What's The Right Way to Respond to Online Reviews?

Consumers have more ways to make their voice heard than ever, thanks to social media and dedicated review sites (e.g. Trustpilot, Yelp). Whether their experience is good, bad, or somewhere in between, a customer can tell the whole world about it within a few clicks.

And one person’s review can influence another’s decision more than some businesses may realize. A massive 84% of people trust online reviews as much as they do recommendations from their friends — so negative feedback could push them towards a competitor even if they have no way to verify a reviewer’s claims.

But the way in which a business handles a review can also make a difference to consumers.

More than 50% of people expect to hear back from a brand within seven days of writing a review, especially if it’s critical or negative. And creating that response is an opportunity to win (or restore) the reviewer’s trust — and potentially make a positive impact on other consumers at the same time.

In this post, we’ll explore the right way to respond to online reviews as a key part of your ongoing online reputation management strategy.

Address reviewers by name to show you value your customers

A generic, automated response to a review suggests your business places little value on feedback, the customer’s experience, and the perception other consumers may have of your company.

To get off on the right foot, start by writing the reviewer’s name as you would at the beginning of an email or letter. Keep it simple. Keep it friendly, no matter the nature of the complaint. For example:

• “Hi, Paul”

• “Good to hear from you, Steve”

• “Hello, Judy and Mike”

It’s a tiny part of your response — but it should make the customer feel seen and valued.

Always be gracious for the time a reviewer has invested into communicating with your business

Expressing gratitude might not be your immediate concern when you read a negative (or even slightly critical) review for the first time. You and your employees work hard to provide products or services of the highest standard — and it can be hugely frustrating to see someone complaining about them in a public forum.

But you MUST bear in mind that the reviewer has taken the time to think about their feedback, write it, and post it. They may have done this because they want to:

• Help your business improve and grow

• Prevent other consumers having the same negative experience they did

• Have their voice heard to vent their frustration

So as hard as it may be, take a moment to thank the reviewer at the beginning of your review. This is especially important if the customer’s tone is impolite or even aggressive, to show your business is keen to avoid a heated argument.

And this leads nicely onto our next tip …

Resist the urge to respond in an angry or argumentative tone

Consumers checking reviews want to learn more about your business before they buy from you. They want to know that your company is professional, reliable, and responds to reviewers in a responsible manner.

They DON’T want to see your team hurling abuse at someone who wrote a negative review on Yelp or Facebook.

Not only will you come across as unprofessional and potentially untrustworthy, but they’ll wonder what sort of treatment they can expect if they do business with you.

Maintain a courteous tone at all times when you respond to online reviews. Even if that’s difficult. Even if you want to tell a reviewer EXACTLY what you think of them.

Your anger will pass over time. But the negative impression you make on a prospective customer may not.

Be apologetic if your business has genuinely made a mistake or treated a consumer badly

Even the biggest businesses in the world can make mistakes and prompt customers to look elsewhere.

Perhaps a product purchased as a gift for a special occasion arrives weeks later than it should have and the buyer is rightly frustrated. Maybe a hotel has no record of a guest’s booking even though they paid for their stay days earlier. Or it could be any number of other oversights.

Whatever the situation, you MUST apologize to the reviewer sincerely early in your response. Fight the temptation to unload the blame onto the customer: accept responsibility, explain what went wrong (if possible), and detail actions taken to prevent this mistake from happening again.

The reviewer is likely to appreciate your apology and may be convinced to do business with you again if they see that you genuinely want to do better. It may also build trust and credibility with prospective customers as they research your company.

Invite reviewers to contact you through another channel for further discussion if necessary

You can only say so much on a review site. You might feel that a customer’s feedback warrants a more detailed discussion, especially if you believe their details are inaccurate or they’re maliciously spreading lies about your business.

In either case, invite the reviewer to contact you by email or some other way for a private chat. And if you believe the reviewer is deliberately lying about a negative experience, dispute their claims in your response — but in a professional manner.

For example: “our night manager made a record of your conversation and the solutions they offered to help you, and we believe this may contrast with your claims. Please contact me directly so we can discuss this further. Thank you.”

Direct communication with a disgruntled customer, whether or not their dissatisfaction is justified, could lead to a mutually satisfactory conclusion. They may share their experience with you on social media, building brand awareness and showing your business in a positive light.

