What To Do with 1-Star Reviews
One thing is for sure in the world of business…you will get on-line reviews. You will get a lot of good ones hopefully and along with the good ones you will get some bad ones…
Every business owner will have to figure out a way to navigate the bad reviews eventually. Sometimes they are legitimate, sometimes they aren’t…either way it is best to deal with them rather than ignore them.
There are a few key things to consider when responding or reacting to negative reviews:
1.Don’t freak out
Bad reviews are a huge bummer. Try to remind yourself that this is just a moment in time and many more good reviews will come. Also remember when a prospective client is looking at reviews, they are looking at the big picture and most likely, they will not focus on a couple bad reviews.
A bad review does not mean you are leading a bad business. There may be room to grow but it also could be a misunderstanding of some sort that can get sorted out. Sometimes people just have bad days and a little time and communication may be all that is needed.
2. Get them OFF line
Our number one goal is to get the reviewer off line to discuss it over the phone. SO much is lost in translation through written communication. So much more can be accomplished outside of the comments section or an email. Oftentimes you can find a solution to make their bad experience actually turn into a great experience. Several times over the years we have experienced someone changing a bad review to a good review once we reached out to them. It is best to publicly comment on their post so the readers can see that you care about the review and would like to resolve it.
Go in asking for information and seek understanding about what happened that affected their experience. You catch more flies with honey!
3. Work on getting GOOD reviews
No matter what the outcome of the bad review is, focus on getting more good reviews from your raving fans. Ask your clients/guests to write a great review about their experience at your business. Sometimes we work with our team directly and they help increase the good reviews by asking their clients/guests for reviews also. This is a great way to help tip the scale towards positivity too especially if the bad review doesn’t change.
This topic isn’t the most fun to talk about, but it is the reality. The worst thing that can be done is arguing back with the reviewer in the comments section or leaving the review unresponded to. It is really helpful to keep an eye on your reviews weekly. We like to connect a quick review assessment to our weekly meetings so we don’t miss any!
A side note about good reviews…celebrate them! We like to share the good reviews with our team on Slack (our chosen communication platform) so everyone can see the positive words from our guests :)
You are doing amazing things,
Melanie
Xxoo