Bad Reviews Hurting your Business? 3 Tips for Responding

Negative reviews, angry comments and controversial social media posts can very quickly overtake the positive content you have created for your business online. You may spend an hour a week writing up some nice new content for your website, but if countless consumers are leaving negative comments on your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and independent review websites, then you’re fighting a losing battle.

Those 20 pages on your website might glowingly describe your ethos and products, but negative content from consumers is like a plague; it will rapidly grow out of control if you don’t control it.

There are two options with negative content; ignore it or respond.

Firstly, lets talk about why you can’t afford to ignore it.

Why you can’t ignore negative content…

It’ll cost you.

Igniyte, a reputation management agency, recently commissioned a study which asked 500 business owners and higher decision makers to consider issues relating to their online business reputation.

Their Reputation Report revealed that companies have reported a staggering average loss of £46, 815 due to damaging online content.

£46, 815 lost due to negative online content

Setting that number aside for a moment, 52% of the leaders contacted said their business had suffered because of negative online content, but surprisingly only 10% have suffered at the hands of social media.

It’s affecting everyone, and ignoring it means you’re just pouring money down the drain. But how do you deal with it? What should you do?

The Reputation Report revealed that over a third (31%) of businesses say dealing with negative online content is a major concern for them in the future, with one in five (20%) revealing that dealing with it has become the focus of their online strategy.

This is a flawed approach. If your entire online strategy is aimed at dealing with customer complaints, you’re essentially firefighting, when you should be proactively making the business better. But the negative content still must be dealt with…

The top negative online content concerns…

The top three reported business concerns were bad reviews (29%), negative social media posts (24%) and damaging online content (23%). These are all quite different forms of communication.

1. Reviews are more formal than social media posts, and generally go into a lot more detail. Does this mean they earn a more thought-out response?
2. Social media posts can be off-the-cuff, posted by someone on the commute, with very little thought required… therefore they can be a lot more toxic. Do they require their own strategy for responding? 
3. Damaging online content in general could be any number of things, from news articles or blog posts, to a forum thread where everyone is discussing how bad your business is! Tackling these more long-term issues can require a more in-depth strategy involving SEO, frequent posting, a boost in positive content and more.

How to respond to negative online content…

A lot of negativity online comes as a direct result of the feeling of online anonymity. Consumers feel like they can say whatever they want to and no one will police them. Their friends won’t know they cursed at Tesco, and their mum won’t find out they’ve moaned at Marks & Spencer for plastic bag charges. It’s a forum where people are able to let loose.

When it comes to your response, you are then forced into the position of parent; you have to draw them back down to earth and the land of reasonable thinking. You are the one who introduces the human element, by reminding them with your response that they are talking to a person, not a faceless corporation.

"Your bad reviews are really depressing me guys! Take it down a notch, ok?"

1. Stay Positive

Maintain your positive business persona when replying to wronged consumers. Forbes highlights that people are looking for humanity online, with a genuine response, which is why a positive and straightforward reaction can often completely disarm enraged reviewers.

Take the negative comments as an opportunity for you to highlight the positives of your business; 

“I’m very sorry that your bed linens were not changed in the morning; we take the comfort of our customers very seriously, which is why we were awarded the Hotel Comfort Award 2014. We hope the rest of your stay was enjoyable, and will send you on a voucher as an apology.”

2. Stay Calm

In the face of hate, you’re going to need to stay calm in order to diffuse the situation. If you get angry too, the reviewer will respond with an even angrier response, and it will spiral out of control.

Take a breath, figure out the actual root of the customer's problem, and figure out how you can solve it/appropriately apologise.

3. Prevention is better than Cure

And finally, focus on constantly improving your business and maintaining a high standard of service, to avoid customers repeatedly complaining about the same thing. 

If you get a review complaining of a broken door handle, fix it, then thank the customer for pointing it out and let them know it is now taken care of. 

Multiple reviews on TripAdvisor complaining about the same issue are just highlighting to new customers that you're not listening to your current customers, so it's time to get proactive!


Real-life example:
Marketing Week had to respond to some negative customer feedback on Facebook today, and here's how they handled it:

Well played Marketing Week. 

We'll come back to this topic later on in order to look at the damaging effect of negative reviews, with practical steps on what to do if your business is bogged down in negativity. We'll also address competitors leaving bad reviews on purpose to sabotage your business...

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