Social media and online review sites such as Yelp make it easy for customers to express opinions on your Boston Metro area business. Positive reviews can help other potential customers choose your business or services over a competitor. But what should you do when your business receives a negative review? It’s likely to happen at some point – here are some tips to help you handle the situation.
- Respond professionally. If the review contains true information that was a misstep on your company’s behalf, it’s best to apologize and be honest about the mistake. Try to include the steps that you’ll be taking to remedy the situation, and offer alternate contact information so that the reviewer can contact you directly if desired. Don’t make it personal, and keep it short. Your goal is to give a professional response that shows care for your customers.
- Contact the review site. This can be a tricky one – online review sites usually won’t remove negative reviews unless you can provide factual evidence that the review is false. For example, if another business posts a negative review and there’s a way to prove it, you may be able to get it removed. If you’re unable to get a review removed, the best course of action is to respond professionally as outlined above.
- Stay on top of social media and review sites. Check in on social media and other review sites frequently to stay on top of potentially negative reviews. A quick, professional response may be all it takes for the reviewer to change the review from negative to positive, and review sites typically allow users to change or update their reviews.
Negative reviews will happen to most businesses at some point. While they are sometimes unavoidable, there are steps that can be taken to reduce the effect that these reviews may have on current or potential customers. We hope that the steps outlined here will help you should you find yourself in a negative review situation.
Do you have any tips for handling negative online reviews? We’d love to hear them! Post a comment below or contact us – we look forward to hearing from you.
Jay Nuss
Jay Nuss Realty Group, LLC
Check Out Our Website
Like Me on Facebook
Follow Me on Twitter
Connect With Me on LinkedIn
Add Me to Your Circles
Follow Me on Pinterest