How to Harness the Power of Negative Reviews to Build Your eCommerce Business

In all our years of experience working with eCommerce merchants, it seems that there are two common responses to a batch of negative reviews.

Type 1. Emotional devastation. Each word said by the soul-crusher on the other end of that review is a dagger in your heart.

Type 2. Who cares — negative reviews don’t matter. I haven’t checked my reviews in ages.

Most merchants fall into one of these two categories. But neither response is a good response.

Negative reviews are absolutely worth taking note of, but they aren’t the end of the world either.

Of course, your reviews are an extremely important aspect of your business health and growth. Five-star ratings will encourage more customers your way, and even improve your SEO, while negative reviews can tank your traffic in a hurry.

Consider these stats:

• Research shows that 9 out of 10 people regularly check online reviews
• 84% of shoppers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation
• 68% of shoppers will form their opinion of your brand after reading only 1–7 reviews
• 74% of shoppers admit that reviews eventually influenced their purchase decision

Allow us to share with you what we consider to be the best way of dealing with negative reviewers.

Track Your Reviews

Always keep tabs on your reviews. This includes Google My Business reviews, Yelp, social media platforms, Amazon, email marketing responses, you name it. Make a note of the positive things that your customers have to say. Then, read your negative reviews.

1. Track the percentage of negative to positive and neutral feedback.
2. Note if there are any recurring complaints from your customers.
3. Note where most of your reviews are coming from. Is it the same place as most of your traffic?

Tracking this information will help you see where there are problems in your processes or products so that you can continue to improve.

Always Respond to Your Reviews

Customers like to be acknowledged. Try to respond to both positive and negative reviews. If you don’t have time for both, however, make sure that you take care of those unhappy customers.

Before you start furiously typing out a sharp, angry retort to prove that your customer is in the wrong — not you — hold up. Lots of people are going to read this response, not just this single customer. In fact, 82% of shoppers will specifically seek out negative reviews. They want to know what went wrong for others, and how you handled the situation.

In fact, 82% of shoppers will specifically seek out negative reviews. They want to know what went wrong for others, and how you handled the situation.

Your response will greatly influence their opinion of your brand. Did you address the issue? Or did you ignore all your negative reviewers? Were you rude? Did you do your best to make the situation right? Seventy-eight percent of consumers say they are more inclined to believe the business is trustworthy is they see managers are responding to complaints.

Always respond in a positive way.

• Apologize
• Identify the problem
• Ask them how you can make their experience better or fix the issue
• Thank them for taking the time to leave you feedback
• Follow-up on any promises made to resolve their situation

Fix the Problem

Even bad feedback isn’t all bad. In fact, it can be incredibly helpful. All the feedback you receive can be used to help you improve your eCommerce store. This is an opportunity to dig into what went wrong and examine how you can prevent those issues in the future. Share these insights with your ops team to see where, when and how you can take steps to solve these problems.

Expert Tip: Once you’ve fixed the issue, reach out to those negative reviewers again to let them know you listened to them. You’ll demonstrate to your lost clients that you are a brand that cares about what customers want — and that makes you worth checking out a second time.

Bad Reviews Can Improve Your Credibility

Contrary to what most people think about negative reviews, bad reviews actually demonstrate your trustworthiness by showing your reviews haven’t been whitewashed. They also offer other shoppers insights into what they can expect from your products.

One of the biggest challenges that eCommerce businesses face is describing a product in a way that gives the shopper a realistic idea of what it’s like. Images, videos, and copy can only go so far. One of the primary reasons customers write bad reviews is because the product didn’t meet their expectations — not that it was inherently bad itself.

Negative reviews can help other shoppers more accurately understand what they’re buying and set expectations accordingly.

Here’s a simplified example. A blouse on your website gets feedback from customers complaining their normal size was too large for them. New shoppers now know to buy a size smaller than normal.

That feedback from other customers is actually working in your favor to prevent more negative reviews in the future.

Shoppers don’t want to buy blindly — they want the inside scoop from peers who have no skin in the game. Honest feedback will help build your trustworthiness.

Don’t Do It Yourself — Build a Customer Service Team

You can’t handle everything when it comes to running your eCommerce business — at least not forever. If you’re having a hard time staying on top of everything as it is, adding the task of responding to a bunch of negative feedback to the mix likely won’t serve anyone well.

Invest in a customer support staff member who understands your business, aligns with your brand values, and is able to communicate well with angry customers. A good customer service team member will be able to keep their cool in tough situations and deliver a level of detail and care that you may find yourself (and your customers) marveling at.

Here’s What It Comes Down To — People Want to Know You Care

We can talk about prescriptive approaches and best practices, but what it all boils down to is taking care of your customers. If you truly care, it will naturally come across in your interactions. In all the talk about eCommerce moving to experiential retail, the focus is less about the product itself and more about creating meaningful interactions and experiences for your customers. Negative reviews are just another avenue for you to do that.

Want help upping your eCommerce game? We’re full of helpful tips and tricks. Subscribe to our channel or get in touch with our team to talk about how we could help your eCommerce business scale.

Love,
Mammoth Factory