When it comes to refining your business’ customer experience, getting some reviews from customers based on how well you treat them, what you offer them, and overall just how good your company’s atmosphere is are the best ways to make improvements.
However, the day you receive your first bad review is a big day. It can be a knock to your confidence as a business leader, and as a small business that’s just turning a corner, it can sometimes move your progress back to day one.
But you should never take a bad review as a sign that your business doesn’t have worth. A bad review can do a lot for you, and there are many ways to deal with one that’ll make your business better than it ever was before.
Don’t Catastrophize!
OK, so you’ve got a bad review – is this the end of your company? While it might feel like it, it’s absolutely not! One bad review, against a sea of good reviews, doesn’t suddenly turn the tide. Sure, customers may notice this 1 star review standing out against the 4 or 5 star ones, but that can also be a good thing. It can prove that 95% of the time, your company performs a stellar service, and one bad review against that proves that your company is real, and has real people reviewing it.
At the same time, it’s important to take your emotions out of the conversation. You may want to write back in an angry manner, and let the customer know exactly what you think of them. But in doing so, you won’t do your business any favors. You’ll do the opposite, which could further tank your business’ reviews in the future. Calm down, and remain professional.
Respond to the Review
A bad review is always going to need responding to. You’ll have to think long and carefully about your response, especially if you have no customer service experts to work with, to ensure you offer more value in your reply that will make the customer think twice about their experience with you.
However, be sure to respond within 24 hours of the review; you’ll need to prove that the customer experience is a priority, and a short and snappy response time is a great way to prove that you care.
But in your response, what should you really say? Most of all, never ignore the complaint at hand, and make sure it’s the first thing you address. Apologise for the customer’s experience, and make sure you use some sympathetic words that evoke an emotion – this will help to draw the customer back to respond to your words in turn.
Then comes the peace offering; let the customer know what they may have misunderstood, and/or lay out your company’s terms and conditions, and then leave an olive branch of a solution there for them to pick up. Invite them to contact you, invite them to take advantage of a personalized offer, or simply invite them to leave further thoughts about their experience with you.
Act on Their Issue
It’s important to listen to all customer feedback, even if you feel a review was given in bad faith. Of course, even an angry customer who’s been impolite in their review can have a fair point, and it’s important to consider this for the sake of your business. So set emotions aside for now, and make sure you act on an issue if it needs rectifying.
For example, if a customer complains that there’s little in the way of customer service, why not make some simple improvements to counteract this argument? One of the best ways to do this is to implement a chat feature into your website, and as this guide to chat support will tell you, doing so is both cost effective and more convenient for a small company like yours.
Similarly, if there was an issue with your store’s cleanliness during the customer’s visit, or maybe the website was hard to use, you can apply easy fixes to both situations. All in all, break down the review bit by bit, isolate what made the customer unsatisfied with their experience, and then work on finding a solution so no similar reviews come up in the future.
Or Write Them Off, if Nothing is Wrong!
Of course, there’s always a good chance that the customer was simply having a bad day and was looking for something to complain about. As a result, your business’ reputation became collateral damage, and in the business world, that’s often something you’ll have to deal with. It’s not a nice or particularly satisfying challenge to take on, but you will have to face an angry customer or two in your career lifetime!
And in these moments, you have to think about whether your business did do something to ruin the customer’s experience, or if you’re operating just fine and have nothing to work on. Sometimes, nothing is actually wrong, and it’s important to keep that in mind! You won’t always be on the backfoot, even as a small business, and you’ll just need to smooth the situation over as a result.
So leave that reply to the review we mentioned above, inviting them to contact you to see if you can come up with a satisfactory solution for either party. Be personable, and empathise with the way they feel. In doing so, not only will you cover your own back, but you’ll also be able to prove to future potential customers that you go the extra mile to ensure a good customer experience. After all, the people who look up your product or service are going to see your reply, and it’ll be incredibly enticing to them.
A bad review isn’t the end of your business. Handle it in the same way you’d handle a bad day at work; with confidence, poise, and plenty of professionalism. Prove that you’re better than the review claims you are!
