When was the last time you read a local business’s reviews? If it’s true that people trust reviews more than a friend’s recommendation, it was probably quite recently. And if you’re like the other 97% that read reviews, you also read businesses’ responses to reviews too.
Customer feedback is a major component of business reviews. Customers may see how you handle complaints, general concerns, and feedback in whatever form it comes from by looking at your response. As a result, it’s important to establish a consistent approach for responding to reviews.
Getting the tone and message correct is critical – you want detractors to give you another chance, and happy clients to stay loyal. Today we’ll look at some of the most frequent errors made by businesses when responding to reviews, as well as what not to do and how to respond correctly.
Why should you respond to customer reviews?
Customers can post their experiences with a business and other clients on Google, Facebook, Yelp, and specialty sites like Zillow or Healthgrades. These days, most individuals rely on reviews to help them choose a local company. As a result, it’s critical to understand typical blunders made by company managers when responding to reviews how to avoid them,
Replies to reviews allow you to influence past and future consumers’ perceptions of your brand. You may use solutions to improve a bad reviewer’s opinion of your business. You can also boost a long-term customer’s loyalty by responding positively to their compliments and encouraging them to return.
Taking these important client insights into account will also assist you in enhancing your company’s product offering in order to be more consistent with customers’ desires.
Replying to evaluations also has the advantage of improving your locational search exposure. According to a study from Harvard Business Review, businesses that responded to consumer reviews had 12% more review volume.s.
If you still need more reasons, according to Google studies, companies that respond to reviews are 1.7 times more trustworthy than those who don’t.
6 Common mistakes and how to avoid them when responding to reviews
1. Ignoring negative reviews
Negative reviews are sometimes avoided by businesses in order to avoid drawing attention to themselves. It’s easy to just respond to those good reviews where consumers compliment your company, commend its product, and express their satisfaction with the transaction. After all, we like being appreciated and praised.
This approach, on the other hand, has the opposite effect. In fact, since they’re the only ones without responses, they stand out even more. It makes your company seem like it just cares about customers’ good comments and that their complaints or concerns aren’t taken seriously.
If you’re going to reply to reviews, make it a top priority to address negative feedback. Prospective consumers need to see that your company is proactive and willing to take the necessary measures in order for things not to go smoothly.
There hasn’t been a response from the business owner or manager. Customers reading the review may believe that the problem has not been addressed in the last four months:
2. Using your response to market your business
Use review responses to let your clients know how grateful you are for their feedback. It’s a chance to connect with your consumers’ demands and choices. Don’t misuse review replies as a means of advertising your newest deal; you’ll risk appearing uninterested. Customers like it when companies prioritize people above profits.
Replies from your consumers help you engage with their genuine comments and concerns. Instead of trying to promote your business, evaluate the specifics of the complaint or feedback and determine a solution, if possible, or show appreciation for their good feedback.
While this response is correct in proposing an offline meet, the company attempts to promote their corporate culture:
3. Getting into an argument with the customer
Reviews may appear to be excessively harsh in some cases. Customers may express their dissatisfaction, and they might not get 100% of the information correct. However, review responses are not a venue for disputes regarding the specifics of a client’s experience.
Remember that the review author isn’t the only one who sees your response. You must remain calm and impartial. Even if the consumer is incorrect, you don’t need to get angry and start an argument.
Don’t get hung up on problems in the moment; remain solution-oriented. If you need to ask clients for further information, take the discussion offline. You may include your phone number and request that they contact you to discuss additional details in your feedback response.
Finally, you want to locate the best answers and persuade any critics who may have a negative impression of your company to give it another chance. Fighting will only harm your prospects of building a loyal client base.
It appears that the restaurant attempted to repair the problem at the time. They may try to defend their actions or debate with the customer, but it wouldn’t be a good look. When responding to this review, it’s critical to respond peacefully and seek further information, as well as propose another solution:
4. Replying late
In the realm of responding to reviews, “late than never” is a reality. However, replying late to your consumers’ reviews may give the impression that you’re not concerned.
Customers might believe that you won’t notice when you respond to their reviews. Google, on the other hand, sends clients a notification alerting them to a new business response. Furthermore, 86% of customers who complain expect a reply within three days.
You must be quick in reacting to new client feedback, and you should try to respond as quickly as possible. Customers appreciate it when you respond promptly, demonstrating that their comments are important to your company.
If you’re just starting a response campaign now, don’t worry – you do not have to respond to every single review. Instead, pick and choose which older reviews you reply to. You might select those that are more thorough or mention specific concerns that your company subsequently addressed.
You could begin by stating that, even though the review was completed a long time ago, you still care about their comments. You may then go on to explain how you’ve improved things and urged them to return for another look at your company.
Even if the business manager or owner has apologized and responded to this hair salon review, two years have passed since then, and they may still do so. A late response is preferable to ignoring the feedback:
5. Not addressing the issue
Businesses must pay close attention to each point, whether it’s good or bad, in order to ensure that customers receive what they require.
Before responding, take the time to read each review thoroughly and fully comprehend all of the specifics. If a customer raises any issues, address them specifically and completely engage with their ideas.
Avoid generic statements like “If there’s anything we can do to assist, please let us know.” These don’t add any value to your response because they’re a broad offer.
Instead, focus on what they’re really asking for and provide a solution based on that. In this review, the salon owner doesn’t react to the problem -– the client was in pain during treatment and received lower-quality service. Sure, they may have been late, but the business doesn’t address other concerns in their review:
6. Only replying to complaints
Responding to complaints and bad feedback is an important priority for your organization. However, only paying attention to the most negative judgments makes it appear as if your firm is solely concerned with those in the most critical situations. You must also respond to neutral and positive comments.
All sorts of reviews should be addressed in order to demonstrate that you value all types of feedback and recommendations -– not just the most pressing ones. While it’s tempting to respond to extremely negative reviews first, remember to listen to other comments as well.
This happy customer’s excellent review would be a great opportunity for the firm to develop their connection with him or her:
Final thoughts: What not to do if you get a bad review
When responding to reviews, it’s all too easy to fall into these traps. However, once you know how to respond in each case, you’ll find it simpler to reply in a way that encourages both fans and critics to continue doing business with you. The secret is to treat reviews as individual entities and respond genuinely. When dealing with consumer feedback,
Want to make sure you never miss another customer review again? To find out how we can help your business, call (678) 964-7354 or book an online review.
