By Jordan Garner, Trustpilot
Online reviews are no longer just convenient, they are now critical to a consumer’s decision to buy or pass on a product or service.
A recent Trustpilot survey found 88% of consumers feel reviews are important and have an impact on their shopping experience.* In light of the importance of reviews, many business owners are concerned that a few negative online reviews are capable of destroying their business.
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Luckily for business owners, this is completely untrue.
Turning a Negative to a Positive
Negative reviews provide the opportunity for a company to engage with dissatisfied customers – before they lose that customer’s business forever. A negative review also gives companies an important public opportunity to display transparency, address product issues, and take note of feedback to implement into their business.
Obviously, it can sometimes be difficult to perceive a negative review as a positive opportunity. Negative reviews can feel like a personal attack, thus triggering a rash and unprofessional response and ultimately, a business loss.
We have found that businesses that track their online reviews, and take the time to thoughtfully respond, continue to see positive results including increased brand loyalty, improved buying experiences, reaffirmed relationships with customers and increased transparency for the company.
Addressing the Issues
Ultimately, humans run businesses. Human error is inevitable. The good news is that mistakes are not detrimental to the bottom line if handled correctly.
Follow these best practices when handling criticism from your customers:
- Accept negative reviews gracefully and address customer concerns directly;
- Always apologize and never shame a critic for their opinion;
- Deal with the criticism quickly and publicly while keeping the response positive, personal and professional; and
- Once the situation is resolved, ask the customer to update their review
It’s essential companies embrace all online reviews – both good and bad. Doing so will create opportunities for customer loyalty and online advocacy to flourish. Adopting a review response strategy that is transparent and professional, will ultimately help a business, by showing consumers its ability to grow and become an even better partner.
*SOURCE: Trustpilot survey, “How Consumers Use Online Review,” 2016
Having worked in the digital marketing space since 2009, Jordan Garner is a marketer and customer success leader who specializes in SEO, SEM, and reputation management. Having worked as an engineer for several years, Garner is focused on bridging the gap between people that are customer-facing and commercially focused and those that engineer solutions. Garner found a home with Trustpilot two years ago as its Director of Marketing, during which time she started the North American Customer Success organization and is now working with the Trustpilot marketing team to help define value and thought-leadership in the customer review space.
