As an online entrepreneur, customer reviews are your biggest source of endorsement. Online consumers know that they should listen to their fellow customers to find out if your services and products are good enough. Although you endeavor to always put the customer’s convenience first, once in a while a negative review pops up.
Don’t worry. This is normal and it happens to every online entrepreneur. Keep your head high and take note of these tips on how to handle negative reviews.
Stay online.
When you are managing an online business, being online all the time is a necessity. This is not only to track customers and to assist them in real-time but also to respond to queries and reviews right away. This is especially true for negative reviews.
Don’t allow a negative review to sit on your profile for too long. This can tarnish your online reputation. Track your reviews and respond to them right away.
Respond to negative reviews immediately.
Most online customers refer to reviews left by previous customers before they decide to do business with you. This is what you should take note of – no matter how many positive and good reviews you receive, one negative review is enough for a potential customer to doubt your services and products. Keep your reviews clean by responding to negative feedback right away.
Talk offline.
Avoid creating a conversation on your actual page when you respond to negative reviews. As much as possible, take the conversation offline or speak to the customer directly. This is a good way to make the customer feel that you give importance to their feedback and experience.
This is also an effective way to cater to the customer’s underlying needs and opinions about your services. Taking the conversation offline can give a personal approach to the issue and result in a more positive customer experience.
Be rational.
There are many types of customer reviews and sometimes they may seem like personal negative reviews to you. There may be times when it can get to you personally and affect your emotions. Always remember that you should not take negative reviews personally and to be rational when handling these. Read through the review and find out the underlying cause of the customer’s dissatisfaction. Address the customer’s concern one by one and keep a rational mind so that you can resolve each concern.
Stay professional.
Professionalism is an important factor to maintain your online reputation, especially when handling reviews. Maintain your professional attitude when dealing with customers.
Take note that negative reviews are from customers who feel that they did not get the service they expect, thus you need to listen and understand their concern. Stay professional and be an advocate of customer satisfaction.
What you need to consider is that negative reviews are from individual customers who, in one way or another, felt that they were not given assistance. Empathize and be customer-friendly always. Aim for customer satisfaction to turn these negative reviews into positive ones.
