Bad reviews mean your customer is unhappy, and unhappy customers are unlikely to rush back to your business anytime soon. Negative reviews can have a big influence on first-time shoppers as well, with the Feefo 2021 Navigating The Negative report revealing that 93% of consumers check reviews when looking for a product or service.
In this guide, we’ll cover the ins and outs of negative reviews, including how best to respond, so you can start winning over your unhappy customers and turning those unhappy reviews into something positive.
Why do people leave negative reviews?
Here are our three main reasons why customers leave negative reviews for all the right reasons:
- They’re unhappy and want a solution — The customer was too shy to complain directly, or they’ve tried to get in touch through other channels and haven’t received a response. They may have left that one-star review in a bid to get a solution from you; whether that’s financial compensation, a fix for their problem, or a simple apology and promise that it won’t happen again.
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They want to warn others not to use your company — If a customer has an extremely bad experience, they may feel that it’s their duty to warn others about your business.
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They want to see your company improve — Customers may feel the problem they encountered wasn’t worth complaining about directly, but it should be mentioned in an honest review. The good news is because they’re leaving the review to make sure this problem never happens again, they’re likely to return as a loyal customer — especially if you can offer an apology and solution.
Three other reasons why your customers aren’t writing positive reviews
A lack of strategy when it comes to collecting reviews could also mean you’re only attracting negative feedback.
Here are three other reasons why your customers aren’t writing positive reviews and what to do to fix them.
1. It’s too difficult to leave a review
67% of consumers say that a review process that takes too long would put them off leaving feedback. Anyone that did want to write a positive review is likely to give up, while those with a complaint to make will get even more frustrated by a cumbersome feedback form. The solution? Make the process as clear, quick and easy as possible.
2. You’re not asking for reviews
Unless they’ve received amazing service or had a dreadful experience, customers are unlikely to go out of their way to leave your business a review unprompted.
To ensure you get the best (and most) feedback possible, ask every customer and client for their honest opinions. Not only will this help you collect more positive feedback, but it will also guarantee they are using a platform that is visible to other customers and you can analyse.
3. Your customers don’t know what to write
Many customers want to provide your business with constructive and helpful feedback but aren’t sure what to write. This means those who wish to leave positive and honest feedback simply don’t bother, leaving the most frustrated customers to dominate your reviews.
When asking customers to write a review, think about what you’d like to know more about. Be sure to prompt each customer to comment on the aspects of your service you want feedback on – this will encourage them to write better, more insightful reviews.
How to respond to negative reviews
Responding to negative reviews is vital; ignoring them could lead to a loss in customers and damage to your company’s reputation. Here’s how you should respond in a way that will win over even the most disgruntled customer and persuade prospects reading that negative review to still buy from you.
1. Have a policy in place
First and foremost, if there are multiple people responding to feedback in your company, put a policy in place to ensure all replies are consistent. This doesn’t mean businesses should copy and paste their responses, but they should have a similar tone of voice that’s specific to your brand and audience.
2. Be polite
Try to remember why the customer is leaving feedback. No matter how harsh the review, they aren’t being malicious, so focus on identifying their problem and coming up with a solution.
3. Act fast
In the age of social media, consumers expect a fast response — especially when they’re unhappy. Prioritise responding to one-star and two-star reviews to avoid the issue escalating further and so anyone reading your reviews can see your reply quickly.
4. Say sorry
Sorry needn’t be the hardest word and it certainly doesn’t mean you’re admitting fault. Saying sorry simply means you’re acknowledging the customer is upset and shows that you care.
5. Offer a solution
What are you going to do to make sure this issue doesn’t arise again? How are you going to make things right? An appropriate solution to the problem will very much depend on the review, but it could be anything from a sincere apology to a full refund.
6. Contact the customer offline
It’s important to publicly respond to a negative review, not just for the reviewer’s sake, but so any potential customers reading can see your reply.
However, you don’t want to create a public back and forth with the customer. Instead, get in touch with them offline first to see if you can get the issue resolved. If they aren’t responding to your calls or emails, mention that you’ve tried to get in touch with them in your public review response and that you’d like to get their problem solved as quickly as possible.
Never tell the customer that they must contact you, as this creates additional work for the customer, which could annoy them further.
How businesses can benefit from negative reviews
While a significant number of negative reviews can be harmful to your business, the Feefo 2019 Consumer Report highlighted that 52% of consumers are suspicious if a business has no negative reviews at all.
So instead of trying to eliminate all bad reviews completely, companies should be leveraging them to benefit their business. Here’s how you can take advantage of negative reviews:
1. Show off how great your customer service team is
Every bad review is a chance for your customer service team to shine. Getting back to customers quickly, giving helpful answers, and even a simple bit of kindness can go a long way toward defusing most situations.
93% of shoppers are likely to make another purchase with companies that demonstrate excellent customer service. But shoppers aren’t as patient as they used to be. A further 53% expect a response to their negative review within seven days.
Good or bad, every review is your opportunity to show off your business and get customers, new and old, back on side. The quicker you resolve the issues, the more they’ll be willing to come back and spend with you in the future.
2. Put your bad reviews in the spotlight
Being able to read a mix of good and bad comments from other customers proves the authenticity of your company and gives shoppers the confidence they need to hit that ‘buy’ button.
As with most things, it’s a balancing act. Too many good reviews and you run the risk of not being believed; too many negative reviews and shoppers start to worry.
There’s no golden ratio, but somewhere between 4 and 4.9 stars is where you want to be aiming.
