Tag: Business Reviews

5 Ways That Bad Reviews Can Be a Good Thing for Your Business

Posted on by Robyn Rivera

Bad reviews don’t have to mean the end of the world

Research has found that 91% of people at least occasionally read online reviews, with 84% of people trusting online reviews just as much as they would trust a personal recommendation from a friend or family member.

As you can see, every review holds a lot of weight. That’s why many business owners and managers think that bad reviews are the worst things that can happen to their growth prospects. But if you’ve ever gotten bad reviews before, you’ll be glad to know that, contrary to popular belief, they can actually benefit your business.

Here are the top five ways that bad reviews can actually be a good thing for your business:

#1. Bad reviews help to build trust

Nobody is perfect, and since businesses are run by human beings, mistakes are bound to happen. It’s for this reason that many people don’t trust businesses that only have five-star reviews or impeccable online reputations. When people see only positive reviews, it leads them to believe that either the reviews are fake or the business owner has tried to hide bad reviews. Either way, it’s not a good impression to leave on potential customers. Customers expect to see a few bad reviews mixed in with several good reviews, so do yourself a favor and don’t try to hide them or cover them up.

#2. Bad reviews help you show off your customer service skills

A bad review is an opportunity to turn around a client’s experience for the better and show the world that you truly value feedback and learn from it. It’s important that you always respond to your reviews, especially the bad ones. And when you do, you should apologize and then make the issue right, whether that means giving the client a refund, a gift certificate or redoing the work for free. Not only does responding to bad reviews help to turn around that individual customer’s experience (and could potentially lead to a customer for life), but it also shows other potential customers that, when issues come up, you’ll own up to them and make them right.

#3. Bad reviews help you get better as a company

No, most business owners aren’t in it to provide as little service as possible at the highest costs. Instead, most business owners do what they do because they genuinely want to provide a valuable service for their customers and to make their lives better. Bad reviews are great because they show you what you need to work on in order to become the kind of company you want to be. They help you learn from past mistakes, and they teach you how to provide more satisfaction for your customers in the future.

#4. Bad reviews give prospective clients a fuller picture of your services

As we mentioned before, many people utilize reviews when making purchasing decisions or deciding whether or not to work with a particular company. People like to know that they’re getting the full picture of a company or product when they read reviews, and if you only have positive, five-star reviews, it can often leave people feeling like you’re too good to be true. As we mentioned in our first point, bad reviews help to establish trust and humanity in a company, but they also paint a fuller picture of your business and lead to more informed decisions.

For example, say you’re a consumer deciding between working with two different plumbers. They both have mostly positive reviews with only a couple of bad reviews. One plumber’s bad review shows that they have accidentally underestimated the cost of a project in the past, but that they worked with the client to make it right. The other plumber’s bad review showed that they arrived at the job three hours late and ended up having to reschedule after they finally got there because they didn’t have the right equipment, and there are no responses from the plumber. Clearly, you’ll choose the first plumber in this scenario.

#5. Bad reviews make your good reviews stand out more

A few bad reviews in with multiple good reviews not only build trust and educate consumers, but they also make the good reviews stand out even more. When you have both good and bad reviews, it shows that, while you may not always succeed, you try your best with every customer.

Take your online reputation into your own hands with Marketing 360® Reputation 

With so many people reading reviews and using them to make purchase decisions, it’s more important than ever before to closely monitor your online reputation. Luckily, reputation management software from Marketing 360 is here to help. 

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Originally published on 11/1/18

Tips for Writing More Helpful Reviews

Posted on by Robyn Rivera

Want to write more helpful online reviews?

Reviews are meant to provide businesses with real feedback from real customers. They are also meant to give prospective customers the information they need to make a decision about working with the business. However, not all reviews are made equal, and not all reviews are actually helpful.

It’s tempting to use reviews as a means of venting frustration about a business or even bragging about great customer service. But, if you really want to write reviews that are helpful to businesses and consumers, you need to learn how to write them the right way.

How to Write Reviews That are Actually Helpful

#1. Try not to get too specific.

While it’s not a good idea to generalize about a business in a review, it’s also not overly helpful if you include a lot of specifics, like the name of the server or technician you had.

A business’s employees absolutely represent the business, but it’s important to realize that employees come and go. If you had a bad experience with one server, for example, it might not be representative of the kind of experience you had overall.

Many review sites also don’t allow doxing (publishing identifying or private information online) of any kind and will take down reviews that violate their policies.

#2. Give context for your review.

Saying that you weren’t satisfied with your service is perfectly acceptable, but if you really want to provide a review that’s helpful to others and gives the business in question feedback they can use, you should also make sure that you give your review more context.

For example, let’s say that a technician wasn’t able to fix the problem you called about or made a mistake in the process. That can definitely create a negative experience, and it’s perfectly valid to write a review about it. However, if they couldn’t complete the repair because the part they needed wasn’t available or the technician bent over backwards to fix their mistake, it paints a very different picture of the business.

