People have a tendency to focus on the negative. After all, no one likes it when something says a bad thing about you or your work. In the world of online reviews, however, negative online reviews aren’t always as negative as we think they are.
This idea may seem counterintuitive – Why would businesses be okay with negative reviews being left on their profile? Isn’t the goal to have a perfect rating from all positive reviews?
In this blog, we’re going to talk about the benefits you business could experience from the occasional negative review. To best handle negative reviews, you’ll also need to learn how to appropriately respond to this type of customer feedback.
Improve Your Business with Positive and Negative Reviews
Almost every business now has multiple profiles across the web. In many cases, users leave reviews about a business following an emotional experience – either positive or negative. This leaves businesses susceptible to a destroyed reputation if negative reviews are allowed to run unchecked.
To manage your business’s online reputation effectively, you will want to publicly respond to each and every review. Both positive and negative reviews can benefit your business under the right circumstances. Posting responses only serves to give users additional context to clarify negative events and show them that you’re grateful for positive feedback.
Why Negative Reviews can be a Good Thing
If someone left a scathing, one-star review about your business, it’s not likely that you’ll be happy about it.
However, it is important to think about negative reviews in a big-picture sense: they show that your business is real. Between the context of how you reply and what other reviews are saying about your business, potential customers can see that you are invested in improving your services despite the negative review.
So, let’s talk about why negative reviews aren’t as negative as we think they are.
Negative Reviews Ensure Users that Feedback is Real
Unfortunately, some businesses have taken to purchasing fake positive reviews to boost their business. Though some can be obvious, it’s difficult to know exact what’s real and what’s not when it comes to online reviews.
Studies have shown that consumers become suspicious when they see a perfect rating and review profile for a business.
Without negative reviews, users can see a red flag when they’re checking out your business.
The saying “too good to be true” is applicable to businesses who only have positive reviews, and many users tend to opt for businesses with a fair mix of positive and negative feedback.
Of course, you should never want a lot of negative reviews to appear on your profile. Having a few, however, can actually be a positive thing.
This is the case because many users are looking to see that businesses care about customer experience, which can be demonstrated through responding to negative reviews.
Similarly, negative reviews contrasting with positive ones can serve to highlight the growth of your business.
Negative Reviews can Help You Improve Your Services
If someone has left a specific negative review that discusses a certain product or point in your customer experience, it may be a good thing.
These types of negative reviews give business owners the opportunity to actually improve their services from direct customer feedback.
Even though our natural reaction is to become defensive when someone writes something negative, it’s important to stay cool. Make sure you’re asking yourself whether or not that negative review was speaking a difficult truth.
Whenever possible, speak with your team about the negative review and find ways to avoid the described situation in the future.
With some slight changes, you can prevent negative events from recurring. This also gives you the opportunity to publicly respond and thank the negative reviewer for their feedback.
Negative Reviews can Show Your Human Side
Depending on the industry you’re in, it can be difficult for people to feel connected to your business. When you respond to a negative review, you are publically giving users context to the situation described in the review.
Ideally, this should be a practice for both positive and negative reviews. However, negative reviews can be an especially great time to let users known that you are actively improving the situation and take feedback very seriously.
No matter which way you spin it, negative reviews do serve an important role in your business’s online reputation. To make the best out of a bad situation, make sure you are solution-focused!
Having a business that’s listed online requires additional work to make sure that your reputation is properly managed. Despite negative reviews being, well, negative it’s possible to make the best out of a bad situation.
By changing your mindset on how damaging a negative review can be, you’ll be able to handle the situation efficiently and effectively.
Interested in learning more about online reviews? Go on over to the experts at RepCheckup.
