Respond to reviews with diplomacy; while you may not change the reviewer’s mind, it will have an impact on other customers that read it
A friend of mine with a small business was worried about a negative review. He’s a hard worker, cares about his customers, and usually gets good reviews.
This particular one wasn’t. Though my friend had tried to resolve the issue, he felt the reviewer was being unreasonable and the review unwarranted.
He asked me if he should respond – and I encouraged him to do so.
Why? Because while you may not be able to resolve the issue, you want to demonstrate for everyone else that reads that review that you have been responsive.
There’s survey data to support the notion. MarketingCharts recently reviewed a survey by BrightLocal, which makes marketing software, and found about 40% of consumers read the responses to reviews.
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If you’ve made a good faith effort to patch things up but couldn’t – then don’t worry too much. You can’t make every customer happy.
There’s even evidence to suggest that a few negative reviews make your overall review profile more credible – because if everything is perfect – then perhaps it’s all a bit too manicured. More to the point, most customers recognize that when a business gets mostly positive reviews, and just a few negative ones, the latter are probably extraordinary.
Don’t try to prove that you are right the reviewer is wrong or rehash the entire issue in the comments. Simply respond with diplomacy and recognize that while your words may not change the reviewer’s mind, it will have an impact on other customers and potential customers that read it. Your response to a business review might count as much as the review itself.
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Image credit: Photo by henry perks on Unsplash and MarketingCharts
