How to Respond to Negative & Positive Reviews on Key Review Sites

Table Of Content

• • Why Do You Need to Respond Even to a Good Review?
  • Effective Ways to Handle Positive Reviews
  • Quick Pro Tips to Craft a Perfect Reply to Positive Reviews
  • Tips to Acquire a Good Number of Positive Reviews
  • Responding to Negative Reviews: Why is it Important?
  • How to Respond to Negative Reviews on Google?
  • Replying to Negative Reviews: Quick Pro Tips to Craft a Perfect Reply
  • Conclusion

We all know the importance of online reviews in deciding the success of a business, especially if it’s dependent more on local people. Even research states that a whopping 93% of customers make their purchasing decision based on these reviews.

Do you know the minimum rating you need to invite them to engage with you? Well, it should be above 3.3 stars according to the podium.

But, you know what’s even more critical?

It’s the way of responding to bad reviews and the way you manage to convince your customers to leave positive feedback.

Oftentimes business owners find themselves making doodle in the name of creating a perfect strategy to >respond to both positive and negative reviews on some of the major sites including Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc.

So, more and more online reputation management agencies are popping up to help businesses to navigate this complexity of review management and add value to their brand.

Let’s dig deeper into the world of review management now…!!!

Why Do You Need to Respond Even to a Good Review?

People often neglect their customers who have left satisfactory reviews for their businesses. You might also feel that if a customer is satisfied you don’t need to respond to him, right?

But, responding to a customer who has left a good review is even better than having only a glowing 5star review. According to some of the best online reputation repair experts responding to good reviews is way more important than responding to bad reviews.

You know why?

Well, the positive conversation shows that you engage with your customers and make them feel happy with your services or behavior. Also, when someone is taking out their time to type a few sentences for your brand, it comes under your responsibility to make them feel appreciated.

This might have no short term impact.

But, in the long term, you will be able to retain your genuine customers. Also, responding to good reviews show that you care for them which further leads to create a good bond.

So, to sum it up we can say responding to good reviews is important as,

• It’s the sweetest thing you can do for your customers which in turn makes you look really nice.
• Responding to good reviews opens up the opportunity to speak and engage with your customers.
• You can create a buzz and increase the visibility of your businesses.
• It shows up in the search results which in turn improve your SEO rankings.

Now, the question comes how aptly can you respond to a good review, right?

Well, we have got you covered, let’s have a look,

Effective Ways to Handle Positive Reviews

Among the type of positive reviews, the two most common types are oftentimes found in a repetitive manner.

One of the types is where the customer is extremely satisfied with everything of your services, whilst the other one is where a customer is unable to make up his mind although he is not unsatisfied either.

We will disclose the effective ways of responding to both types.

Are you excited? Let’s get started!!

• Say “Thank You” to the Customer

It’s important to let the reviewer know that you are delighted to find his or her positive responses on the internet. If the reviewer’s response is like the following,

A quick diagnosis from the above response – This is a perfect multi-voice song a customer is singing about your brand. The customer has received everything he wanted and he even stated that your brand is incomparable to what the local business has to offer.

So, how should your response be in this scenario?

Take a look at the google review response template here,

“Dear Charley (name of the reviewer)

We are delighted to find your lovely compliment. We have shown it to our head chef of the pique sauce recipe maker, and she was extremely overwhelmed by your comment. It’s a traditional recipe we have brought in to delight our customers and we feel extremely happy that you liked it.

We are currently offering your favorite pique sauce bottled for retail right next to our restaurant.

We thought it would be good news for you so thought of sharing.

Cheers!!!  We would be delighted to serve you every time.”

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• Convert a 3star to a 5star

If a customer is giving you a 3star rating it means that he is in the mid of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. So, you just have to push the halfway through your way of responding.

For example, if the review looks something like the following,

Quick Diagnosis from the Review – The customer likes some of the things about your services but not fully satisfied. The chances of her recommending your service to her friends are 50-50%.

So, the response, in this case, is a little challenging, right?

Fret not!! We have got you covered. Take a look at the Google review response template

“Dear Yesenia (name of the reviewer)

We’re grateful that you have taken out your precious time to let us know that you liked our price structure, hotel ambiance, and our staff. However, we are sorry that we could not please you with our housekeeping. We take full responsibility for your inconvenience.

