Online Reviews Can Help You, But Beware How You Handle Negative Reviews

Online reviews represent a crucial part of purchasing decisions. Four out of five customers would trust the feedback of a peer and whatever they have to say. Therefore, an outstanding series of reviews about you on Google, online directories, social media and other sites can help attract new clients.

How To Collect Reviews
There are numerous ways to collect reviews for your business. After a client has visited your office or practice is the perfect time. Handing out a simple compliment slip with instructions on how to leave a review should generate some activity.

Alternatively, you can send emails out to customers who’ve left details. The emails can request reviews at popular sites. Some sites, like TrustPilot and MailChimp, offer automatic and monitoring services for no or little cost.

The challenge is receiving enough reviews for your business. Sometimes it can take more than one request for a customer/client to give you a review. You shouldn’t worry about requesting a few times, as long as you are spacing out your requests.

Negative Reviews
The one thing that stops business owners from requesting reviews is the fear of negative reviews. There are going to be times when someone isn’t going to be happy about your services, and sometimes they won’t tell you or your staff. Instead, they’re publishing their grievances online.

In fact, a customer is more likely to publish a negative review than a positive one.

You should be prepared for negative reviews, because without having a good plan of action, you can really suffer. Customers don’t trust businesses that only have positive reviews, as it looks unnatural. But how you deal with negative comments can help you win over customers?

For instance, telling the customer they’re wrong, can make your business seem arrogant. Likewise, denying the events can also look unappealing to other customers. So you need to come up with a process to help you deal with negative reviews from customers.

How To Deal With Negative Reviews
There are some quick rules to deal with negative reviews. Here’s a quick list for you.
• Sympathize with the customer that they’re disappointed with their experience.
• Apologize for their experience.
• Ask them to contact you on a customer service number.
• Respond within 24 hours.
• Try to keep your response brief.
• When speaking privately with the customer, offer to fix the problem.
If you have rectified the problem, invite the customer to edit or update their review. You might get a more positive reaction than you would expect.

Conclusion
Reviews are an essential part of doing business. However, you need to be prepared to deal with negative reviews. Ensure you and your team has a clear set of communication protocols to satisfy those who are complaining. Otherwise. Potential customers who read the review and your response could be deterred.
How do you deal with negative reviews? How do you collect reviews from clients and customers?
Let us know in the comments below.