Recently Google has added a powerful feature to Google Places by allowing business owners to respond to customer reviews. This has been a long time coming. Inevitably all businesses will have a disappointed customer. When they decide to post their negative comments online, you should have the ability to respond. How you respond is delicate.

Respond to all Negative Reviews

There are only two situations where you should not respond to negative reviews.

1. The review was clearly posted by a competitor.
2. The review was posted outside the Google Places posting guidelines.

Reviews that fall under these two categories should be flagged as inappropriate. All other reviews should be looked at as an opportunity. Many business owners shy away from negative comments about their business. They take the comments personally. Don’t! Instead listen to the review. Be honest with yourself in evaluating the validity of the review. This is an opportunity to address shortcomings in your operations. If you are not delivering on the company promise, then social media will expose your operational flaws. Develop a plan to fix all operational issues before responding to the review.

Be Nice

You will never benefit from arguing with an upset customer in a public forum. If you owned a store that was packed with customers, would you start yelling at an upset customer in the middle of the store? I hope not. The same applies to the Internet. Your goal should always be to diffuse the situation and offer a solution that people reading the review would think is fair. Getting confrontational or aggressive with an angry customer will blow up in your face.

Thank Them, Apologize, Empathize, and Offer a Solution

Every time you respond to negative comments, follow a four step process. Start off by thanking the customer for choosing to do business with you. Next, apologize for not delivering the perfect experience the first time. Then empathize with the client. Finally, offer a reasonable solution. An example of a proper response would be, “I would like to start off by saying thank you for choosing to do business with XYZ company. We value your business. I apologize for not providing a perfect experience the first time. I understand how this can be frustrating. We are fully committed to providing 100% customer satisfaction. We appreciate your feedback as this will help us improve our business moving forward. That is why we would like to make this right by offering you a $10 gift card to compensate you for the inconvenience. We look forward to serving you in the future.”

Tip - Offer gift cards whenever possible. Customers love them and it gives you a second chance to win the customer back.

Negative reviews don’t have to be a bad thing. When handled properly they can boost your conversion rate. They show that your business is real. Just like people, businesses aren’t perfect. You have acknowledged your mistake and have offered a reasonable solution. Proper responses will build customer confidence in your business.

How do you handle negative reviews? Let us know by posting a comment below.