We would like you to know that we are continuously striving for making our housecleaning the best too. Based on your valuable comment, we have arranged a staff meeting to figure out the best strategy to shine all our rooms.

We would be delighted to have as our guest next time. We will make sure you don’t experience the same when you visit us next time. Cheers!!”

Quick Pro Tips to Craft a Perfect Reply to Positive Reviews

Reviews are not only a couple of sentences stating “thank you” to your customer. It works as a truly valuable asset for your brand. It opens up the opportunity to convert a lukewarm customer into a genuine one.

No matter what the types of reviews you have accumulated, you should know the tactics before responding to them. Adding to this, when it comes to replying to good reviews, you should also know the way of managing reviews on multiple ORM websites.

So, let’s take a quick look at the tips to craft a perfectly perfect reply to positive responses on any of the ORM sites,

• Incorporate the Keyword

Apart from thanking your customers, accepting the responsibilities for your faults, and making offers as a gift for an apology, you should incorporate keywords into your replies. You can use your business name, location, and category so that you can appear on the top of search results.

• Promote Your Service Indirectly

UGC also is known as user-generated content/comment is a great source for enhancing your brand’s visibility. Since all your replies will be public, it’s important to throw in some of your advertising.

For example; In the second reply, we have stated that “We are currently offering your favorite pique sauce bottled for retail right next to our restaurant.”

This is a touch of advertising in your own responses. In such scenarios, both your customers and your business can wield the benefit.

• Add a Call-TO-Action Line

Each of the responses is a step towards enhancing your visibility. It’s important to ask your customers to take some actions that can be asking him to return to the shop or asking him to recommend your services to someone.

Tips to Acquire a Good Number of Positive Reviews

All these activities can only wield their benefits when you have a good number of reviews on each of the major review sites. But, convincing your customers to leave a review that too a positive review is way more challenging.

The more positive reviews you have, the less are the chances for you to break your reputation. So, implement the following tricks to acquire a good number of positive reviews,

• Pitch at The Right Time

Timing plays an extremely crucial role in terms of acquiring positive reviews. If you ask your customers when they are highly satisfied, then the chances of having a positive review are higher.

So, you should send your pitches at the perfect time when you know that your business is satisfying the majority of people.

• Encourage Customers

Instead of casually asking your customers to leave reviews you can place a reminder on the receipts, delivery slips, etc. Else you can give reminder cards to your best customers.

Thus you will encourage your customers to leave a review without hampering his experience.

• Leverage Digital Media to Reach Out

What’s the best way to reach out to your customers?

Well, digital platforms are the most effective ways to reach out to the maximum number of your targeted customers without wasting much time.

You can email them or you can use personal reputation management tools to automate the whole process of reminding your target customers to leave reviews.

Responding to Negative Reviews: Why is it Important?

Negative reviews are like online wounds. Especially if you have a few reviews on your brand, then negative ones hold the power to completely destroy your brand’s reputation. So, you should be dealing seamlessly with these negative reviews to prevent festering.

Let’s take a look at the reasons why you should respond to negative reviews,

• It’s an Opportunity to Speak Up

Responding to negative reviews is the opportunity to speak for your brand. While you are responding, you are not speaking to an individual customer, you are speaking to your future customers too.

So, responding to bad reviews is the chance to turn things in your favor.

• You can Fix the False Blame

Anyone can fabricate negative responses against you or your brand. But, people can’t trust you until you disclose the valid proofs which talk in favor of you. Responding to negative reviews is one of the effective ways to fix the false blame put on your brand.

• It Shows, You Care

Replying to negative reviews shows that you are not shady or you don’t care for your customers. Sometimes customers submit negative responses stating some serious issues which you should take care of. This shows that you genuinely care for your customers.

How to Respond to Negative Reviews on Google?

A negative review can occur regardless of the quality of the businesses you have. Even, you will not come to know which type of review has fated your business. Well, there are numerous types of negative reviews which can damage your entire reputation.

However, the different types of negative reviews should be handled in different ways. For example, you can get one-star responses for many reasons but your responses should not be the same always.