The right way to respond to online reviews may not always be the easiest, but taking the time to do it properly can pay off.

Never underestimate the importance of effective online reputation management to your business’s success. And to discover how Reputation Mart can help to protect your reputation, get in touch with our friendly team today!

The Biggest Mistakes You Can Make Responding to Customer Reviews

Like it or not, reviews matter.

Research shows 91 percent of people read online reviews regularlyor occasionally, with 84 percent trusting them as much as personal recommendations.

Furthermore, 90 percent of consumers decidewhether they can trust a business or not after reading 10 reviews. Surprisingly, 32 percent will have an opinion on a company, product or service after checking out one to three reviews.

Enough bad reviews can leave future customers reluctant to choose your brand over others and impact your reputation in the long run. Fortunately, you have the power to respond to reviews and interact with customers, addressing problems or questions for effective damage control.

But you have to be careful when doing this — making mistakes could exacerbate issues and harm your reputation.

Here are some of the most important errors to avoid when responding to reviews.

Top Mistakes to Avoid when Responding to Reviews

Becoming Angry and Blaming the Customer

Responding to online reviews is a little different to interacting with an unsatisfied customer face to face.

For example, if you run a restaurant and an unsatisfied diner approaches you to complain about their undercooked pizza, you can take them to a quiet corner to discuss the situation. Perhaps you offer to refund them. Maybe you give them a dessert on the house. Or both.

If the conversation becomes heated, you can at least invite the diner into your office for a private chat. Fellow diners may or may not hear you resolve the situation, but the important thing is ensuring the unhappy customer leaves satisfied.

When you face a scathing review online, you need to remain just as professional and eager to please. Yes, it’s easier to see the customer as a faceless person and type without thinking but doing so could put others off your business for good.

Acknowledge any mistakes yourself or employees may have made and apologize. Never try to put the blame on the reviewer.

If they really were responsible for a problem, though, explain how you tried to resolve the situation in a calm, clear way.

Ignoring Criticism Altogether

Never, evertry to sweep negative points in a review under the metaphorical carpet.

If you do, the customer and other readers will see what you’re doing immediately. When someone criticizes your products, services, staff or premises, meet them head-on. Ask for more clarification if their initial review is vague or thank them for drawing your attention to a flaw you were perhaps unaware of.

Ignoring bad comments or entirely-negative reviews will only make you appear unprofessional. Learn from valid criticisms and explore opportunities to improve your business.

Relying on Generic Responses

Generic responses to reviews can be infuriating, especially when the writer has asked a question or raised valid issues.

Responding with a simple ‘thank you for your feedback’ when a customer has published a long, well-written review featuring numerous points that deserve to be addressed is lazy. It implies you don’t value your buyers’ views and that your company is unwilling to make time for them.

Be specific with every response (or as many as you can), whether the review is good or bad. Thank the writer for taking the time to praise or criticize. Explain that you will take recommendations on board and make necessary changes. Use the reviewer’s name to make them feel acknowledged and valued too.

Not Offering Contact Information for Further Interaction

When a customer leaves negative feedback, you may feel further discussion is needed to handle the problem with the utmost professionalism.

There are multiple benefits to taking the conversation off-site:

• you can focus on appeasing the reviewer and regaining their trust in privacy

• if the customer remains disgruntled and reluctant to accept your apology or goodwill gesture, they can’t keep criticizing your business in front of others

• inviting the reviewer to contact you via email shows your support team is willing to dedicate time to individual customers and taking steps to resolve issues

You may be unable to deal with all negative reviews in this way (depending on the size of your customer service team) but doing whenever you can shows your brand in a better light. Always appear to be helpful and committed to keeping your audience happy.

Giving Rewards in Exchange for Positive Feedback

While it may be tempting to offer customers a little gift in exchange for a positive review, it’s always best to avoid this.

For one thing, this violates some review sites’ rules and could damage your reputation if consumers are made aware of your underhanded tactics. They may wonder how bad your products or services are if you have to actually bribe people into leaving good reviews.

Furthermore, offering rewards for positive feedback means you won’t get an honest insight into your customers’ experience. You couldn’t ‘pay off’ everyone if you consistently deliver bad service, and negative feedback will inevitably surface.

