How to Respond to Bad Reviews on Facebook
Practise you know how to respond to negative reviews without getting aroused or defensive? And did you know that the way you lot respond tin can lead to major benefits (or downfalls) to your business organization?
In today's article, nosotros're going to look at some negative review response examples and templates. More specifically, we'll come across how negative online reviews affect your business. Then we'll give you xiii tips for responding to negative reviews with tact.
Finally, we've come upward with half-dozen crawly response templates that you tin apply to salve time as you respond to negative online reviews.
Permit's dive in!
The Bear on of Negative Reviews for Your Business concern
Getting negative online reviews is tough. You get angry, defensive, and annoyed just as if someone were personally attacking yous.
That's because you lot've invested so much into your business organization. All those meetings, early mornings, and late nights tin be instantly deflated by just i bad review.
Plus, negative reviews have actual consequences:
- Only 13% of consumers will consider a business with ane or 2 stars
- More four negative reviews about a company or product may decrease sales by lxx%
- Small businesses with a ane–1.v rating on Google generate 33% less revenue than the average business
It's no wonder we get and so defensive.
But the proficient news is that negative reviews don't necessarily have negative consequences. In fact, sometimes they add a bit of authenticity to your make.
And this makes a lot of sense when you really think about it.
If all of your reviews are positive, they come off as fake. Then when you take a few reasonably negative reviews brindled in there, people tend to trust your brand even more.
In fact, 52% of consumers trust a software production more if information technology has negative reviews. And, statistics argue that negative reviews tin increase conversions past up to 85%.
What your negative review says doesn't really thing. What really matters is how you respond. And so let'due south look at 13 negative review response examples and tips to gain customers rather than lose them.
Annotation: We have a similar article on how to deal with negative reviews gracefully. You should definitely bank check that out as it expresses some unique insights that aren't in this post.
xiii Negative Review Response Examples
Earlier diving into the negative stuff, we chop-chop wanted to accost what y'all should do with the positivereviews you get.
Many marketers leave these on tertiary-party review sites which is a huge missed opportunity.
Instead, why not display positive reviews on your site with TrustPulse?
TrustPulse is the world's best social proof software. It lets you quickly and easily create social proof notifications to display across your site.
And since it integrates with Zapier, yous can capture activities from tertiary-party review sites like Google My Business and Yelp.
Or, y'all can simply create a default notification for i of your highest rated reviews. And so add a link to that external site, so users tin can quickly go see it for themselves.
No thing how you show your positive reviews, TrustPulse gives you a way to leverage the great things people are saying almost your brand to heave sales and conversions.
In fact, we've seen TrustPulse users increase sales by 15% simply past brandish social proof notifications.
Desire to meet it in action for yourself? Sign up for your 100% risk-gratuitous TrustPulse business relationship today!
At present that we know how to handle positive reviews, let'due south check out different ways you can address the negative ones.
one. Respond Quickly
One of the biggest problems companies face is failing to respond to a negative review quickly enough. And it's totally understandable.
You have an entire business to run. You have employees who become sick, shipments that come up in late, and about a million other fires that need to be put out each day. One bad review on Yelp might not be at the meridian of your radar.
But information technology should be.
As soon as y'all're aware of a negative review, fix v minutes aside to accost information technology. If you lot put it off too long, it makes your eventual amends come off every bit insincere. Since about online reviews are engagement stamped, customers can run into how long information technology took for you to get back to them:
Plus, by and large, putting off a response means the task doesn't get washed at all.
2. Reply Always
This tip may exist a bit controversial. Some companies volition tell yous that the commencement thing you should do is make up one's mind if a response is fifty-fifty necessary.
Their argument is that some bad reviewers are simply "online bullies." And at the end of the twenty-four hours, at that place's cipher you can practise to brand the state of affairs meliorate.
That's a fair point in some extreme cases, but we recommend a different approach: concord your head up loftier and respond always.
Remember, you aren't just responding to the negative reviewer. You're responding to the thousands of potential customers reading the negative review. More often than not, people can tell when a complaint is valid, or the reviewer is beingness as well aggressive.
If the complaint is valid, you lot await like a company that truly understands the importance of good customer service. If the complaint isn't valid, you still come up out on summit by taking the high road.
iii. Don't Take the Negative Review Personally
A bad customer review feels similar a personal assault. And in some means, it is…especially when you're the business organisation owner.
That's because the negative review can have real negative consequences for your concern's success.
Simply even if y'all are the confront of your make, retrieve that the client doesn't know you personally. They don't know how great yous are, how much you care about their feel with your production, and how badly you want to serve your customers.
