The customer is always right.
It is a sentiment that I hear a lot in customer service and one which I wholeheartedly disagree with. In my time as a customer service agent for Metal Studio Jewelry I have had my fair share of customer issues to deal with and most of the time an agreement can be made to satisfy both the customer and the business there are times when an agreement simply can’t be made. This becomes a particular concern in the digital age when dissatisfied clients take to Google and social media to air their grievances.
I recently helped a long time friend manage a very irate customer who simply could not be consoled. Ideas to help console the customer aside I thought I would write about the negative review and how it has effected their business long term.
This particular customer ended up leaving negative reviews everywhere he could find. Especially concerning was the one star review left on Google.
So how does a negative review effect your SEO?
Thankfully a single or even a few negative reviews have very little impact your your SEO. While consistant negative reviews over a long period of time can have a dramatic impact on your businesses placement in Google a single bad review is nearly invisible when it comes to Google search algorithm. According to Google’s published search engine guidelines even some of the best websites get negative reviews occasionally.
How does a negative review effect your rating with clients?
While getting a negative review can leave you with a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach it is important to remember that a negative review can actually increase your trustworthiness with customers. Seeing a business that has only positive reviews can leave a customer feeling like the reviews are either highly cultivated or worse faked in the form of purchased reviews. A single negative review, or even a less than 5 star review for that matter, gives you more trustworthiness with your clients.
With all of this said, none of us really wants to have negative reviews.
How can I manage a negative review?
1Reach out and see if you can fix the problem
The first step of dealing with a negative review is to reach out to the customer and see if the problem that is causing the review can be resolved. Don’t immediately reply to the review because in many cases a reply to the review can either make the customer more irate or on some platforms can actually lock the review in and not allow the review to change the review at a later date.
Reach out to the customer with genuine interest about fixing the issue. Don’t immediately ask them to change their review. If you are able to fix the customers issue then you can politely explain to the customer how their review impacts your business. In my experience even if I am not able to fix the complaint simply explaining that the review has a negative effect on your business can prompt the customer to edit the review so that it is not so harsh or scale back the negativity of the review.
Realize that not all problems can be solved and not all customers are right. Don’t take things personally and especially do not use public reviews to air your own grievances with the customer as this is a reflection of your business.
2Bury the review
If an agreement can’t be made with the customer the next step is to try to bury the review. You should consistently be asking new clients to leave reviews for your business but if you have not done that for a while now is a really good time to ask your recent customers to leave a review. You can even explain to them the issues you have been having and the importance of leaving the review.
Most customers never make it beyond the first page of reviews so once that review is off the first page, it essentially does not exist.
Please note that Google and Facebook business pages expressly forbid soliciting only positive reviews. So ask your clients to leave an honest review.
3Leave a follow up to the negative review.
If you are sure you will not be able to change the customers mind leave a follow up to their review directly on the review itself. Explain your side of the story in the most neutral terms possible. This is not for the benefit of the customer who has left the negative review but to show other customers you care and are taking the situation seriously.
Be careful here because this can sometimes prompt the customer to follow up yet again. A good rule of thumb is to say your peace and then have no more response regardless of the customers response. Google does not allow customers to follow up on comments however on Facebook the customer and anyone else can be drawn into the conversation giving it far more reach than desired.
4Use this as a genuine opportunity to have a retrospective look at your customer service.
Sometimes the customer is absolutely wrong however any time you receive a negative review it is an opportunity to look into your own customer service and see if there was somewhere along the way the communications broke down or something that could have been done better.
5Don’t back down
I have often received negative reviews as a form of blackmail, often for an unwarranted refund or as a way to get free products. Don’t let a negative review be used against you in this way. Remember an isolated negative review has very minimal impact on your business and your SEO so don’t feel you need to change your policies in response to a single customer.