How much can a bad review hurt a business? Well, not to scare you guys, but it can hurt pretty bad. Especially since 92% of consumers in 2018 are now checking online reviews before even making a purchase — it’s the world we live in now.
“92% of consumers in 2018 are now checking online reviews before even making a purchase”
People will always trust people, and the very nature of our interconnected world makes it too easy for someone to share their experience with just about anyone online.
Never fear though! Although negative reviews can be damaging, it presents to us a magnificent opportunity to manage these and stand out from our competitors. And as always, us at GroHawk want to help you with that.
But first, let’s quickly dive into how much a bad review can hurt a business.
The Effect of Bad Reviews
Now, I could share a lot of facts about the number of people looking at reviews and how many people are influenced by them but to be honest, they’re a bit scary! A business should never over-worry about a bad review, we all get them — even Apple, Amazon and so on get them.
However, if we want to be the best in our industries (which I’m sure we all do), understanding the effect of a bad review is paramount.
Let’s take restaurants as an example.
It’s your friend’s birthday and you’re looking for something to eat, so you check Google to find the best restaurants near to you. Two restaurants come up, one with copious amounts of positive comments made by happy customers. The other, tainted by customer disappointments. ‘way too expensive’ ‘the staff were so rude!’… you get the picture.
Which one would you choose?
Well, I don’t know about you, but I would choose restaurant one. If other people like it, then surely, I will too.
That’s the power of customer reviews — positive and negative. They’re make or break in some cases.
People are always online checking out companies before they buy, whether that is on Google, Facebook, Yelp or wherever — they want to know whether they can trust you.
Although this is a terrifying realisation at first, it indicates how important it is for us to minimise and manage these reviews. No business can survive however long without a bad review, but there has to be a process in place to make sure these do not come back around the corner. If they keep cropping up again and again then don’t start wondering why people aren’t coming to your store — it’s because you’re not listening!
A Customer Left me a Bad Review, what do I do?!
First off, don’t panic!
As I’ve already mentioned, one bad review isn’t the be all and end all. We all get them, it’s about what you do next that matters. So, let’s talk about that.
What you need to do is chase them up!
And I know what you’re thinking, there’s no way I’m chasing up an unhappy customer! I get it, I don’t like it either, but this is the single most effective thing you can do in this situation.
Get in touch with your unhappy customer, find out the problem and why they’ve left you the review. The last thing we want is for another one! Tracking down your customer and finding out the problem means you can go away and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
What’s more, you’ll be pleasantly surprised how happy it makes a customer when you follow up on them. Customers love feeling valued, so chasing them up (and of course apologising) makes them feel like their comments matter to you. Ensure them that this problem will not happen again and I’m sure they’ll come back to you. They might even take their review down if you’re lucky!
No More Bad Reviews?
Imagine a world with no more bad reviews. A world where every customer that steps into your store or purchases a product off you loves you so much that all they want to do is rant and rave about you.
What a fine world that would be!
Unfortunately, it’s very difficult (if not almost impossible) for a business to make this happen but, there’s always something we can do to minimise these bad reviews to almost zero.
Companies like GroHawk offer customer feedback platforms which give you the opportunity to stop bad reviews in their tracks, because you’re the first one to hear them! With automated surveys based around NPS, the first outlet an unhappy customer will reach to voice their concerns will be through you. Meaning, you can stop the bad word getting out and will be right there on their doorstep waiting to make it up to them.
No more bad reviews? Why not give GroHawk a try for FREE today.
