Responding to Positive Reviews
It’s wonderful when your happy customers take the time to write and publish good things about your business. You’ve really done a great job! Put the finishing touches on your terrific work by acknowledging the review.
It reflects well on your business to thank the reviewer for their feedback and tell them how valuable it is to your business to know what you’ve done well, and hear when you’ve done so
If you remember the customer, it looks good to say so and prove it by mentioning something specific that made it a pleasure to serve them; but don’t pretend to remember - insincerity never wins the day
Take the opportunity to invite the reviewer back and mention a great reason to come; remember other potential customers are reading too
Responding to Negative Reviews
People who write bad reviews tend to return later to admire their work. If they find the review has been removed, they may start writing reviews in many places accusing your business of “whitewashing” your reviews. It’s therefore our advice that unless you are certain the review is phony, the best course of action is to leave the review and write a professional response. Then solicit happy customers to provide feedback, so that the review is pushed down in recency and appears in the context of a mix of reviews.
Professional responses to bad reviews consistently show a specific pattern:
They do not dispute the claim, question the integrity of the reviewer or challenge the reasons for the review
They are courteous
They open by thanking the reviewer for taking the time to provide feedback, and express that the business places importance on the customer’s satisfactory experience and values customer feedback
They acknowledge that the customer did not receive the quality the business intends to deliver, and share the customer’s dissatisfaction with such a result
They may but do not have to mention circumstances that caused the business to provide the unsatisfactory service or experience, but…
They own up to the failure to provide satisfaction
Where appropriate, they invite the reviewer to contact the business for further resolution attempt
They often express how the business will change a process or policy in order to insure the experience is not repeated for other customers, and credit the reviewer with being a catalyst for the change
They invite the customer to patronize the business again, to give the business another chance to prove their improvement or true quality
Remember that when you respond to a review you are not just writing to the reviewer but to all potential customers who may see the review and response. Those potential customers will be impressed with a business that, like any other, can make mistakes but owns them, learns from them and values hearing about them.
Related article: Reading and Responding to Reviews and Feedback
Related article: How to Turn Off Reviews for Your Business Profile