How To Turn Your Negative Reviews Into a Positive Experience

Do you work hard to earn good reviews for your business? If so, you’re not alone. It’s easy to understand why you would want all five-star reviews, we all do! But what about your negative reviews?

Before you make an online purchase, do you scan through the company’s reviews? Would you check the reviews for the new restaurant down your street before going to try it? Or what about the new app everyone is talking about? If you check reviews, you’re probably only looking for the good ones and avoiding all the negative ones you see. So, this means you should be doing everything in your power to gain good reviews for your business and prevent bad ones, right? Wrong. While it may seem surprising at first, you shouldn’t be focusing all your attention on getting good reviews.

Some of your attention should be focused on the negative reviews you’ve been receiving. And I know, you’re probably thinking it sounds crazy. But believe it or not, negative reviews can actually help your business in ways that you may have not imagined. Don’t avoid your negative reviews, take advantage of them. Here’s why you should be paying attention to your negative reviews and what they can do for your business.

People Notice Them No Matter What

No matter how hard you try to avoid them, there will always be bad reviews posted about your business. In a study held by Power Reviews, it was found that out of today’s consumers, 97% will read reviews about a business before giving social them a chance. Out of these, 89% will consider online reviews to be a valuable source of information. And shockingly, 85% of consumers will focus on the negative reviews. Why? This percentage of consumers see negative reviews as an idea of what could go wrong, if the company can fix the situation, and if the service or product matters to them. When you have an abundance of good reviews, it can seem fake to some shoppers. You want to avoid being placed in the “too good to be true” category.

Overall, reviews can make or break your company. But you need to prepare yourself for receiving negative reviews, because no matter what social platform you receive them on, they will always be there.

Have a Game Plan

When it comes to your method for responding to negative reviews, customers expect you to act fast and reach out to them as soon as possible. And when responding to your reviews, you need to keep in mind that not every single negative review will have valuable information. There are two types of negative reviews you’ll receive; when the customer genuinely had a bad experience and wants you to be aware of it, and then those when the customer simply wants attention. Being able to separate the two is very important as this will affect how you respond to them. Negative reviews will always be that if you never address them; a negative review. This is why you need to have a game plan set in place. Find a strategy that matches your brand and your tone of voice, use it consistently, and remember that your response has the power to solve the problem or make it worse. The way you handle these reviews will tell shoppers a lot about you and your company.

Real Responses Show the Real You

Your game plan should be genuine, you don’t want to respond to your reviewers with a template. You need to take each negative review as an opportunity to show your customers that you truly care about them and their situation. They give you a chance to show your customers that there are real people working behind the scenes, they aren’t dealing with robots. But keep in mind, it’s also good to respond to your good reviews as well; it shows that you appreciate your happy customers and their service.

To help you form a game plan and deliver an effective, personal response to your bad reviews, we’ve put a few points together.

• You should dig a little deeper. With a quick investigation, you can quickly get to the bottom of the situation and give yourself a better understanding of your customer’s perspective.
• Hold your tongue, don’t let your emotions take over. It may seem hard at first, but if you say something out of the way, you could give your business a bad reputation. There will be times when your reviews are unfair, and sometimes false.
• Show your customers that you care. You don’t need to act as if their situation is not important, because in most cases, the customer is simply looking for a genuine apology.
• If things begin to escalate, take the conversation offline. This will make you seem more professional and will let the customer know you wish to handle the situation in a professional manner.
• Most importantly, don’t be afraid to explain your side of the story. A shopper’s unhappiness is not always your fault, there will be situations when no one is at fault.

Let Your Reviews Improve Your Business

Treat each of your reviews as if they were a gift, no matter if they are good or bad. They are free pieces of information that you can choose to take and use as a marketing strategy to improve your business. It may sound a little crazy, but that’s okay! There’s no better way to tell if your business is doing well than to ask your customers for the truth because let’s be honest, customers will always be honest with you. Surprisingly, your bad reviews can hold some information that when utilize correctly, can help grow your business.

Now keep in mind, not every customer will leave a bad review, or a review at all. But don’t be mistaken, there will be plenty of customers with mutual feelings who won’t express their feelings. So, take each of your bad reviews as if there are others out there who share the same thoughts.

Negative Reviews Are What You Make Them

Most every business nowadays will do everything they can to avoid getting a negative review, and that’s okay because it makes sense. But you need to remember that not all your negative reviews are bad, they can actually be helpful in several ways depending on how you look at them.

Negative reviews have the ability to build the trust between you and your customer. They create a healthy balance by helping shoppers understand you might not be perfect, but you are trustworthy. You can choose to let negative reviews get you down, or you can take advantage of them and get excited!

One important thing to remember from this blog is that each of your reviews are pieces of information you can use to grow your business, so take advantage of them. If you would like to know more about how to grow your business, call Cibirix Digital Marketing today at to speak with one of our representatives.