#3. Be professional!

One of the fastest ways to ensure that your review is immediately discounted by anyone who reads it is to resort to name calling or pettiness when writing your review. Even if you have a legitimate complaint, personal attacks will outshine any feedback you may be giving. Personal attacks also make you appear unreasonable.

Always try to be as professional as possible when writing a review. If you’re upset, give yourself a few minutes to cool off and gather your thoughts. I know it can be tempting to vent your frustrations in an online review, but if your aim is truly to give feedback and to help other consumers make the right decisions, it needs to be professional.

#4. Try to be objective.

A lot of things can affect the way that we perceive the world around us. Some of those things are in the business’s control – such as the promptness and friendliness of their customer service, the quality of their work or products, etc. — but others have very little to do with the business, like if you’ve had a bad day.

Try to be objective and limit your feedback to only things the business can control. Take a few minutes to ask yourself if your complaints are the result of what really happened or just how you felt at the time. Remember, the point of your review is not to give your personal experience but to give a snapshot of the kind of experience the business provides.

#5. Be honest.

Honesty is incredibly important when writing helpful online reviews. It does neither the business or anyone reading your review any good if you exaggerate or lie about your experience. Defamation isn’t acceptable under any circumstance, including in an online review.

Remember that honesty is always the best policy. Don’t forget that policy when you’re writing online reviews.

#6. Talk about a range of elements.

As I said, an online review is supposed to give other readers a good idea of what working with a business is like. That means that you should try to be cognizant of the entire customer experience rather than choosing to review a single aspect, like punctuality, wait times, or customer service.

If you had a negative experience with a customer service representative, but the technician who helped you was friendly and accommodating, make sure to include all of those things in your review.

It’s for this reason that Top Rated Local® allows you to rate businesses based on the five pillars of the customer experience in addition to writing a review.

#7. Be open to updating your review.

Your review doesn’t have to be set in stone, and it’s completely OK to go back and update your review if you’ve received more information. Sometimes, when a business hears negative feedback, they’ll bend over backwards to make it right. This is the perfect kind of information to include in your updated review because it shows people that, while the business did make a mistake, they were also willing to make it right.

You might also learn new information that changes the way you looked at the service you received. For example, maybe you were upset about a long wait time, but after you learn that the business was operating with minimal staff because of sickness or personal issues, it’s easy to understand how that could affect your wait.

Review the local businesses near you with Top Rated Local.

Want to write a review about a recent experience you’ve had with a local business? If so, turn to Top Rated Local! As I mentioned, we take reviews one step further by allowing you to rate businesses based on the five pillars of the customer experience — quality, value, timeliness, experience, and satisfaction — and you’ll also have a quick and easy way to access a business’s reviews from across the web.

Not only is Top Rated Local a great place to write reviews; it’s also your go-to local directory when you’re looking for the right local business for your needs. Get started today!

How to Deal With Negative Reviews

Posted on by Robyn Rivera

Don’t Let a Bad Review Derail Your Business

Even the best businesses will get a negative review on Google or Yelp from time to time. Negative reviews can impact everything from your website’s organic rankings on Google to whether or not consumers decide to buy your product or service. In fact, market research has found that it takes 12 positive reviews in order to counteract just one negative review. But just because you made a mistake or dropped the ball one time doesn’t mean that your business deserves to be dragged through the mud or that your reputation should be forever ruined. Bad reviews happen, and it’s how you deal with them that can truly make or break your online reputation.

What Not to do When you Get a Negative Review

When you’re dealing with a bad online review, it’s just as important that you know what not to do as it is to know what you should do. Here are a few things you should never do when your business receives a negative review:

Take Bad Reviews Personally

No matter how many people say that business isn’t personal, the reality is that it’s very personal, especially when your business is something you’ve built from the ground up with your own two hands. When someone criticizes something you’ve put so much heart and soul into, it’s perfectly natural to get a little mad and take steps to defend it, and this is especially true if you believe that the complaint was illegitimate.

But no matter how justified you may feel or be in the situation, responding out of anger and defensiveness is only going to make matters worse. When you respond to a negative review, it’s not just between you and the individual who left the review; the entire world can see it play out.

Get Pulled into a Debate or Battle

Not every individual who leaves a bad review about your business will be easy to appease. You may, in fact, run into a troll who would rather keep complaining online than accept an apology or solution and move on. It’s always a good idea to address customer complaints and negative reviews, but it’s important to stay at a professional, reasonable level when you do so, even if the reviewer argues, tries to pick a fight or resorts to calling you childish names.

Ignore Negative Reviews

Regardless of whether you believe a review is legitimate or not, ignoring it is not the way to go. If you don’t address a negative review, it will make the reviewer feel even more justified in their anger, which can further hurt your reputation. Additionally, other potential customers will be able to see both the negative review and your response to it. If you ignore it, it sends the message that you care very little about customer service.

