How to deal with negative reviews? As more and more businesses take the step to market online through websites and social media, the risk of incurring negative reviews increases. These days it is very easy indeed for anyone to leave a negative review for a business on Google, Facebook and other online platforms.

Most reviews left online are from real people, but some can be left using fake or anonymous accounts. Some reviews can be untruthful and malicious and can seriously harm the reputation of your business.

We regularly receive enquiries from businesses such as ‘How can I remove a negative review?’, or ‘How should I respond to this review?’.

This is our advice, based on our 25+ years of experience of working with local businesses and national and international organisations.

How to deal with Negative Reviews

1. Do not respond immediately

Never respond to a negative online review immediately! For any business owner, receiving a negative online review can be a shock. It feels like a personal attack and often the first reaction is to respond immediately. Please do not do this! Take some time to consider the review!

2. Is the review from a real customer?

Many businesses can check if the reviewer is a genuine customer from booking or purchase records. If you’re unsure, we ask the reviewer about this in our initial reply. We never accuse them of lying, we just politely ask when they used your service or ask for an order number.

Example

A local guest house spotted a really bad 1 Star review on their Google Business Profile… “The place was filthy, dust and cobwebs everywhere, and the breakfast was burnt and cold.”

It turned out that the ‘guest’ stayed at the place whilst it was closed for a week! Unfortunately, this review was from an anonymous account, but we suspect it was placed by a jealous competitor.

Google removed this review.

If yes, then consider the best way to respond before hammering away at your keyboard. Remember that other customers read your reviews and particularly your replies. The Golden Rule is – Always stay Professional.

The way that you respond to negative reviews has a real influence on how other customers, and potential customers, regard your business. If the review is honest, and if you have slipped up, admit it! Even the best businesses can have a bad day, and anyone understands this. Offer to put right the wrong, and of course, apologise!

If the negative review is not from a genuine customer then use the tools within the platform to report it as such. Inform the platform that this is a fake review from someone who is not a customer or user of your service. Sometimes this can work and the review will be removed. If the platform does not remove it, we would write a simple response to the review stating that the review is fake and not from a real customer.

Example

A local business client has a wonderful reputation and years of glowing reviews. A recent review stated that dealing with them was “the worst experience they had ever had and that the service they had booked did not turn up”. It turns out that this customer had booked with another local company and left the review on the wrong business profile.

After reporting this anomaly to the platform, they did nothing. So, we crafted our response on behalf of the client. Anybody reading this review would now instantly disregard it.

3. Is the Negative Review Truthful?

If the review is an honest report of a customer’s experience with your company, thank them. Respect their point of view, add any mitigating circumstances, and offer to right the wrong.

If the review is untruthful, then report it as such to the platform. Hopefully, they will remove it. If not, then respond to the review by stating that it is untruthful. The review will remain, but your customers will see your response to it.

Example

One of our clients, an Italian Restaurant Owner, called us late one night to say they had just received a negative review on Tripadvisor. The reviewer had stated that the food was awful and the staff were rude. In fact, the food is actually out of this world and the owner was one of the nicest people we have ever had the pleasure of dealing with.

The owner explained that 6 women had come for a booking at 9pm, already inebriated and in high spirits. They were noisy and clearly upsetting other guests as they sat down. A drinks order was taken and delivered and the group began to abuse another guest who had politely asked them to quieten down. The owner asked them to drink up, for free, and leave immediately.

They left the restaurant, to a round of applause from the other guests.

The reply that we posted earned several dozen approvals, so we posted it on Facebook. That led to a news item on the local newspaper website, hundreds of more approvals, and great PR for the restaurant.

4. The Best Way to deal with Negative Reviews

The best way to deal with negative reviews is to respond as advised above, and then obtain more positive reviews. This may surprise you, but most consumers expect to see the odd negative review of any business – and they are always intensely curious about how you respond to them!

Acquiring more positive reviews is very easily done. Once you have provided your normal exceptional level of service, just ask for a review. The majority of happy customers will be delighted to help, it honestly makes them feel good.

5. Get advice from the Professionals

Our agencies spend thousands every month with Google, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram on behalf of our clients. We have account managers who can easily put us in contact with the right people at those organisations. This can sometimes help with the removal of malicious reviews.

Several of our top clients are leading legal experts. They often come in useful if any of our clients come up against anything more sinister or serious regarding online reputation. On occasion, a polite letter from a solicitor will solve the problem.

Our advice on negative online reviews is always free of charge, we’re just happy to help. Who knows? You might even leave us a positive review!