Here's a negative review response case of a business owner likely taking a review also personally:
This is a funny response to read if you're non involved in the situation or plan on going to that item restaurant.
But chances are this reply is actively repelling potential customers away.
Instead, utilize a negative review as an opportunity to give your audience a glimpse into your personality. And let them get to know your kindness and empathy through that response.
4. Innovate Yourself and Your Connexion to the Squad
It's always smashing to see the owner of a company take the fourth dimension to respond to a humble customer review. This is what entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk responded to criticism of his book:
Just sometimes, getting a response from the business concern owner isn't realistic.
It's difficult plenty for the owner of a small-scale business to respond to every online review they receive. As a business grows, information technology becomes near impossible.
So sometimes you might observe yourself responding to a negative review on your company's behalf. If that'south the instance, make certain you introduce yourself and let the reader know your connectedness to the team.
That way, they don't experience like a random stranger is chiming in to smooth things over.
5. Thank the Client for Taking the Time to Write
The truth is that whenever someone writes anything virtually your product, they feel strongly about your business. And that goes for both positive and negative reviews.
I of the goals of marketing is only getting people to talk about y'all. So even when someone says something not so nice, you should thank them for taking the time to do so. This accomplishes a few things:
- It quickly diffuses the negativity
- Makes your reviewer feel heard and valued
- Shows other readers that y'all aren't fiddling
Starting off with a small phrase like, "Hey, thanks then much for taking the fourth dimension to write" is the perfect introduction for your response to a negative review.
Here'due south a great response that shows how to give thanks customers right off the bat:
6. Make Your Response Authentic and Personal
At the stop of this article, nosotros'll be giving you some templates to use so you tin can respond to negative reviews. Nevertheless, you lot'll want to use those templates as a basic guideline.
Not something to copy/paste 100% verbatim.
People can tell now when you reply with a canned response. Since negative reviews tin take such a real affect on your concern, you should take the fourth dimension to make them personal to the reviewer.
Address them by name and introduce yourself. The goal is to humanize this interaction every bit much as possible. This dentist made his response very personal when someone's girlfriend was dissatisfied with getting a new crown:
Then before you hit "send," reread your response and ask yourself what makes the message unique to the reviewer. In other words, if you copied and pasted this response for any other negative review, would it yet work?
If so, you should definitely try to arrive sound more than personal.
7. Show Empathy and Understanding
When someone writes a negative review nearly your product or visitor, the first response is commonly to go defensive. And those feelings are ok! Information technology's totally normal, and everyone does information technology.
But that doesn't make it the best manner to handle the situation.
Instead, attempt to put yourself in your customer's shoes. They were mad enough to write about their experience, and it's your job to figure out why.
More often than not, that negativity can be chalked up to a bad twenty-four hour period and someone needing to blow off steam.
Remind yourself that the writer of the review is a human being. Maybe they're having issues at home or at work. Or mayhap they stayed up all week considering their kid is ill, and at present they're merely trying to become through till Friday.
As you write your message, sympathize with the author, and imagine yourself on your worst day. This volition help you feel some pity for them and prevent yous from getting overly defensive or overly emotional nigh the situation.
Cheque out this response which is beaming with humility, empathy, and understanding:
8. Reinforce Your Company'southward Standard Values
In your response, information technology's a good idea to let the reviewer (and other readers) know that this negative feel is the exception, not the rule.
To do that, briefly mention what your electric current standards for client service are. Let them know that you accept your client's complaints very seriously, and customer service is an integral office of your company's values.
You don't need to become on and on most this either.
A unproblematic sentence like "We here at [your business proper name] take a lot of pride in our customers' success, which is why…" will reinforce your delivery to providing exceptional service.
Over again, this shows the reviewer that yous're taking their problem seriously. But it also shows the many other readers that your business is there to aid them when needed.
nine. Offer a Discount, Promotion, or Refund for the Inconvenience
This is an optional though highly recommended step. And different marketers accept different feelings on the topic. Here's why:
Offering a disbelieve, a special promotion, or a refund to customers who wrote a negative review can help ease tension. It's also a peachy fashion to prepare yourself to inquire for a testimonial afterward the problem gets solved.
Others, however, are concerned that you'll train your customers to leave bad reviews so they tin go gratis stuff.
While at that place is probably some truth to the latter's opinion, nosotros recollect it'south a bit also contemptuous. And if you're attracting the kind of customers that would practice that, you lot're probably attracting the wrong kinds of leads, anyway.
Instead, we similar to retrieve that most customers are good. And if they have a bad experience with your brand, a small discount or coupon can go a long way in regaining a lifelong customer.
