Today we are going to dive into some minutiae so hang on.
Have you ever had a truly amazing experience with a local business you just had to share? Or, was your experience less than stellar and you wanted to send out a “buyer beware” message?
I once had a less-than-stellar experience and felt it was my duty to warn others. I wrote a bad review. Later I received a call from the owner demanding I take off my negative review. No apology or asking to make it right, just a demand and a bribe for a free oil change. The business found me because Google My Business Center (Google Maps) no longer allows anonymous reviews.
Now, realize that most people still buy from 4 star businesses. The other 8% only use Yelp, JK.
Source
Here is is how to respond to bad reviews in the good words of Shannon Willoby:
“Let the consumer know you’re sorry they had (x) experience and you’d like to talk to them further to figure out how you can smooth things over.
At that point, take things offline by messaging that user privately. It’s very important that you post an initial public message to that user; otherwise it will look like you never responded to any prospective customers.
Depending on the situation, you might want to get more details from the consumer, offer them a refund, a free product/service for a return visit (and hopefully a better, follow-up review), or at least a discount if they would like to come back and give your business another try.
A heartfelt apology and a desire to change whatever happened to make the consumer unhappy will go a long way in appeasing them and helping you avoid future bad reviews.
That being said, keep an eye on trends in the reviews you are receiving. If people are constantly mentioning that a certain employee of yours is rude, or a certain service is overpriced, or your selection is lacking, take note. Listening to this type of feedback – and making changes where they’re due — can be the very thing that helps your business stay in business.
Note: You shouldn’t ignore the users who are leaving positive comments about your business either. When you have time, a personal ‘thank you,’ whether publicly or via direct message will show your customers that you genuinely appreciate their business.”
Bonus Tip: People can delete or change their review on just about every website. If you send them right to their review link like in the case of Google Maps, they can edit it easily. I highly recommend emailing this to them after you have made it right.
P.S. This is also the reason you need to funnel every customer to your feedback/review funnel. Take unhappy customers offline to be heard, before it escalates.
Next we are going to learn about review filtering and 2 tricks for Yelp, lesson 6.
All Lessons
- Email 1: Importance of reviews stats
- Email 2: The simple secret to getting reviews
- Email 3: Where should you get reviews (Google, Facebook…)
- Email 4: How to get notified of new reviews
- Email 5: Replying to bad & good reviews
- Email 6: What is review filtering & 2 tricks for Yelp
- Email 7: Recap & A favor
- Email 8: Bonus: What not to do
- Email 9: Bonus: What next
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