The reverse of this is punishing customers who leave unfavorable reviews. One hotel in New York was found to be essentially fining guests who chose to write negative feedback$500, and promising to give the money back if said feedback was removed.

The fee was part of a deposit paid by couples booking the venue for their wedding and applied to reviews left by any member of the party.

Don’t make this mistake. Take time to read and digest as many reviews as possible, whether they’re positive, negative or neutral. Be willing to recognize bad habits and mistakes. Take action to fix problems and show customers how much you value their input.

Honest feedback that gives a true representation of your products or services will only help your brand improve.

Avoid making any of these mistakes when responding to customer reviews. Otherwise, you risk making existing issues worse and chasing more prospects away from your business in the future.

Want to discover how our professional team can manage your reputation online? Just get in touch!

How can You Use Customer Reviews to Drive Sales?

Believe it or not, 85 percent of consumers tend to put as much trust in online reviews as they do personal recommendations.

Furthermore, 68 percent left a business review when prompted.

This demonstrates not just the importance of online reviews, but people’s willingness to leave them.

Despite this, though, some businesses don’t give online reviews the recognition and credit they deserve. They believe reviews are little more than a potential hazard to their reputation, as no company can please all of the people all of the time.

That’s technically true: negative reviews are inevitable, however rare.

Rather than being a hindrance, though, online reviews can be a major help to your brand, actually driving sales instead of reducing them.

Let’s take a closer look.

Building Your Brand, Building Trust

Gathering customer reviews can help to build your brand’s reputation to great effect.

When prospective buyers start looking into your business’s products and quality of service, having access to a large collection of reviews from previous customers can help them to gain a comprehensive insight they won’t find anywhere else.

They might be able to browse your website and find information on your company history, your own promotional copy, and your various products. However, only reviews can provide them with an unbiased idea of your brand’s performance.

Making that first purchase with a business they haven’t used before can be intimidating for consumers, especially if large amounts of money are involved. Scanning other buyers’ experiences with your brand can give them the confidence they need to spend, more so than your own marketing efforts.

As the stat at the start of this piece shows, buyers put a lot of faith in the feedback other consumers provide. By encouraging customers to leave reviews at dedicated sites and / or your own website, you are giving future buyers the chance to make an informed choice.

If they see a number of other people are pleased with their purchase, they are more likely to buy.

Your Responses Show You Care

Bad reviews vary wildly in tone and coherence.

We’ve all read feedback that makes little sense and appears to have been written by someone with a chip on their shoulder about something else beyond the products or services.

On the other hand, some bad reviews are well-written and cover fair grievances. For example, a customer may supply negative feedback because their item (let’s say a smartphone) was delivered in damaged packaging, or because it didn’t work as advertised.

You can’t stop people from writing bad reviews about your brand, but there’s no need to: they provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate how much you care about your buyers’ satisfaction and your business’s reputation.

Prospective customers browsing previous feedback and seeing negative reviews can feel put off, but a well-written, well-reasoned response from your brand has the power to turn one buyer’s complaint on its head.

If one customer complains that your smartphone (to return to the earlier example) failed to operate as it should have, you can take this chance to address the issue. Was it a manufacturing fault, and can it be returned to be repaired? Are they simply not using the handset the right way?

Offering to help demonstrates your business’s willingness to put things right. Even if your company has a global customer-base and the loss of one buyer means little in the long-term, you need to recognize that this really does matter to the consumer – which means it should matter to you too.

If you can’t solve a problem through a repair or replacement, offer to fix things in another way. Can you provide a discount in the future? Can you offer them a sincere apology and make sure they understand how committed you are to putting things right?

Prospective buyers reading this will likely have more faith in your brand, but don’t just focus on the negative reviews either. Offer a brief ‘thank you’ to the good ones too, and explain how you appreciate their custom.

Add Fresh Content for Better Rankings and Visibility

Publishing new content on your website, blog, and social channels on a regular basis can help to boost your rankings and drive fresh traffic to your site.

Crawlers like to see websites staying current. It shows that your brand is relevant and offering consistent value to searchers. More than this, though, fresh reviews are better for your reputation, and are more likely to encourage prospective customers into making that first purchase.