Don’t’ worry! We have crafted the perfect ways for responding to negative reviews. Let’s have a look,

• Scenario One

Let’s consider the scenarios one by one and jump into crafting the strategies.

Quick diagnosis of the above scenario – Customer is extremely unhappy and provides you just a 1-star rating with negative complaints. The complaint, in this case, seems to be legitimate. The only chance here to win him back is your superior responsiveness.

Let’s take look at the bad review response template,

“Dear Vivi (name of the reviewer)

Thank you for sharing your feedback. We regret that such an inconvenience has happened to you.

We are extremely sorry that you have not received the proper information about opening and closing ours that is mentioned on your website or Google GMB page. Your review has given me the indication that other clients might be missing the information too.

If you give us a second chance, we would like to make it up to you. We understand that your pet should get proper shots. So, our doctor has arranged a special appointment for you at your convenient time. You can reach us out on our contact number mentioned on our websites and schedule the appointment.”

• Scenario Two

It’s important to identify the legit complaints as well as the false ones. For example, look at this following scenario,

Quick Diagnosis of This Review – Here the grudges of the customer are not even properly described. You can conduct a little bit of research on this. Oftentimes these kinds of reviews are only written by your competitors.

So, in this case, your reply should be formatted in the following way,

“Dear Customer

After conducting thorough research, we have come to know that this review has not written by any of our customers. Sadly, it is done by one of our competitors. We will take the necessary steps and report this review to Google. We hope our action will prevent other competitors to conduct such detrimental tasks.

Thanks”

• Scenario Three

The field in which you are running a business is highly competitive. Hence it’s usual that some of your competitors may try to damage your flourishing business using false complaints. For example, consider the following scenario,

Quick Diagnosis of This Review – in this scenario, the reviewer is putting allegations on your brand name. If your company doesn’t involve in any kind of illegal activities, then you should take immediate action to prevent such unscrupulous activity.

In any case, don’t try to overlook these reviews or don’t try to remove it. If it’s false, then you should gather enough proof against the claim and disclose it to the public.

Replying to Negative Reviews: Quick Pro Tips to Craft a Perfect Reply

The way you respond to a negative review indicates the kind of reputation you will be held in the future. So, it’s important to know the tactics before you start replying to someone who has left a negative review.

Let’s take a look at the pro tips to craft the best reply,

• Don’t Deny the Issue

Even if your customer is falsely raising an issue, it’s important not to lash out. Oftentimes, businesses have made the situation even worse by lashing out on their customers.

While running a business, slip up moments can occur without prior notice. Even if your customer has raised a false issue it’s important to understand their concern and take steps accordingly.

For example, Jetblueair has done a commendable work of saving their reputation by their wonderful way of responding to customers. Let’s take a look,

This was the complaint raised by one of the passengers of JetBlue air. Wanna look how the company has responded,

The company JetBlue air has saved its reputation by the way of treating their customers.

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• Apologize Immediately

An apology seems to be appeasing for your customers. Don’t try to verify the review of whether the issue is genuine or not, you should immediately apologize to the reviewer without having a second thought.

Even if your customer is wrong don’t delay to craft a perfect apology.

For example, this dental company named forest family has done an amazing work by immediately apologize to the customer and hence increase the chances of removing the review.

Take a look,

This doesn’t only increase the chances that your review might be removed by the reviewer after your provider her a satisfying service but also maintain your image of trustworthiness.

• Explain Yourself Publicly

Every time making an apology won’t work for you to save your reputation. Sometimes it needs more than an apology letter to save your reputation.

While a customer wants an answer regarding your service, you need to provide a full-proof explanation that speaks for your brand.

For example, look at the following image of how the pizza company has done a commendable job by explaining themselves in detail.

So, these are some of the pro tips which you should keep in mind while implementing a perfect response to negative replies.

Conclusion

We have shown the proven ways of responding to both positive and negative reviews. You can’t deny the fact that reviews are the most crucial part of online reputation management.

The benefits of online reputation management can’t be denied in this digital era. Henceforth, review management should be at the top of your priority list.

However, if you are unable to manage your reviews, then you can take the help of an online reputation builder to provide you the best solution.

If this blog has helped you to craft a perfect strategy, don’t hesitate to share with us your thought.