Hey glad you clicked in.
That means:
1. You´ve experienced what it is like to be on the receiving end of a negative customer review.
2. And although you might know exactly what you want to say, you need help to shape a reply in a more delicate and professional way.
As humans, we are more likely to let the mouth run on a bad experience, than a happy one. That’s why it's important for retailers to make sure bad customer experiences don't happen in the first place.
But hey, that’s easier said than done, right?
So today, I'm not going to rub my crystal ball and tell you how to avoid future bad customer experience stories, but instead, I'll let you in on how you can better react and respond.
Here’s your guide to breaking bad reviews.
The importance of bad reviews and the reasons why you should keep them on your site.
Yes, you read that right. Negative reviews are actually good and can help your business in various ways.
Here are the main 3 reasons why you should not remove bad reviews from your site.
1. Bad reviews actually help build trust.
In eCommerce shopping, there’s a saying “it must be too good to be true’’. A shopper knows that nothing is perfect and is therefore deliberately seeking bad reviews and negative reviews to reassure them that your store isn't hiding anything. Bad reviews give customers a sense of the worst-case scenario. They want to know what can go wrong to understand just how much it will matter to them. Helping them make more informed purchase decisions.
“Rich reviews drive engagement and people stay on-site longer. Bad reviews are a brilliant way of showing that if something does go wrong you have credibility in how you deal with the issue. It shows you care about the customer.” Neil Patel
Also, too many positive reviews can seem fake to some shoppers, so you have to watch out.
2. Negative reviews give you valuable insight into how to improve.
While ignoring negative customer reviews might feel like the easiest option, by doing so you miss out on valuable information that can help your business improve. Make sure to dig until you find the root cause and make a note of all the bad reviews, complaints and comments throughout the year and look for repetition. If you notice a pattern of customers saying the price doesn’t deliver the value, it might be time to revisit your product value proposition.
3. Bad reviews give an opportunity to show off your company's personality.
Yes, bad customer reviews can have a negative impact on your company's image, but it also gives you a chance to show off who you truly are. Use the situation to show your accountability and exceptional customer service.
4. Steer clear of anything that sounds like a sales pitch.
There’s nothing less attractive to a potential shopper than to see a store owner arguing with a customer in the reviews section. Even if the customer is wrong, remain calm and professional. When you reply, the spotlight’s on you, so make sure to show off your best side.
The best practices in how to respond to a negative review.
Handling criticism can be a challenge, so here are some tips for responding to negative company reviews.
Address the customer by name.
Sure, you can start your response with a quick hello, but it’s not as rewarding as using the persons' name. In this way you are also showing the person you are not an automated response, and that they’re talking to someone who’s going to take care of their problem.
Always reply and fast.
It's important you always reply to your negative review and in a timely manner. Shoppers expect a reply within 5 days, so make sure you monitor reviews often to know when an unhappy customer has left a negative review. Replying shows that your business isn't just sweeping problems under the rug and that you are actually taking steps to make sure the situation doesn’t happen again.
Remember! Your customer negative feedback won't just be seen by them, but also by every other person that comes across your page.
Sympathise with the customer.
You want to make sure you apologise and sympathise with the customers' concerns. You want to make sure they feel heard. But don't just say “sorry to hear that’. Get to the bottom of the incident and find out what happened. Was it a fault on your side, something that you could’ve avoided? Or was it simply something out of your control?
You don’t have to go into minor details, but like all genuine apologies, yours should also explain why the mistake happened and how you’re going to fix the problem.
Keep it short and sweet.
You don’t want to go into too much detail (around 3-5 sentences). That should be plenty of time to get your point across.
As a side note, make sure you don’t mention your business name. You don’t want that negative review to be showing up whenever people are searching for your business online.
Take it offline.
Make sure you provide that customer with someone offline that can handle their complaints. This gives you an opportunity to get to the root of the problem in the first place.
Dear [NAME OF REVIEWER], thanks for sharing your feedback.
We’re sorry your experience didn’t match your expectations. It was an uncommon instance and we’ll do better in the future.
Please feel free to reach out to [INSERT CONTACT INFORMATION] with any further comments, concerns, or suggestions you wish to share. We would love to make things right if you give us another chance.
Best regards [INSERT YOUR NAME]
Source: ReviewTrackers
Offer a gift.
Another way to try to give a reviewer a more positive impression of your business is by asking them for a second chance. If the problem they’ve had is out of the ordinary, get the client to come back by offering a gift. It can be a discount, or free shipping, depending on your type of business.
3 Types of bad reviews and how to respond to them.
1. The customer didn’t like the product
This type of review is hard to deal with because you can’t make a customer like a product. What you can do is offer them an alternative.
Some brands like Wendy’s (see below) even goes as far as turning a negative review into an opportunity to make a splash on social media and go viral.
2. The customer had a problem with delivery or customer service.
If the customer liked the product or service itself but had a shipping or delivery issue or bad customer service experience, you’re in luck. They’re likely to buy again if you are able to rectify their issues. Offer a discount, or give them an alternative email or phone number where they can speak to someone who can solve their problem and ensure they won’t have the same issues in the future.
Zappos (above) offers to send the customer a new replacement pair, and they recommended that she keep or give away the shoes that don’t fit. It’s pretty hard to argue with an attitude like that.
3. The customer had an issue with your store policies.
Even if you post your store policies, like information about returns and shipping costs on your website, you´ll definitely have a couple that didn't read them. If a customer is disappointed that they want to return an item but didn’t do so within the return window, for example, you can still respond by mentioning your policy and urging them to contact customer service to see if anything further can be done. Not only does this communicate your policy to other shoppers who may be reading reviews, but it moves the complaint offline.
At the end of the day, do also remember, that not every bad review deserves the same amount of attention. Some online reviews are fake or paid for.
Here are some signs to look out for:
Language. The language is general without mentioning anything in particular to the product or your service. A review that’s filled with nothing but hatred and vicious insults is more likely to be fake.
Customer’s purchase history. If they haven’t ordered anything from you, clearly it’s not a genuine review.
User profile. If your eCommerce platform provides this option, check out other reviews this customer has posted. If they have large numbers of only bad reviews, it’s also a sign that this is a fake profile.
Here's how you can remove a fake review from Google.
Do still respond anyway, but a simple apology and an invitation to continue this conversation privately will be enough.
Finally, don’t fear the negative reviews.
If there’s one thing you take away from this it should be this:
Dusting away bad reviews might seem like a tempting alternative, but is definitely not a good thing. Approach the negative reviews as an opportunity to improve.
RJ MTM is a company that take their customer reviews and feedback very seriously. Account managers actively collect feedback, both positive and negative, and pass this on to their respective teams to be dealt with. This way, customer feedback is a tool, not hinderance, to improve the quality of their products and services. For example, one of their Menswear retail store clients left feedback that highlighted it was difficult to add multiple shirts inside a live order. RJ MTM shared this feedback with the software team and within a number of weeks, had a solution rolled out for customers that let them add multiple shirts inside one live order, with each individual shirt being customisable. This made it super convenient for the sales assistant to offer their customers the option to design additional shirts under the same order when shopping in-store. Because they also had received feedback about how difficult it was to add monograms during the design process of the shirts, they made sure to also provide a simple solution to this issue.
Remember there will always be people that love to be loud. Each piece of review is a free source of information that can be used to help grow your business. So treat each one as a gift.
Cheers,
Comments