Should I respond to positive and negative business reviews?
The short answer is, yes. Responding to reviews, whether positive or negative, shows your business is active, caring and engaged. Understanding how to respond to these reviews is vital for building trust, managing your business’s online reputation and maintaining long-lasting customer relationships. For SMEs, this means reviews are crucial for attracting new customers as well as looking after existing customers, making sure they don’t feel let down by your business and look elsewhere.
The power of positive reviews
Positive customer reviews hold immense value for SMEs – think of it as free advertising. Good reviews serve as powerful endorsements, influencing potential customers and building credibility. Positive reviews assure others that your products or services deliver on their promises. Encouraging customers to leave reviews is key, as they can provide valuable insights and recommendations.
How to respond to positive reviews
To get the most out of your positive reviews, it’s essential to express gratitude and appreciation. Respond promptly to show that you value their feedback. Personalise your responses by addressing the customer by name and acknowledging their specific comments. In your response, consider mentioning how their experience aligns with your company’s values and goals. For example, if the review highlights excellent customer service, you could say that the customer experience is at the heart of your business.
You could also ask the reviewer to engage with your business further, by suggesting they follow you on social media or sign up for a newsletter. Getting these customers to continue to engage builds a connection with them, making them more likely to return to use your business again and, most importantly, recommend your business to others.
By sharing details about the positive experience mentioned in the review, you not only strengthen the relationship with the reviewer but also highlight your strengths to potential customers. Positive reviews make up the basis of quality content; consider sharing your positive reviews on social media, and use them as the basis for a blog or your next content marketing campaign.
How to respond to negative reviews
Negative reviews can hurt, especially if you’re a small business or just starting out. It’s hard not to take them personally or want to take the reviewer to task. Although you may wish to ignore a negative review, it’s important to react promptly, remain calm, try to be objective and above all, keep it professional.
Begin your response by acknowledging the customer’s dissatisfaction and apologise sincerely for any mistakes or issues they encountered. Take responsibility for the problem, even if it wasn’t directly your fault. By demonstrating accountability, you show your commitment to resolving the issue.
Offer a solution or propose ways to rectify the problem. Depending on the situation, you may need to take the conversation offline to address the issue more personally and privately. Provide contact information or ask the customer to reach out to you directly so that you can resolve the matter in a more personalised manner.
Throughout the response, demonstrate empathy and understanding towards the customer’s concerns. Show that you genuinely care about their experience and want to make it right. Even if you can’t fully resolve the issue, make an effort to find a compromise or alternative solution.
Remember, a negative review, when handled effectively, can showcase your commitment to excellent customer service.
Addressing negative reviews proactively can lead to positive outcomes for your business. By taking the time to resolve issues and address concerns, you have an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive.
One way to achieve this is by implementing feedback from negative reviews to improve your products, services, or internal processes. Use the criticism constructively, identifying areas for growth and making necessary changes. By showcasing your willingness to learn from mistakes and improve, you build trust with customers. The negative reviewer may be impressed with the way you handled their complaint, mention it to friends and family in a positive light and could become a loyal customer.
Sharing success stories of how you resolved negative experiences can also be impactful. Highlight instances where you successfully addressed a customer’s concerns, leading to their satisfaction and a positive revision of their review. These stories demonstrate your dedication to excellent customer service and can restore confidence in your business.
Get on top of your business reviews
Now we’ve demonstrated how to respond to customer reviews you can begin to make significant improvements to your business’s online reputation by putting it into practice, but you’re a small to medium business, where do you start? If you’re thinking you need to employ someone just to get on top of your business reviews, don’t panic. Luckily we can help.
Our Sonar solution helps you get on top of your reviews and stay on top of them – updating you as soon as a new review comes in.
Sonar is a piece of software you can access anywhere, on any device. It allows you to manage all aspects of your business’s online presence, from managing reviews and listings to posting on social media – all in one central dashboard, controlled by you. It saves you time and money, allowing you to get back to running your business safe in the knowledge that your online reputation is in good hands.
Sonar makes sure your business information is consistent on over 50+ search engines, directories, apps, digital assistants and more including Google, Bing and Facebook. It connects with well-known review sites, such as TrustPilot, Facebook, TripAdvisor and Yell – helping you manage your reviews in one place. You’ll receive an email letting you know you’ve received a new review, giving you the option to respond there and then, wherever you are. It also lets you share the review on social media, helping you showcase your positive feedback as soon as you receive it.
