How to work with controversial customer reviews? [+free response templates]
89 percent of consumers worldwide make the effort to read reviews before buying products according to Trustpilot.
79 percent of consumers say they trust the reviews they read online as much as personal recommendations according to BrightLocal.
And the main thing is that 92% of B2B buyers are more likely to purchase after reading a trusted review according to Learn Hub.
Thus the importance of reviews is beyond a shadow of a doubt. Responding to feedback plays a huge role in building customer loyalty. Even negative reviews are often received more favorably if they are responded to.
So how to work with reviews so that they attract users to continue interacting with your brand?
Common principles for responding to customer feedback
1. Respond promptly
Determine a fixed time frame for responding. A thoughtful response shows that you take feedback seriously and care about your customers. 20% of respondents told BrightLocal that they expected a response from the company within 24 hours of leaving a review.
2. Be polite
Remember, you’re not responding to just one person. Your response will be seen by many of your customers and potential ones. Always be respectful, even if the review sounds unfair.
3. Assign a responsible person
If your company receives a lot of feedback, it’s a good idea to designate someone to respond to it.
4. Check the text
Some sites do not allow you to edit responses after publication. Take the time to additionally check the text for spelling and grammatical errors.
How to deal with negative feedback
1. Be discreet
You may accidentally write something that will hurt your reputation more than the review itself. Being too emotional in your responses can make things worse, and you’ll lose a client and possibly others who see the review.
2. Introduce yourself and address the author of the review by name
This way you demonstrate a personal approach to the customer and a desire to solve their particular problem.
When responding to a negative review, show that the response comes from a real employee: include your name and title in your signature and provide contact information for feedback.
3. Thank the customer for the feedback
Yes, even if the feedback is negative, you need to show the customer that their opinion is important to the company.
4. Make an apology
The best way to respond to a negative review and encourage a disgruntled customer is to admit the mistake and apologize, even if it wasn’t your fault or just a minor mistake.
These actions can increase the likelihood that the customer will go along with you, and you’ll show that the mistake is a point of growth for the company.
5. Encourage dialogue via DM
Ask the customer to clarify what he or she is dissatisfied with and the details of what happened. This will help you resolve the conflict more quickly.
6. Don’t miss a chance to correct a mistake (if there was one)
Show that you are willing to correct your mistakes and improve your service or product and that your company would be glad if the customer contacted you again to provide a second chance.
Moreover, you can offer a bonus. Such a move will motivate the customer to contact you again.
7. Promise — Deliver
It’s not enough to simply respond to feedback and forget about it. Your goal is to use the feedback to improve your product or service.
Don’t forget to mention what you’ve already done or plan to fix in your response to customer feedback, because customers need to understand how their problem was solved.
Why respond to positive feedback?
1. Show politeness
You show that you care about your customers, that you are in touch with them, and that you value their opinion.
2. Attract potential customers and increase brand loyalty
Responding to positive feedback will show potential customers that you can be trusted.
How to deal with positive feedback
1. Express your gratitude
Thank the customer for the positive feedback by giving their name. (keep the personalized approach in mind)
2. Mention details
By reflecting on key points from the client’s review, you show them your involvement in their situation, and for the rest of the readers, you emphasize your credit.
3. Show that you’re pleased with the customer’s feedback
This is how you maintain customer loyalty. That way you increase the chances that they’ll come back for an additional purchase or order a new service.
4. Seize the moment
A call to action is the logical conclusion of the response. Invite the customer to return, and in doing so, you can offer a bonus or discount to increase the chances of a return.
Customer feedback response templates
Positive feedback:
Hello, [Name]. Thank you for mentioning us and for your trust! We appreciate it and are always happy to assist you. If you are looking for any functionality at the moment, please tell us, we’ll be happy to help you with the search.
Hi [Name],
Thank you so much for sharing your positive feedback!
First of all, it’s a great pleasure to have such a loyal customer on board. We’re pleased to hear your kind words and see your satisfaction with our solutions and support service.
We’re always ready to assist you in the best way we could and cover all the needs that you as our valued customer have. We’ll be happy to continue and enhance our cooperation in the future.
Thank you for choosing us, and have a wonderful day!
Kind regards,
Company Name
Dear [Name],
Thank you so much for sharing your experience!
We’re happy to hear that our Support Team has been helpful with the issue that you encountered, it’s great that the issue was resolved swiftly.
Thanks again for your kind words and for choosing us, and if you need any additional features for your project or any other assistance, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
Kind regards,
Company Name
Negative feedback:
Dear [Name],
Thank you for sharing your concerns, we’re sorry to hear that our product haven’t worked for you out of the box.
We would like to have a thorough review of the situation, so please send us your cases and ticket IDs at companymail@mail.com for analysis. We invest heavily in making quality products, and we would like to make sure that you can get maximum benefit from using them.
I’m truly sorry to hear that the support hasn’t been fast, and we’d like to review your cases and make sure that you are provided with timely, relevant, and effective technical help.
Please send more details about your unhappy experience and your tickets to companymail@mail.com. We’ll do our best to provide individual assistance, and we hope we’ll be able to restore your trust as our loyal customer.
Kind Regards,
Company Name
Hello [Name]
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review.
We’re truly sorry to see your dissatisfaction with … .
Please let us clarify some points, we hope you’ll find it helpful.
To ensure seamless onboarding into the new paradigm we’ve developed several options for our existing customers. We’d like to highlight that our strategy is to deliver quality solutions and maintain/update them as long as customers are actually using them. We do want our products to correspond to all standards and market trends and truly help our customers grow and decrease operating costs.
We greatly value you as our customer and would like to make sure that you are provided with timely, relevant, and effective assistance. That is why, if you have any other concerns or require additional information and help, please feel free to DM us at your convenience, we’ll be happy to assist you.
Thank you for your understanding!
Kind regards,
Company Name
Hello [Name],
Thank you for reaching out.
We’re truly sorry to hear about your unhappy experience with our … . We would like to investigate the case and check what we could do to help you.
To examine the situation, could you please email the ID of your support ticket to our customer success manager at companymail@mail.com and provide us with the details of the issue that caused your unhappy review?
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Kind regards,
Company Name
“Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions”
– Ken Blanchard
Working with feedback takes time and resources, but all these costs are paid off by increased customer loyalty and, ultimately, higher sales.
