How to Respond to Good and Bad Reviews

You've got some reviews online, what now?

Importance of Responding to Both Negative and Positive Reviews

First of all, that's great news for your business. If you've been reading our blog, you'll remember that 85% of customers trust online reviews just as much as personal recommendations.

But your job isn't done just yet because more than half of online customers expect businesses to respond to their online reviews and they're probably pretty disappointed if you don't.

Further, customers are nearly twice as likely to trust businesses that respond to reviews compared to those that don't.

How to Respond to Reviews

Depending on the nature of the review, you might want to change how you respond but you should always thank the customer for using your products or services and for taking the time to leave a review.

How to Respond to Positive Reviews

If you've got some of these, you're obviously doing something right. The customers leaving positive reviews of your business are pleased enough with your service that they're willing to take the time out of their day to publicly let everyone know that you've done a great job.

You should respond to these customers because they're the people who are most likely to become return customers that are loyal to your product or service. As many know, it's almost seven times more costly to attract customers than to keep the ones you already have.

To respond to a positive review, try these tips:

Respond sooner rather than later:

Your reviews are likely to come shortly after the transaction when the experience is still fresh in your customer's mind.

Prove to your customer that you care that they've taken the time to leave their review by returning the favour in a timely manner.  It's best to do this sooner rather than later to prove that you appreciate it, as opposed to ignoring their efforts.

Thank them for the review:

The best way to show your appreciation is to thank your customer in your response. Some examples of this are:

• Thanks for taking the time to leave this review
• We appreciate your time
• Thanks so much for using our service

Be personal:

While there's only so many ways to say thank you, you should still personalise every message to show that you're not a robot and that your gratitude is authentic.

Some great ways to keep your response personal are:

• Use the customer's name
• Mention that you're looking forward to their next visit
• Mention a specific pleasant event from their service or sale

Keep it simple:

Apart from saving a heap of your time, keep your responses short for the sake of your future customers who are likely to read through your reviews and responses before making their purchase decision.

Ask for one more favour:

If you're feeling confident enough with your product or service and how satisfied the customer is, ask them for a little bit extra like:

• Following your social media pages
• Sharing your posts
• Telling their friends about your services

How to Respond to Negative Reviews

These are a bit tougher to respond to as you might not want other people seeing that you've been reviewed poorly.

But these can be just as effective in marketing your business positively by following these steps:

Be professional and courteous and thank the reviewer:

Even though it's not positive, the customer has taken the time to review your business. You should avoid lashing out or taking the review personally and thank them for their time in leaving the review.

Be personal:

Mentioned above for positive reviews, it's equally if not more important to demonstrate to your negative reviewers that you're a human and not a big faceless corporation run by evil robots.

Show that you're willing to fix the issue:

If your customer mentions a specific problem with your product or service, investigate it and determine if their review has substance. Be honest with your customer about any mistakes that may have been made and demonstrate that you're working to fix it in future.

Offer to remedy the problem:

If it's a simple issue with your product or service that you can fix, you might be able to offer a solution to their problem like:

• An invitation to return with promise of better service
• A partial or full refund

Figure Out What Your Customers Want

If you're looking for more positive reviews for your business online, consider using the Bloomtools Professional Survey Tool.

It's an easy way to find out who your customers are and what they're looking for.

If you'd like any more information about marketing your business in the online world, continue reading some more of our blogs here.

If you're ready to take the next steps to marketing your business online, contact us to discover what we can do for you.