If you haven’t already, at some point while you are running your business, you are likely to confront one of your fears - a bad review.
It’s a double edged sword. We encourage our customers or clients to leave a review, because a glowing review tells everyone else who isn’t your customer, why they should be and why you are the best option to work with. When we receive a not so nice one, it can damage our reputation and look pretty bad.
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The customers who left you REALLY unhappy who go out of their way to leave you a scathing review on (usually) more than one of your review platforms;
The customers who weren’t really happy, but you asked for a review and they’ve taken to opportunity to tell you what they think;
The ‘trolls’ who review you badly because they can, even though they probably haven’t been a customer, and;
The customers who won’t necessarily go out their way to leave you a negative review, but if your business comes up in conversation, they will make their experiences known.
The key to remember here, is that in almost all instances of negative reviews, you have likely not been given the opportunity to make them happy.
That being said - while you should try to make your customers happy - that doesn’t mean that they are always right.
Ideally you would catch an unsatisfied customer before they have a chance to leave you a bad review on whichever platform you are using - but that isn’t always possible. It will depend on your industry.
In my line of work, it can be pretty obvious to identify an unhappy customer - or I am told pretty swiftly if my client isn’t happy with my work (not that that has happened yet, touch wood), but in many cases, there is just too much going on if you’re flying solo or too many variables if you have a team.
Even with the best inductions, interviews, on-going training … everyone has different personalities and sometimes they clash. Everyone has a bad day and often that can affect one’s perception and subsequent action/reaction.
So what do you do when your customer walks away unhappy and you haven’t been able to change their mind or weren’t given a chance to?
Right now, I am almost 5 years in business and I can still remember the first instances and how shocked and upset I was.
The first, I had done some basic editing work for a client. The review wasn’t bad, but out of 5 stars, they gave me a 4. I was only a few months into this flying solo gig and I was pretty unsure of myself.
The next was on my Facebook page. A couple of ‘trolls’ from overseas just happened across my page and decided to bombard me with 1 star each. No explanation - nothing. I knew they weren’t clients. Aside from that fact that I don’t service any clients that are not in Australia - I could, at the time, count my total client base on one hand and they weren’t on it.
So what did I do?
Well, that brings me to the whole point of this blog.
The one thing you should do when you get a bad review is.. drum roll RESPOND!
That’s it.
A customer may have not said a word to you during your transaction but then gone over to your review page and written something scathing and upsetting. It’s unfair because not only did you not get a chance to improve your customer’s experience, or learn to improve in the future, but now your business is being attacked and it’s there for everyone to see.
If you reply to a bad review and apologise for your customer’s experience, invite them to contact you to say their piece and rectify the situation, as well as explaining your side of the situation (if there is one) then your next potential customer can see both the original complaint and your response.
If you do not respond, potential customers will automatically assume that you/ your business is guilty.
Aim for 5 star service to your customers at all times, but be realistic with the fact that you will not always be able to make everyone happy - and you shouldn’t burn yourself our trying.
So, if and when it does happen - grab a (insert beverage of choice here), consider the complaint, breathe and then respond in a timely manner.
Do not let one bad review go without a response. If you or your business did make an error during the relevant transaction, own it. Apologise and rectify - then move on.
Most importantly, don’t let it ruin your mojo! Learn from the experience and keep building on your business.
It is also important that you do not only respond to negative reviews. If a customer leaves you a positive review - thank them. This will go a long way to further building your customer relationship. Remember, it costs more money to get new customers than it does to keep existing ones.
In my case, when I had my first negative reviews by people who weren’t customers, I simply responded to them and asked them to remove the review since they had never been my client. This stayed like this for a few months until I decided to move my review platform to WOMO and I deactivated the Facebook version, thus removing those reviews.
There you have it - the one thing that you should do when you get a bad review is to RESPOND.
Have you every had to respond to a negative review? Tell us in the comments below!