Hither'south a negative review response example from JetBlue Airways:
But the about famous instance of this is from a clothing store called Nordstroms. Back in the mid-'70s, Nordstroms opened a store in Alaska. But 10 years before that, a human had bought tires from the store that had previously occupied Nordstroms' new space.
And he wanted a refund for those tires.
He took them in on opening day without a receipt (non that a receipt would help), and Nordstroms gave him a total refund. Nordstroms is now known for its legendary customer service.
Simply guess what?
Today, nobody is lining up to return their tires. Real customers love the brand then much that they don't dare corruption the retailer'southward kindness.
10. Understand the Departure Between "I Apologize" and "I'k Deplorable"
Comedian Demetri Martin perfectly demonstrates this difference when he says, "Maxim 'I'grand sorry' and maxim 'I apologize' are the same thing. Except at a funeral."
When you say, "I repent," y'all are taking responsibleness for something that was your visitor's fault. Take this concern possessor's response, for example:
When you say, 'I'1000 sorry,' you may exist empathizing with your customer without acknowledging that your company was specifically to blame. Here's a negative review response example of a business doing just that:
As a business owner, you lot have an obligation to requite your customers the best service you lot possibly can. Just that doesn't mean you need to be a punching handbag for every critic.
If at that place is a negative review because of something you lot are responsible for, so apologize.
If there is a negative review considering of something outside of your command, and so you have every right to have the "I'm deplorable this happened to you" approach.
11. Continue It Short
Over again, when we go a bad review, it tin feel similar a personal assail. Our fingers tingle, and we get eager to write back in cocky-defense force.
Merely the concluding thing you want to practise in your response to a negative review is to ramble on and on. For a few reasons:
- Near people will simply ignore reading longer responses
- Longer replies come off as desperate or defensive
- There'southward simply no need for drawn-out explanations
The bottom line is that your customer is unhappy. If it's your fault, apologize. If it'southward not, show empathy.
Either way, yous shouldn't validate the negative review with a long response. Gracefully reply with the tips we've already given. Here's a negative review response example that shows how powerful a short message can be:
To get the extra mile, take the conversation offline to express yourself at greater length. Which brings us to our side by side tip…
12. Accept the Conversation Offline
If you use all the tips nosotros described higher up, yous should be able to pacify even the nigh frustrated customer.
But it'south similar they say, "You can't please everyone."
So while you should publically respond to any negative reviews on the platform where it was posted, y'all should also go on the conversation on your own terms.
And that means moving to a private platform.
Whether you decide to work with the customer on a phone phone call, video chat, or in a direct message on your favorite social media platform, move the conversation somewhere more than private.
Here'southward a negative review response example from a company responding to someone who was dissatisfied with their meal:
Note that it'south short, to the betoken, and quickly takes the conversation to another platform.
13. Plow the Negative Review Into a Testimonial
We already mentioned that non all negative reviews hurt your business. In fact, sometimes they can help.
But if y'all really want to plow your lemon reviews into lemonade, yous should follow up with the author of your negative review.
More than specifically, you lot should ask if the event was resolved and, if so, whether or non yous can get some public feedback on their experience.
Seeing someone become from being angry enough to write a bad review to give a glowing testimonial will speak volumes about your visitor values.
Other readers tin see that you take customer service seriously and that you care about making clients happy.
In fact, a testimonial from someone who had previously written a bad review is likely to be 1 of your most powerful lead generating tactics.
Check out this example involving a car dealership. The owner responded to a negative review with this:
And the follow-up review came later from the customer:
This small paragraph is a true testament to the company's loftier standards of customer service.
Now that nosotros've established 13 ways to answer to negative client reviews, here are 6 templates to save you fourth dimension.
These templates can exist re-create and pasted merely, remember, you should personalize some aspects to information technology. That's why you'll notice many areas in [foursquare brackets] indicating where you need to insert personalized data.
6 Negative Review Response Templates
When it comes to responding to negative reviews, y'all really only take two types of responses:
- You lot are responsible for a problem
- Yous are NOT responsible for a problem
We've written a templated answer for both but added another response in instance you lot also want to offering some discount or promotion.
Nosotros besides included a template to inquire a reviewer for further details virtually a situation if their negative review was as well vague.
Finally, we have a template to follow upwardly with customers to ask for some feedback, another review, or a testimonial.
Let'south dive in!
Negative Review Response Template #i:
When You Are Responsible for the Problem
Hullo [Proper noun],
I'm [your name], and I work as [your job title] for [your business]. Thank you for taking the time to write. I wanted to permit you know how distressing we are for ["what happened"].
Here at [your business concern name], we pride ourselves on our excellent client service. And in this instance, we conspicuously dropped the ball.
Nosotros'll exist reaching out to you personally in the next 24 hours to bear upon bases. We want to larn more near what happened and how we can make things right.