If prospects can only see reviews of your brand from around two years ago, how can they trust that your quality of service hasn’t declined since then? How can they decide whether you’re still reputable or not?

Keep requesting that customers leave feedback, good and bad. Don’t let them dry up and lose their relevancy.

Share Reviews Across Social Media

Sharing positive reviews about your business across social media can help to attract new prospects and drive traffic to your site.

Show your followers how satisfied previous customers are and highlight the products / services they received. Perhaps turn it into a brief case study, touching on why they wanted the goods in the first place, how you helped, and what solution your service brought.

Did they buy a pair of your running shoes for a fundraising marathon? Did they need to buy your computers for their business, and are now up and running thanks to you?

Focus on covering the customer’s journey in a short, simple social media post to drive prospects to your site. Even if they don’t click, they may well remember your brand in the future when they need the products you provide.

Online reviews can be a big help to your reputation and managing this is critical to your success. Have you found positive results from gathering customer reviews and responding to them?

How to Use Patient Online Reviews to Benefit Your Healthcare Facility

A few years back, business reputation was earned by word of mouth. Today’s business reputation still relies on word of mouth – just the digital version of it: online reputation.

Once you put up a business, your customers are bound to talk about your products and services. Instead of telling you, your staff or other customers in person, they’ll tell the whole world about your business online – through online reviews.

How Patients View Online Reviews

Online reviews of healthcare practitioners are particularly sought out by patients. Patients are increasingly turning to online reviews about healthcare providers, just like they do for other products and services.

Fifty-nine percent said healthcare provider rating sites are “somewhat” or “very” important, this according to a 2014 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Patients are increasingly turning to online physician ratings, just as they have sought ratings for other products and services," researchers said in the article "Public Awareness, Perception, and Use of Online Physician Rating Sites" published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

For years, the academic community and healthcare providers themselves have dismissed online reviews. But the rise of popularity of online review sites like Yelp has forced the issue of online reviews to the forefront. At the end of 2016, the Yelp platform generated a total of 121 million reviews, 6% of them about health care providers.

"After years of academic debate over the role and value of patient-satisfaction scores and reviews of health care providers, Yelp, the online powerhouse of documenting customer satisfaction, is forcing the issue," Dr. Vivian Lee said in the article "Transparency and Trust – Online Patient Reviews of Physicians" published in the New England Journal of Medicine. “Although this free and familiar platform can generate an impressive volume of feedback data, physicians do not always respond positively to the sudden exposure of sometimes negative reviews."

Other online reviews like Google can’t be dismissed. If someone searches your healthcare facility, for instance, Google reviews appear next to your organization’s listing in Maps and Search.

How to Use Patient Online Reviews to Your Organization’s Advantage

Dismissal of online reviews is a passive reaction. Some healthcare providers, however, take their reactions about negative reviews to the next level – to the point of violating patient-clinician confidentiality.

A California dentist reprimanded a patient who accused him on Yelp of misdiagnosing her. “I looked very closely at your radiographs and it was obvious that you have cavities and gum disease that your other dentist has overlooked. … You can live in a world of denial and simply believe what you want to hear from your other dentist or make an educated and informed decision.”

In Canada, the clinician’s confidentiality duty is both a legal and ethical obligation. Canada has privacy legislation that requires the consent of an individual before his or her personal information can be collected, used or disclosed. The Canadian Medical Association's Code of Ethics, in particular, requires physicians to protect their patients' personal health information.

Instead of dismissing, reacting negatively to online reviews, it pays to be positively pro-active in dealing with online reviews. Here are simple steps to claim and improve your healthcare facility’s online reputation and online reviews:

1. Provide Consistent Contact Details

One of the ways to improve your organization’s online reputation is by providing consistent contact details. Across different online platforms, provide consistent contact details, consisting of your organization’s name, address, phone number and website – collectively known as NAP + W.

By providing consistent contact details across different online platforms, Google can validate the information and include this data in its algorithm – giving your organization’s contact details and your organization’s website better visibility in its search result pages.

There are companies that collect contact details of businesses. Google and Yelp subscribe to these data providers. Google, Yelp and similar organizations also scour the internet for contact details of businesses and then add them to their databases. This explains why your organization’s contact details find their way to Yelp, YellowPages and other sites even if no one in your organization created a listing on these sites.

