How to Overcome Bad Reviews
As a business owner, one of the things that you have to deal with is negative online reviews. Bad reviews can really do a lot of damage to your business reputation, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything about them. There are many things that you can do to overcome bad reviews and even turn them into positive reviews. Here are some strategies that you can use if you’re dealing with this problem.
Solve the Problem the Reviewer Had
Instead of ignoring bad reviews, you want to reach out to the reviewer and try to resolve the issue the person had. If there was a mistake, apologize to the customer and offer to resolve the problem (issue refund, replace product, make sure product is delivered, etc). Even if the problem wasn’t your fault, do what you can to offer a resolution to the customer.
After you’ve fixed the problem, reach out to the customer and ask if he can update the review. You’ll be surprised by how many people will retract their negative review or update their review with a positive one after you’ve fixed their problem. Even if the person doesn’t change his review, you’ll be showing the public how you treat your customers, which is a good PR move.
Address Search Queries Head On
Many consumers want to know if they can trust a business, so they’ll enter search queries like “is Company X a scam?” Instead of waiting for another website to optimize for these search queries and take advantage of the traffic, you want to make sure that your page comes pops up in search listings. Address these questions that people have about your business.
A good example is this “ACN Reviews: Scam or No” article. The article addresses user’s concerns about ACN being a scam. It talks about falsified reviews of third party reviewers overshadowing the positive experiences people have had with the company. The article then discusses the history of the company, what the business does and why the company is not a scam. This addresses the concerns that people have about the company and provides strong proof to trust the business.
Have a System for Generating Positive Reviews
When a business is hurt by a few bad reviews, it can probably be attributed to a lack of reviews altogether. If there’s nothing you can do about the negative reviews, you’ll have to set up a system to collect positive reviews. Make sure you ask every satisfied customer to leave positive feedback on a review site or your business page. Once you collect a lot of positive reviews, the negative ones will stand out far less.
If the bad reviews were justified, make sure you listen to what people are saying and address the issues they’re having. You need to quickly fix the problem whether you have to retrain your staff, fix fulfillment/shipping issues, or provide a higher quality product/service. Not doing anything will only lead to more bad reviews and make it even more difficult to change your reputation.
Reach out to the Review Site
It can be frustrating when you have to deal with a bad review with no basis. A customer may have had a bad day and decided to take it out on your business or it may be a competitor posing as a customer to hurt your business. If you find that a bad review was given without a legitimate reason, reach out to the review site that is hosting the reviews. Provide strong evidence and reasons why the review should be removed from their site.
This is a tough situation because you have no control over somebody else’s site. However, there are review sites that actually care about providing real reviews to their audience and will take down bad reviews if there was no basis for them. Don’t assume that there’s nothing you can do about a bad review on a third party site. Put in that small extra effort and it might pay off.
As you can see, there’s a lot of things you can do to overcome bad reviews. Building a positive reputation online requires a lot of vigilance and effort but if you manage to build a strong reputation, you’ll be able to attract more customers from your online marketing.
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