Be Hasty in Your Response

When you get a negative review, it’s important to respond in a prepared manner. Off-the-cuff responses will often be emotionally charged, which isn’t helpful to your company or your clients. You don’t want to wait too long to respond, but it’s important to prepare what you’re going to say ahead of time rather than just responding in the moment. This will ensure that you are responding in a more professional manner.

What to do When You Get a Negative Review

Now that you know how not to respond to a negative review, it’s time to learn about what you can do to turn the situation around. Oftentimes, it’s the customers who are the unhappiest and most unsatisfied that can turn into your biggest allies, but you have to put the time and energy into making it right before you can earn that trust and respect. Here are a few positive ways to respond to a negative review:

Learn From Past Mistakes

Sometimes, the negative reviews you get might be totally illegitimate, but in the vast majority of cases, bad reviews stem from very real problems. The best and most successful businesses are the ones that take the feedback given by their customers and use it to get better. When you get a negative review, take it to heart and actually look into it. If one customer had a bad experience, then chances are, another one will in the future, but you can avoid these bad interactions if you learn to take negative feedback and actually try to get better from it. Learning from your mistakes is especially important if multiple negative reviews are about one thing.

Acknowledge the Problem and Apologize

Ignoring a negative review won’t make it go away, but acknowledging the problem behind that bad review and apologizing for it is a surefire way to turn a negative experience into a positive one. In fact, marketing research found that 33 percent of the negative reviews on Yelp can be turned into positive experiences when businesses make it a point acknowledge them and apologize for them.

This is not to say that you’ll change the minds of every customer who leaves a negative review, but acknowledging and apologizing for the issue has just as big of an impact on other potential customers reading that review as it does on the reviewer itself. Taking the time to acknowledge and apologize for a negative review will show others that, while your business may not be perfect, you truly have your customers’ interests at heart and you’re willing to make it right when mistakes are made.

Respond Quickly, But Not Too Quickly

As we mentioned earlier, hasty responses are rarely positive responses, as they are often born out of emotion. Preparing to respond to a negative review is important, and it will help you to come off as more professional and effective in your response. However, this doesn’t mean that you should take a week to respond to a bad review. If you take too long, it will look as if you are ignoring the problem or trying to sweep it under the rug, which will only further frustrate the dissatisfied customer and send the message that you don’t actually care to your other customers.

As much as you can, always try to respond to negative reviews within 24 hours. This will give you enough time to prepare a sincere, authentic response and eliminate the possibility of an overly emotional, off-the-cuff response that will only hurt your reputation more.

Shine a Positive Light

Negative reviews can hurt a business in many ways, but they can also be beneficial in many ways. For one, potential customers are going to be more likely to believe that your positive reviews are actually authentic if there are a few negative reviews in there as well. Additionally, responding to a negative review will give you a chance to shine a positive light on your business.

Acknowledging and apologizing in response to a negative review is important, but that doesn’t mean that you have to accept all of the blame at face value. Saying something along the lines of, “We’ve been in business for more than 15 years, and we always try to do what’s best for our customers no better what. We apologize that we fell short in living up to our dedication to excellent customer service in your interaction, and we will do everything in our power to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” will help to highlight the positive aspects of your business rather than detracting from your brand.

Respond Publicly, But Know When to Take the Conversation Offline

Both negative and positive reviews are made public for anyone and everyone to see, and it’s incredibly important that you respond publicly when you receive a negative review. This demonstrates to both the reviewer and any potential customers reading that review that you are willing and able to make it right when you make a mistake. However, it’s also important to know when you should take the conversation offline.

Sometimes, no matter how many times you apologize and what you do to make it right, the disgruntled or unhappy customer doesn’t want to hear it. As we mentioned earlier in this blog, some people aren’t offering constructive feedback and instead want to simply air their complaints online. If you sink to their level and let yourself get into an argument online for the world to see, it will only end up hurting your reputation. Instead, invite the customer to call or email you directly to resolve the matter.

Managing Negative Reviews isn’t Always Easy, But It’s Essential

Even the best businesses get bad reviews from time to time, and it’s how you deal with those bad reviews that truly defines who you are to your customers. Staying in the know about your online reputation is a key part of any business’s success in the digital age, and with Top Rated Local, you’ll be able to do so from one place.

Top Rated Local is a system designed to pull legitimate verified reviews from trustworthy sources into one place. This gives businesses the peace of mind in knowing that they won’t have to worry about having their reputation trashed by a competitor or an unhappy ex-employee, and gives consumers a real, unbiased look at the quality of service offered by local businesses in their area.

Joining Top Rated Local is one of the best ways to get your business noticed and start ranking for “near me” searches in your area. Don’t wait, join today!