The Art of Replying to Negative Reviews

I have been told that replying to negative reviews is somewhat like replying to criticism from your in-laws. Essentially, you may feel the criticism is completely unwarranted, possibly even mean spirited, but it is never worth the discord it would cause in your household to respond any other way than graciously.

If you have been blessed with wonderful in-laws, you too may not have had the need to develop this skill and will have to practice with the negative comments your business may receive from customers. Here are some suggestions to consider:

1. Hold off on replying – If the review or comment really makes you mad… DO NOT reply immediately. Even though in most cases we recommend replying quickly to reviews… this is the exception. If you cannot type fast enough to keep up with what you want to say… that is a good indication you should take a deep breath and wait until tomorrow. Then when you write your reply, if you are able, run it by an objective person whose opinion you trust, before posting.
2. Flag the review – If the review contains hate speech and hearsay, you may be able to have the review removed from the site by flagging the review and indicating such. Examples of hearsay is when a review indicates that someone told them about your business as opposed to their review being based on first-hand experience.
3. Reply with no further action – If the review is sincere, regardless of whether it is well founded, you should consider thanking the reviewer for their comments and let them know you will take their remarks into consideration. This acknowledges the reviewer without validating their criticisms. In fact, when you read their reviews you are considering all that they are saying and you ultimately decide what you believe to be the best course of action.
4. Reply with an apology publicly while offering a “make-good” offer privately – You and the people who work at your business are all human and thus make mistakes… most people recognize that mistakes do happen, but customers are often incensed when a mistake happens that affects them… especially when they feel the mistake is somehow not acknowledged. If you see that the scenario described could have been a mistake that happened… we recommend first publicly replying to the reviewer by letting them know you will look into the issue (if that is appropriate) and apologize for the mistake. You may choose to add that it has been your business’ pleasure to serve many customers, and unfortunately there are times when your business falls short of providing the service (or product) that meets their expectations… you hope they will accept your apology and give you another opportunity to serve them. For Yelp reviews only, if you feel the circumstances warrant it, you may choose to also reply immediately with a private reply following your public reply with some form of a “make-good” offer. Again, this should be done with a private reply.
5. Reply with action – If you have noticed a number of negative reviews with the same theme (or you have deemed that the one negative review was enough), you may choose to reply to the review by indicating the action you are taking as a result of the review. For example, if a negative review (1 or 2-stars) was posted about a restaurant with a squeaky door, the owner should reply with appreciation for the feedback and let the guest know that the door has been fixed. If the guest returns and sees that their feedback was acknowledged and acted upon, the 1 or 2-star rating can easily change to a 4 or 5-star rating.
   • Replying in this fashion is very powerful as it shows the reviewer and other customers and prospects that you care about them and their needs. It is like the old saying, “Don’t tell me… show me!”

Example of why replying to reviews is important.