When providing products and services to customers online, businesses are dependent on the reviews of customers to build a positive reputation and develop the brand name in the eyes of all consumers.
While it is a highly rewarding feeling to receive a positive review from a customer, what do you do if a customer gives you a scathing review? Of course, negative reviews can be quite disheartening but there is a lot that you can do to recover from such reviews. Speak with an online lawyer if you have any questions on the below.
To help you, we have set out our 3 top tips on what to do to recover from an unfavourable review online:
Act quickly
The internet is a “no-holds barred” environment. Once someone has posted a negative review on your website thousands of people may have already seen the post within a few minutes. Of course, if you have received a negative review on your page on a social media network, the chances are that a large number of people may have already seen this comment before you have had a chance to reply. For this reason, you will need to respond to the review as soon as possible to rescue the positive image of your brand name and business in the eyes of thousands of anonymous internet users. It’s a good idea to respond to this negative review in the same public platform that the review was posted on so that all customers can view how your business has handled the situation. If in doubt, contact an online lawyer.
Acknowledge your mistakes
Businesses are not perfect and everyone makes mistakes. You should be able to recognise the error that you may have made that caused this customer to post a negative review about your business. You will need to show the critic that you value their business and that their negative comment has encouraged you to review your business policies in order to provide better outcomes for your customers. With access to numerous reviews of businesses online, customers will not be fooled by you copying and pasting a standard apology to them. In order to make the critic feel valued, you will need to acknowledge the business’s errors and provide a solution that will resolve the issue for the critic.
Provide a solution
After acknowledging your mistakes to the critic, it is a good idea to offer a solution to the critic to show that you are willing to take responsibility for the critic’s poor experience in using your business’s services. Of course, the problem that the critic has complained about may not necessarily be your fault. However, you will need to set your ego aside and make things right so that the critic and the online world can see that each and every customer is valuable to you and your business. You could offer to supply the critic with free products, a partial refund or free shipping on their next order of products. You should also indicate that you are making an effort to fix the root of the problem so that it will not happen again.
Conclusion
While you cannot control the type of reviews that customers will post about your business online, you can control the way in which you respond to them. Customers using the internet will be able to look at your response to the critic and witness the high level of customer service that you provide to everyone engaging your business. This will assist you in building a positive reputation for your business that online customers will acknowledge and take into consideration the next time they are looking for a business to purchase from. Get in touch with an online lawyer if you’ve got any questions on the above!
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