
Don’t: Restrict customers from leaving negative reviews.
We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again. Angry people will just vent somewhere else that is out of your sphere of control.
Do: Answer publicly and honestly.
So you’ve got awesome customer service, even clients that start out unsatisfied come back praising your company, and your upfront and honest about what you can and cannot do? Tell the world!
Don’t: Forget to engage the customer in private if they’ve sent you a private message.
Like we said, negative reviews can be great publicity, but make sure you tailor your response to the actual customer as well.
There you go, you’re armed and ready to take on any Negative Nancys knocking down your door in the future. Do any of these situations sound familiar to you? We’d love to know! Drop us a message in the comment section, or email Mike at marketing@getrivio.com to tell us about your experience handling negative reviews.
For more tips and techniques on optimizing the world of product reviews, click on the 💚 — that’s what keeps us going!
Rivio is a WooCommerce, Magento, and Shopify plugin with thousands of authentic product reviews for you, and a sleek review management system in the backend that’s just perfect for engaging with your reviewers.
6 Actionable Techniques For Awesome Product Reviews ← P R E V I O U S
N E X T → Reviewing the Reviewers: Top Product Review Plugins for Your Webshop Compared