Gratefully yours,
[Proper noun]
[Title]
[Business organisation Name]
Negative Review Response Template #2:
When You Are Responsible for the Problem + Offering a Discount
How-do-you-do [Name],
I'm [your name], and I work as [your job championship] for [your business organization]. Thank you and so much for taking the time to write to usa. I wanted to let you know how sorry we are for ["what happened"].
Here at [your business name], we pride ourselves on our first-class customer service. And in this example, nosotros clearly dropped the ball.
Because of that, we desire to brand things right! Please accept this [insert promotion or offer] every bit a token of our sincerest apologies. If there is any way we can further assist you lot, please practice not hesitate to reach out to us at [give personal business email].
Gratefully yours,
[Name]
[Title]
[Concern Proper name]
Negative Review Response Template #3:
When You lot Are Not Responsible for the Trouble
Hello [Name],
I'g [your proper name], and I work every bit [your chore title] for [your business]. Thank you and so much for taking the fourth dimension to write to usa. I wanted to let you know how sorry we are that yous went through that difficult feel.
We make it a point to be known for client service, then this situation caught us off guard and we would honey to learn more nearly what specifically happened.
We'll be reaching out to you personally in the side by side 24 hours to bear upon bases. Nosotros want to learn more about the situation and how we can make things right.
Gratefully yours,
[Name]
[Title]
[Business Name]
Negative Review Response Template #4:
When Y'all Are Non Responsible for the Trouble + Offer a Disbelieve
Hello [Proper noun],
I'm [your name] and I work as [your task title] for [your business]. Thank y'all so much for taking the time to write to us. I wanted to let you know how deplorable we are that you went through that difficult feel.
We arrive a indicate to be known for customer service, so this situation caught u.s. off guard and we would love to acquire more near what specifically happened.
In the concurrently, please relish this [insert promotion or discount here] while we go everything sorted. We'll be reaching out to y'all personally in the next 24 hours to bear upon bases. We desire to learn more near the situation and how nosotros can make things right.
Gratefully yours,
[Name]
[Title]
[Business Proper noun]
Negative Review Response Template #5:
When Y'all Need Further Clarification on the Consequence Before Responding
Hello [Name],
I'm [your proper noun] and I work every bit [your task title] for [your business concern]. Give thanks you then much for taking the time to write to united states.
We make it a point to be known for customer service, so this situation caught us a footling off baby-sit.
Would you heed reaching out to me at [insert business organization email] with more than details about the situation? Any more than light you could shed on what happened would be much appreciated and would help me to observe the right solution moving forward.
Thank you then much, and I look forrard to hearing from you!
Gratefully yours,
[Name]
[Championship]
[Business Proper noun]
Negative Review Response Template #6:
When You Want to Follow up to Enquire for a Positive Review, Feedback, or a Testimonial
Howdy [Name],
I just wanted to follow up with you to brand sure the situation was 100% resolved to your satisfaction.
Equally you know, it's important for us to provide our customers with stellar service. That's why we would dearest your feedback as to how we handled your negative feel.
And if nosotros did fully resolve the event, would you listen if nosotros share your words with others? We love letting customers know that if a problem arises, we are totally invested in seeing information technology fixed for them.
Cheers so much, and I look forward to hearing from you!
Gratefully yours,
[Name]
[Title]
[Business Name]
Final Thoughts
Let's be honest. Getting bad reviews sucks.
Only it really doesn't accept to.
And so long every bit you reply quickly, gracefully, and follow upward for a testimonial, you tin can actually make negative reviews work for (rather than confronting) you.
If you tin can convert the author of your negative review into a loyal customer, you have an awesome form of social proof speaking in your favor.
Just we should also notation that generating online reviews shouldn't be your simply form of social proof. You have other options, besides.
One form of using social proof to boost conversions is positive action notification popups.
We at TrustPulse are huge proponents of leveraging social proof and fear of missing out to maximize your conversion rates. Using our positive activeness notification popups, you can bear witness your website'south visitors when other people make a purchase or sign up to your mailing listing.
Yous've probable seen these notifications before. They look something similar this:
Plus, this specific type of social proof has been proven to boost conversions up to 15%. Then whether you get with TrustPulse or similar software, adding positive action notifications to your page is only a no brainer.
Did you relish this article? We really hope that these negative review response examples will help you communicate with less-than-satisfied customers in the time to come!
If y'all did detect this information valuable, we'd love for you to share information technology on Facebook or Twitter. Or, you could swoop right in and play around with this social proof software.
Feel free to practise then past joining the TrustPulse community today!
Source: https://trustpulse.com/negative-review-response-examples/