You have dealt with negative reviews regardless of where your business falls within the industry, what business model you adopt, or what kind of product or service you might offer. And we’ll also explain why: you simply cannot satisfy everyone. It is not possible.
The good news is that your business caters to a certain group of customers, market, or community. In this situation, you should essentially understand what your customers desire and how they would like to see the expansion of their favorite brand.
The power of consumer listening cannot be overstated. This way, understanding your audience makes it easier to avoid awkward circumstances and unpleasant experiences. We will discuss negative reviews in this article, particularly those with 1-star ratings. And that is because we have answers to such problems and we want to help.
It’s beneficial to your brand when customers interact with reviews on sites like Yelp or Google. Consumers express their opinions regarding your product as well as what they didn’t like. Enough that, any review is actually available for public viewing.
Now is the time to act, respond to customer reviews, and figure out why you didn’t provide the right experience.
Did you know that 86% of consumers said negative online reviews influenced their purchasing decisions?
Measure online reputation
The more negative reviews you receive, the more angry customers will express their concerns, your brand reputation suffers, and all of these factors are affected.
However, there is one more factor that has a significant impact on you: your net promoter score. When it comes to review monitoring, it’s critical to understand how customer reviews relate to the NPS.
Wonder what the NPS is? The Net Promoter Score, a benchmarking technique, is used to quantify customer happiness. Maintaining a high NPS can aid in business development, increase positive comments, and enhance your online reputation. The NPS is a useful metric since it gives you and your business information about what your consumers value or don’t like about your products or services.
The typical NPS will ask your consumers to rate something, such as how likely they are to suggest your brand, on a scale of 0 to 10. The NPS notes the following in relation to reviews: detractors receive ratings of 1 to 3, passives receive 4, and promoters receive 5. Thus, your NPS will be lower the more 1 and 2-star ratings you have.
Now that you fully get the importance of dealing with negative reviews and have my full attention, let me give you some advice on how to do it. This does not automatically give you a pristine NPS score, especially if you have never taken into account customer reviews. I’ve outlined the importance of review monitoring in various articles. If you put in some time and effort, you can learn how this entire eco system works. Google further says that positive reviews and interactions between customers and businesses enhance organic exposure.
Respond fast and accordingly
Negative feedback is constructive and helps us get better at what we do, so you shouldn’t feel bad about it. But when you keep your consumers waiting too long, this becomes a problem. They demand prompt responses.
Think about responding and addressing to the customer or the individual giving the negative reviews. Next, remember to express gratitude for any reviews. Whether the review was positive or negative, the consumer took the time to consider and write it. So kindly say thank you nevertheless.
The next step is to express regret and sympathy with them. You’ve probably experienced something similar at some point in your life. You would have valued some apologies. Use something that resembles this: We hold ourselves to a high level, and we are deeply disappointed to learn that this was not upheld throughout your engagement with our business.
Additionally, you should always accept complete responsibility. Reassure people that you hold yourself to a high level and that you wish to look into the matter more. Give them another opportunity to discuss the negative circumstance before asking for a second chance. You can make it up and comprehend the customer’s sentiment in this way. You might also think about offering them a gift or a discount on their next purchase. Compensate for that awful experience.
Google remains the best, but don’t ignore its competition
When it comes to search engines and online activity, Google is undoubtedly a leader. However, this does not imply that they are the only ones. So sticking to Google alone would be a tremendous error.
Don’t disregard alternative platforms and undervalue your customers. You should locate consumer reviews based on your sector. Each consumer category has a unique set of traditional and social media channels. Understanding every facet of your consumer offers a lot of promise for boosting sales and increasing the visibility of your business. If you haven’t tried these platforms yet, you should.
Monitor your online reputation
The only certain way to stay on top of all reviews is to monitor your online presence. By doing so, you can put the previous advice on dealing with reviews to use and ensure your business is set up for success online and beyond.
If you believe your current efforts are insufficient, consider using a tool that allows you to respond quickly and appropriately by receiving alerts. FeedCheck can automatically calculate your NPS and provides a variety of different types of charts for quantitative and qualitative data analysis.
The previous examples are just a few suggestions for maintaining a positive online image. Remember to be proactive rather than reactive. Your customers do not want a zippy approach from you because they will most likely leave. From then on, your brand will be associated with your competitors.
Keeping in mind that 98% of searchers will not go past the first Google page, maintaining a great reputation is critical to outperforming the competition and earning customer trust.
Conclusions
We hope this article helped you understand the potential damage that bad reviews can cause to your business.
By implementing the recommendations above, you will have greater control over how potential buyers will perceive your brand. You can gradually advance and take part in enhancing your online reputation.
The simplest approach is to just reply to reviews. As a result, all kinds of reviews can enhance your brand and subsequently increase sales. Don’t forget to start out slowly and use the above recommendations.
Baby steps, Rome was not built in a single day!