Negative social media reviews can feel like a nuisance – but if they’re mishandled they can turn into a much bigger problem. But, handle them properly and you can even turn a doubter into a return customer. With the right response, you’ll have the opportunity to turn a bad situation into an opportunity – and you’ll be able to keep negative reviews from harming both your reputation and bottom line.  

It can be easy to get emotional when your business is being slammed online, but these days it is just part of doing business. Ghosting negative reviews or retaliating with something less-than-business-like just won’t do, and here’s why:

• 97% of customers read reviews before buying

• 89% see them as an essential pre-purchase resource

• 85% of all consumers actively look for negative reviews

• And 91% of consumers 18 to 29-year-olds look for negative reviews 

1. Take the emotion out of it

The bad review isn’t a personal attack on you and thinking that it is will only rile you up further.  So, put on your business cap and get in a good frame of mind before you start typing. 

We suggest thinking of online interactions just like you would in-person customer service interactions. Just because you’re not face-to-face with a customer, doesn’t mean you should treat it as any less important of interaction. In fact, your digital comments have much more potential to amplify than your in-person discussions, making it that much more important to treat them carefully. It’s not just the customer who sees your response, it’s their friends, your friends, and people who like your page. 

2. Act promptly

Want to take your good reviews one step further? Here’s how to create a killer case study.

We get everyone is busy, but it’s crucial that you make time to respond to your negative reviews -- and the sooner the better. This is important for a couple of reasons: 

1. It gives the customer less time to stew on their complaint and get even more worked up

2. Fewer people will come onto your page and see just their side of the story

3. It shows that you’re responsive and invested in their thoughts 

Don’t replace quality with speed of response though: It’s better to take 10 minutes to put together a well-thought-out message then it is to publish the first thing you think of. 

3. Restate the complaint

One of the first things the reviewer wants to know is they’ve been heard, so be sure to rephrase their complaint in your response. For example, if their review was something along the lines of “I was really unhappy with how long it took for my package to arrive.”

You could start yours with “Hi [name], We’re sorry to hear you weren’t happy with the delivery time for your package…”

4. Don’t play the blame game

It’s natural for your first instinct to be to give a reason behind why. Avoid responses like this:  

• “We were short-staffed because John was feeling poorly.”

• “One of our vans broke down so we were playing catch-up.” 

• “It was an unexpectedly busy period for us.” 

The reality is people don’t usually care why it happened and if you go down this road, they might think you’re just making up excuses. Instead, counter with something like: “This isn’t the standard of service we’re known for and we’d like to do everything we can to make up for it.”

5. Weave in some positives

It’ll give onlookers a reason to still choose you. Sticking with the delivery issue, this could be something like “We pride ourselves on timeline delivery – in fact, we delivered over 100,000,000 packages on time last year. We’re sorry to hear you didn’t receive the same punctual service we’re known for and we hope it won’t stop you from trying out our service again.” 

6. Offer a solution 

Tip: So that people don’t think you’ve gone silent, reply in the thread saying “We’ve heard your complaint and are going to send you a private message so that we can collaborate on a solution for this issue.”

Take the discussion offline to work out a resolution -- you don’t want to air it in public and for everyone to think that your answer is standard. And, if you say you’re going to do something, do it, otherwise, you’ll just end up with another angry review.

7. Ask them to edit it

If you’ve worked the situation out with your customer, it may be worth the risk of asking them to edit or update their review. We don’t suggest asking them to remove it completely, because you run into the risk of them broadcasting that you tried to keep them quiet. 

Also, remember to make this kind of request in private too, it’s not necessarily the type of thing you want either existing or prospective customers to see.

Hue & Tone Creative: Partners in social, design, and marketing

Need some social support? Just can’t handle one more bad review? You can count on us. From planning out your content to boosting your online presence, we’ll get your social media pages back on track. Get in touch at (336) 365-8559 or hannah@hueandtonecreative.com to figure out how we can partner together.