Let's Chat: Online Reviews

93% of customers read online reviews before buying a product.
94% say an online review has convinced them to avoid a business.

When your client gets a negative review on social media, how do you handle it?
Do you do anything with positive reviews?

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When brands we work with receive any sort of negative reviews, it’s important to remember to do a few things:

THINK BEFORE YOU RESPOND

For the most part, customers contact brand to either submit a complaint or something is not functioning properly on a product or service they purchased. When a customer contacts your brand directly, make sure to fully read through their initial issue.

RESPECT THEIR EMOTIONS

It’s inevitable on social media, you will come across comments that are negative or disappointing. Maybe they are complaining about a product or an experience they had with your company, or perhaps they just don’t like the content you post.

One of the best ways to handle this is to ‘Respect Their Emotions’. The most emotionally competent people not only recognize their own emotions, but they also identify and honor others.

Even if you don’t understand where people are coming from with their comments, it’s important to respect how they feel. Their emotions are a product of their environment and personal experiences. When people are upset, they often just want to feel validated.

A trick that works well is repeating what they said to make sure you fully understand the situation. Try to sympathize and offer an honest apology, even if your company didn’t do anything wrong. Then offer a clear solution. Your delivery is of utmost importance.

BE ACCESSIBLE

Of course, you cannot be on every social media platform some of your audience may be utilizing to reach out to express their opinions. However, most will do some sort of research on your website to see what social media platforms you are using and reach out to your brand on those accounts.

DON’T FORGET THE LITTLE THINGS

Just typing a response to users may not be enough to make an impression, no matter how polite you are. Personalizing your answer and making it interactive could make all the difference in the world. Instead of just replying back with a copy & paste answer, try repeating a portion of their message back and ALWAYS reply with their account’s name. These little things truly go a long way in your audience’s eyes.

BASICALLY

COMMUNICATE honestly

Don’t talk DOWN to customers

Act with INTEGRITY at all times

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A big thing to remember is you’re not just responding to that individual. You’re also responding to the people coming to look at how your brand handles when things go wrong. It can be challenging for small business owners as they take these situations personally.

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Great point @kberry People DO look at how brands handle other situations, especially on social media. And you’re right again there with small businesses taking it personally. They can let their emotions get the best of them before calming down to reply to these comments/reviews.

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Things are going to go wrong with any product/service. People feel much more comfortable purchasing with a brand that actively addresses issues and doesn’t hide from them.

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A good tip that I actually got from a client and thought it was a fantastic idea. Often, the complaint gets posted, the business moves it to a private forum and leaves it at that. Yet those coming across the complaint or review then doesn’t know whether it was resolved. My client goes back to the complaint/issue once the issue has been resolved and closes it publicly with a ‘It was great to talk to you, I’m glad we were able to resolve the issue’ type of response. Then everyone knows the business cares. And, if the customer replies with a negative follow up, they know there is still an issue to resolve further.

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That’s a great idea @kberry Thanks for sharing!

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