SMS for Reviews: How to Handle Negative Feedback

Online reviews are one of your most important assets for bringing in new customers and growing your business.

Eventually, whether you’re asking for reviews or not, you’re going to get critical feedback. You still need to respond, and here’s how to do it.

1. Get Your Fact Straight

Is what they’re saying actually true?

Usually bad reviews are left by unhappy customers. It’s possible they’re sharing an even-keeled account of what happened, but it’s also possible they’re embellishing the situation or that they assumed something incorrectly.

Your first job is to find out exactly what happened. Look through your records, talk to employees, and set aside your biases. Get your facts straight before you respond.

2. Respond Impersonally

You need to respond to every review, even the bad ones.

It’s easy to get emotional about a critical review, especially if they call out you or a colleague by name. You have to separate that emotion.

Sometimes the critical feedback is valid and you need to improve. Sometimes their interpretation of the situation is wrong (or at least different). But in every case, other people thinking about working with your business will see your response.

How you respond can have a larger impact on your reputation than the negative review, so be professional, be empathetic, address the issues that come up, and do not escalate the situation.

3. Resolve the Issue

Make internal improvements or offer an olive branch.

Tell the reviewer how you’re going to fix the situation. You might offer a discount on their next purchase or tell them what process you’re going to fix.

Try to make it right, both in the eyes of the reviewer and in the eyes of anyone reading these reviews. People can tell if you’ve done your part well (and if the customer is actually in the wrong).

What if it’s clearly spam? We’ve found it’s most helpful to respond to the review, note that it’s spam and any proof you have that it’s spam, and report it to the online review platform.

If you follow these steps, then a little negative feedback won’t hurt you. It may even make your business more attractive.