Comments on: How Companies Should Respond To Negative Reviews

By: Craig Smith

Craig Smith — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 19:07:23 +0000

I think the best advice when responding to negative reviews is to keep a cool head :) And handle it in a professional manner.

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:42:44 +0000

There are some great social media tools out there to help everyone. Many people rely on review sites to make their decisions.

By: Tope Falade

Tope Falade — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:43:56 +0000

It’s a lot harder than you think to react calmly to a negative review, business owners very easily start feeling emotional about there business, almost reacting like somebody has made the comments one of their children.

By: Chatmeter

Chatmeter — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:23:43 +0000

Managing your negative reviews is important for any small business. Your tips on once you decide a review is worth commenting on were useful and easy to implement. Listening, being honest and staying calm are always good to do. Good article, thanks.

By: chatmeter

chatmeter — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:10:28 +0000

This is such important information. Especially acting fast to educate our team on the When and How of reputation management. Knowing how to respond to bad reviews is a priority. Thanks for posting.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:10:37 +0000

Well how do you go about this…my name and company i work for has been for over a week now- constantly on ten different sites in counting…given a bad review. Some of these posts are copied and paste- as the same post shows up many times on different sites. Most of them talk about me being a terrible manager and in the same week this all started a false police accusation call was made to child protection saying I abuse my daughter. Which is completely false and the police said it was an anonymous call. They also say there is no direct threat in the online posts for them to get subpena to get the posters identity info. In the mean time I have exhausted all my suspects- and they all turn up that it’s not them. I have gone thru a lot emotionally and I am trying to figure out who did I hurt so bad for them to not only target my work but also my home life. The posts and the police call share too many similarity’s to be a coincidence. I think it’s connected. My boss says to ignore it and it will go away. However for someone to target my family and my child- is really disturbing and I can’t get a good night sleep until I know who it is. Any advice?

By: Patrick Faulder

Patrick Faulder — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 08:01:58 +0000

I come from the hotel industry and this is particularly true, as in our industry, our travellers now rely on social review sites such as trip advisor.

While this is good for the traveller trying to find honest reviews on hotels and destinations, this is also killing hoteliers. One bad review could leave your hotel empty during the next long weekend or holiday.

Therefore I do believe that business’s should be given a chance to respond to negative feedback, but hopefully doing it professionally and fixing the problem.

wooozaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:01:30 +0000

What? Grab the popcorn, I’ll warm up the couch! Who needs ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘True Blood’ when you’ve got Yelp!! Drama all the way.

All joking aside, I agree that this move can either be a total disaster, or a true blessing. I do believe companies need to train their employees on customer service, and what better way than to deal with severed client relations? Since most disgruntled clients never actually face the company with their dissatisfaction, it’s hard for companies to identify their weaknesses and work on them to ameliorate their business practices. That’s where Yelp came in, in my opinion.

And now the companies get to do some public client management. I am not sure most of them will. We have a tendency to turn a blind eye when problems concerning us do not reach us directly. However, for those that do decide to manage relations, this can be an opportunity to build a reputation and gain trust and customer loyalty by admitting to weaknesses and being open to change.

It’s called a relationship for a reason. Everyone on board?

M-A

By: michelle o grady

michelle o grady — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:51:49 +0000

Thanks, this was extremely helpful. I’ve been given advice that negative complaints should be addressed and I agree, but you’ve just shed light that not all reviews are created equal. Yes, some customers are upset and want the world to know and then they’re done. These complaints are helpful to consumers when they’re researching companies and serve a purpose. As a consumer when I’m researching reviews, I look for these customers who have something specific and legitimate to say. I never pay attention to the rambling consumers who have clearly have an axe to grind with a company and make outrageous claims. When I see that a company has a few legit complaints yet mostly favorable ones, then I’m more apt to use that company.

On the business side, I appreciate the information on how to distinguish between the reviewers and which must be responded to right away. You’ve helped me to create a policy going forward, thanks!

By: Dallas SEO

Dallas SEO — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 04:35:18 +0000

It’s a lose lose situation. Your damned if you do, your damned if you don’t. I’ve seen some interesting reputation management tactics disseminated in the blogosphere, but this article really lays out some practical strategies for dealing with bad reviews. Thanks for putting this together Lisa!