How to Respond to Negative Customer Reviews & Feedback
Responding to reviews, both positive and negative, can help to strengthen customer relationships, improve retention rates and promote your business to others.
However, there is some room for improvement when it comes to businesses responding to customer feedback. Recent research by reviews platform Feefo revealed that close to half (45%) of consumers feel that companies have been less than effective at dealing with critical reviews.
Below Feefo have included the top ways businesses can respond to negative reviews.
How to respond to negative reviews
Having a plan in place that outlines the procedure for handling negative feedback is essential. Make sure that all staff are trained to use the relevant process and are prepared to respond in a calm and effective way.
1. Accept the review and take action
The initial reaction to receiving negative feedback is often to remove or ignore, until it’s out of sight. However, there are no hiding places online, and acknowledging your bad reviews shows complete transparency to your customers. Do not remove negative reviews from your site, unless they’re inflammatory or obviously unrelated to your product or service. As we’ve mentioned, if customers believe your reviews are genuine, they’re more likely to trust your brand. Conversely, they’ll be suspicious of businesses that only display positive reviews.
Ignoring a customer who has taken the time to leave a negative review or complaint will only make the situation worse. Rather than leaving the review unaddressed and the customer dissatisfied, responding to their feedback could stop the customer from telling other people about their negative experience with you.
2. Respond quickly and appropriately
Address the review as quickly as possible outside of the review platform. That way, when you come to respond to the review, you can discuss the solution – not the problem. The quicker you contact your customer about their issue, the faster you can respond to their feedback. You also reduce the risk of the customer venting their frustration through other channels, such as social media.
The initial review should guide how you respond. Whether formal or informal, make sure you mirror your customer’s tone in your reply.
3. Thank them for their feedback
Acknowledge their review by thanking them for leaving it. This shows you appreciate all feedback, whether positive or negative, and take it seriously.
4. Identify and empathise
Show you appreciate their concerns by highlighting the issues they have raised. Empathise with their situation and acknowledge their frustration. If they have provided incorrect information, correct them respectfully.
Always respect what your customer has to say, and no matter how much you disagree with them, it is important to leave out any feelings of frustration or anger. Be polite towards your customer and try to put yourself in their shoes to understand why they may be feeling that way.
5. Take action
If your business is at fault, apologise. If not, explain what has happened – but do not make excuses. Highlight any attempts to get in contact via phone or email, to demonstrate to other customers the lengths you are taking.
6. Leave the right impression
Demonstrate the steps you have taken to resolve the issue, and provide any further action that either you, or the customer, should take.
7. Learn and improve
As well as a chance to build customer loyalty, criticism is an opportunity to enhance your offering. Identify what went wrong, why, and make changes to prevent it happening again. Review your handling of the customer, and depending on what you find, either praise your service team or reevaluate your process.
