HOW TO DEAL WITH YOUR BRANDS NEGATIVE ONLINE FEEDBACK

The digital revolution has been fantastic for small businesses, offering a multitude of exciting ways to reach out to customers and grow their company. But with so much exposure online, there’s the increased risk of bad reviews or a PR disaster which can have a negative impact on a brand’s hard-earned positive reputation. All it takes is one or two poor ratings or some unfavourable reviews, and your brand’s status could go down the pan.

If your brand is ever faced with the kind of negative feedback that can bring your whole business down, you’ll need to know how to turn these circumstances around and bag those five-star reviews once more. Here are some tips and guidelines to help you deal with a poor reputation:

Don’t ignore the negatives

Getting a negative review or some poor feedback can be awkward, and many companies can get into the mindset of ignoring them, perhaps hoping they’ll go away of their own accord. This is almost never the case! The best course of action is to respond to a poor review. Never try to question or argue with the customer – that can only lead to even further negative exposure. Don’t delete the comment (if it’s been made on social media). Instead, address reviewer directly and ask how you can improve your service for next time. Not only are you making the reviewer feel valued by listening to their concerns, you’re also showing other potential customers that you’re always looking for ways to improve. Potentially turning a negative into a positive.

Encourage reviews from loyal customers

Another way to counteract bad reviews is simply to balance them out with plenty of good reviews. This doesn’t mean you can ignore the bad reviews, but to potential customers, it will look as though the poor reviews are one-off incidents, rather than the norm. Be careful not to offer any incentives for reviews – companies like Google, TripAdvisor and Yelp have made it clear that this is against their guidelines, and you may be penalised for it.

Likelihood of obtaining a review tends to be a time sensitive. Consumers are far more likely to produce reviews if approached for them close to the time or service or receiving their product.

Be human

It can be tempting to simply fire off an automated response or a generic reply to something negative online, but this can backfire – it makes your business look as though it doesn’t care enough to even craft a few sentences to answer a bad review. It’s important for your brand to show its personality when interacting with customers, and that means getting personal. Allow your staff to introduce themselves by name when responding to complaints or negative reviews, and encourage them to develop a rapport with the customer in question. The customer is likely to be far more responsive and positive when dealing with a human than if they feel like they’re dealing with a faceless corporate avatar. Ask for their name, and use common sense when dealing with a complaint, rather than rigidly sticking to policy or procedure.