2. Solicit Reviews

Another way to improve your organization’s online reputation is to solicit reviews. While it’s unethical to solicit good reviews, it’s proper to solicit reviews. It’s an established good practice for businesses to solicit reviews in order to get valuable performance feedback for learning and improving. In the past, companies get feedbacks from customers by asking them to drop their written comments into a suggestion or comment box. 

After every visit to your healthcare facility, send an email to every customer, asking them about their experience. The email soliciting a feedback is similar to the suggestion box. In the email, provide a link to top review site like Yelp for them to share their positive experience. If they’re dissatisfied with the service, provide a link that goes back to you and your staff. Some healthcare providers offer dissatisfied patients another visit at no cost to correct or remedy the situation.

By providing a link to a top review site, your organization increases your positive reviews. And by providing a link to your organization if they’re dissatisfied, negative reviews can be prevented. We don’t live in a perfect world. By inviting your patients to come back to your facility, your organization will have another chance to offer a better service. This also gives your patients an opportunity to voice out their dissatisfaction directly to you and your staff, instead of blasting your organization over the internet.

3. Provide Staff Training about Good Customer Service

Providing top-notched healthcare service isn’t limited to the clinician’s expert hands. Your healthcare facility will be evaluated by your customers, not just based on the skills of clinicians, but also by the service offered by other personnel in your organization – from cleaning personnel to the receptionist. It, therefore, pays to train your staff to do the best they could from cleanliness to being courteous to customers.

Customers won’t hesitate to give your organization positive reviews if they receive top-notched service from clinicians right down to the receptionist.

Negative Reviews: Should Businesses Fear Them or Not?

Why It's Important to Respond to Reviews Online

Business owners used to rely on local commercials and advertisement to gain customers. 

Thanks to the Internet and review sites like Yelp, they don't have to anymore. Now, online reviews serve as another marketing avenue. 

Yet, not knowing how to respond to online reviews puts you at risk for losing customers, let alone your sales. 

70% of consumers and 82% of millennials view online reviews before making a sale. So, knowing how to respond to reviews is critical. 

Why?

Because 52% of people look at online reviews when considering to buy a product or service.  

So, not responding properly could make you lose 52% of potential customers.

And 60% of job seekers will not apply to companies that have 1-star ratings.  

Here's what you need to know about online reviews, including why they're important.

1. Builds Credibility and Trust

The truth is, the more online reviews your business has, the greater your influence is. This, of course, depends on the percentage of negative versus positive reviews. 

The more negative reviews, the more your trust and credibility decreases. Who wants to buy that product or service when so many people say it's not that great? 

However, the more positive reviews you have, the more people will trust your business.

2. Negative Reviews Matter

Yes, the amount of negative reviews can affect your business. But your response to them has an even bigger impact.

If you don't respond, people may view your business as shady or not valuing the customer.

How to respond to reviews? 

So, the first step towards mitigation is to respond to reviews. 

When doing so, keep it short, sweet, and polite. 

Remember, the goal is to show not just that unhappy customer, but all potential and current customers that you value them. 

While you do want to show your company's excellent customer service, you don't want to deal with the entire negative customer experience on the public review site.

Instead, ask the unhappy customer if you can email him or her to handle the details of that negative customer experience. 

Most people will agree to this. 

After appeasing the customer, kindly ask him or her if the negative review can be taken down. 

Or ask the now-happy customer to post a positive review on the site addressing the previous negative review. 

That way, you can show to customers that, while mistakes do happen, your business will take care of it. 

3. Response Time

Just like not responding to a review can affect your business reputation, not responding in a timely manner will impact it is as well. 

No, you don't have to respond within seconds of getting a review notification. 

But within 24-48 hours is a reasonable time. 

To help you stay on top of this, set up Google Alerts. Also, activate the notification setting on the review site. 

That way, you don't have to constantly check the review sites. You'll simply receive notifications when someone reviews your product or service. 

If you're strapped for time, consider creating personable automated responses. 

Such responses could be "Thank you for your business." Or "Thank you for your review. We appreciate your service." 

And for negative reviews: "We are sorry about your negative experience. Please email us so that we may resolve this situation. Thank you." 

For more information about how to respond to reviews and online reviews in general, contact us.