3. Stop ignoring unhappy customers
More often than not, the worse the experience someone has had with you, the more there is to learn about how to improve for next time.
Amazingly, 42% of businesses still don’t listen to their customers at all. Whether you’re collecting reviews, running surveys, or listening in on social media, what your customers are saying about you is the best way of finding out how they really feel about your business.
How to manage fake reviews
It’s possible some of the ratings and reviews you’re receiving are fake.
Some unscrupulous businesses target their competitors by paying others to write fake negative reviews, in the hope it will damage their brand. Other consumers write harsh, unfair reviews to try and get the business to give them a refund or free product.
If fake reviews are damaging your reputation, here’s what you can do to try and tackle them.
- Find out if they’re a genuine customer or not
Depending on the platform, you may only have limited information about the person that’s left the review. Investigate and find out whether they could be a genuine customer or not. If they are, respond, get in touch with them, and try to get to the bottom of their issue.
- Reporting fake reviews
If they aren’t a genuine customer, you will need to report or flag the review and request that it is removed. However, some reporting functions are better than others, and flagging a review may not be enough for it to be investigated. You may need to flag it multiple times before it’s removed.
- Use a closed-review platform
Negative reviews received through a closed-review platform, such as Feefo, are unlikely to be evidently defamatory because of tools like language checkers. Closed-review platforms can convert negative reviews from a slant against a company to an opportunity for improvement.
The facility to respond directly and engage the consumer is provided alongside customer insight tools to feed into further and onward business development.
- Treat the feedback as professionally as possible
If reporting a potentially fake review doesn’t work, you should still respond to it to show other customers that you’ve acknowledged the feedback, even if you suspect it might not be genuine. Avoid making any direct claims that the review may be fake.
Learn more about spotting and removing deceitful feedback with our guide to fake reviews.
Can a business sue over a fake review?
There’s currently no precedent for it in the UK, but you can attempt it. What has happened previously is that a business that hosts consumer reviews has disagreed with the content of the written review and taken legal action against the reviewer. The courts have then had to judge whether the review’s content is defamation.
Some may say that a company suing for a bad review is an inevitable event on an open-ended review platform, as there is no moderation, service verification, or guarantee of authenticity.
Whilst businesses have the ‘right to reply’ on open-ended review platforms, they can do little else.
How businesses can improve a bad online reputation
Whether you’re too late in responding to negative customer feedback or you’ve suddenly received an influx of bad reviews, they can harm your business’s reputation.
However, businesses can make amends to a poor reputation and what matters the most is how it’s dealt with and what’s learnt from it.
What constitutes a bad online reputation?
A poor online reputation can be from one or a combination of factors. It may include frequent bad customer reviews, social mentions with a negative spin, false reviews, or deliberate reputational attacks.
Whilst businesses are unable to assert control over what consumers say, think, or act upon, they should monitor and react accordingly.
What is Online Reputation Management (ORM)?
Online Reputation Management is the practice of monitoring and neutralising negative sentiment to ensure that a brand is thought of positively.
Originally known as just Reputation Management, it has historically garnered some controversy for the concealment of negative business activity. However, it's now considered more of a customer service tool, allowing brands to intervene and aid consumers rather than cover up their criticisms.
How to fix a bad online reputation
There are several strategies that businesses can adopt to fix a bad reputation and avoid it escalating further:
- Start collecting customer reviews
Whether or not there’s an official space to do so online, customers will be giving reviews of a brand’s products, services and/or experiences. So, businesses should try to curate reviews and feedback in a moderated manner. Feefo operates as a closed-review platform to only allow genuine customers to leave public reviews for complete authenticity and trustworthiness.
- Use customer insights to make improvements
Once the reviews are in, your company will need to extract the value within the content. Feefo offers a myriad of customer insight and data analysis tools from which brands can learn about real customer behaviour, sentiment, appetites, and expectations both qualitatively and quantitatively. Use this data to guide business development practices, as well as to identify customer trends, resolve any issues, and implement any ‘quick fixes’ as required.
- Stay active on social media
An active social media presence on the appropriate channels for a company’s target audience permits the publication of corporate and marketing messaging, PR campaigns, tailored adverts, and customer interaction and engagement. It can be used to both attract new customers and retain existing ones, as well as to lend credibility to a brand and establish it as an industry leader in its field.
- Track online mentions
Tracking mentions of a brand name, product name, or service name should be considered an imperative piece of any business’ ORM toolkit. Many online analysis tools offer a free service scalable to bigger firms with additional insight, reply, and sentiment functionality built in. Tracking mentions of a business online is now a mainstream practice and acts as a brilliant method of identifying and resolving issues before they escalate.
- Develop impactful PR campaigns
Creating impactful PR campaigns and marketing messaging are two keys to building a positive perceived value and reputation around a brand. Online messaging is no longer about just your website — social media presence, customer experience, and online reviews help others to create informed decisions about a brand. They help to curate a positive image and, therefore, a positive public perception.
At some point, all businesses experience negativity online. But, the key is the management of which is supported by a robust ORM strategy. With Feefo, we place businesses in the best possible position to do so should such a situation arise.
Make the most of negative reviews with Feefo
Listening to negative feedback is vital for your business to improve and can help
you identify underperforming staff members, stores, products, and more. It also builds trust with both existing and potential customers.
If you’re still struggling with negative reviews or fake feedback, get in touch with our friendly team today and we can recommend a solution for you.
