PW Media | Jan 24, 2022

How‌ ‌to‌ ‌Respond‌ ‌to‌ ‌Bad‌ ‌Online‌ ‌Reviews‌ ‌

Turn negative reviews into positive experiences by knowing best practices and a simple 5-step response process.

Why Responding to Negative Online Reviews Is Important

All online businesses are subject to negative reviews. Although your customer service, product offering, or service may be exceptional, a negative review is unavoidable. They are just as important to respond to as they are inevitable to happen.


Why? Because it is an essential part of your business’ reputation management. 


According to online review statistics, a business risks losing up to 22% of its customers from one negative review. However, by responding promptly and openly to your negative online reviews, you’re showing consumers a few crucial things about your business, including prioritizing customer experience, service, and satisfaction:


  • Respect: Responding to all customers’ reviews—good or bad
  • Accountability: Acknowledging and learning from a customer’s bad experience
  • Professionalism: Willingness to be accountable, problem-solve, and seek a resolution

Responding to a bad review lessens its impact on your business’s reputation. More importantly, knowing how to respond to a negative review is a skill that takes careful application. Let’s go over some best practices to ensure your response produces good outcomes. 


Seeing a bad review can be understandably frustrating, but keeping your calm and knowing how to respond is essential to your business’s reputation.

How Not to Respond to Bad Online Reviews:

  1. Getting defensive: It’s essential not to take the reviews personally, which usually results in a response that can appear unprofessional to the customer and others reading the response.
  2. Not responding: You’re doing more harm than good by not answering, so ensure your team is regularly checking reviews and responding to them promptly.
  3. Making excuses or overexplaining: Overexplaining why a situation occurred can appear as though you’re making excuses. A customer wants solutions, not lengthy explanations.
  4. Advertising other resources: Don’t attempt to improve someone’s negative experience by promoting additional services or products. It’s terrible form and will only cause customers to think that shameless self-promotion comes before customer satisfaction.
  5. Not resolving their issue: Simply responding with, “Thank you for your review, let us know if there is anything we can do to help,” isn’t resolving the consumer’s issue. If they’ve complained about a specific issue, address the complaint through an apology and solution.
  6. Not being accountable: Be aware that the customer may have caught you or a team member on a bad day, or perhaps a team member was not fully trained to handle a particular request or situation. If you disregard a customer’s experience by blaming them, they will not only never return—but also likely share their experience with others.


Feel like hiding from a bad review? Don’t. Not responding to a negative review can do more harm than good regarding how current and prospective customers view your business.

5 Steps to Respond to Negative Online Reviews

Remember: When you respond to a disgruntled customer, you’re not just responding to them—you’re responding to thousands of people. These thousands are looking at your reviews and responses to gauge whether it’s worth doing business with you. 


Here’s what to do to ensure your responses elicit confidence in your organization. 

  1. Acknowledge the review
    Your silence to a review worsens its impact. It signals to the consumer you don’t wish to acknowledge their negative experience and work with them to correct it. This silence may make future customers lose trust in you. 
  2. Respond quickly, respectfully, and authentically
    53% of consumers expect you to respond to their negative reviews within one week. Therefore, it’s essential to have a team member regularly check all reviews and reply immediately. Beware of generic, cookie-cutter responses. While they can save time, they can feel insulting to customers. Kind and thoughtful responses can help upset customers feel valued and heard.

    Prompt replies to negative reviews also help reassure consumers who see these reviews that issues are noted and resolved quickly.
  3. Always apologize
    It’s important not to shy away from ensuring every consumer has a positive experience, even if it means apologizing for their negative experience. Doing so shows empathy and respect. Here’s an example of a decent response: “We’re sorry to hear your experience did not meet your expectations. We want to ensure every customer is happy when shopping with us, so we apologize for any inconvenience caused by this issue.”
  4. Take action
    Acknowledging a bad online review is a significant first step, but showing you’re taking action is critical. You can move a complaint towards a resolution by responding with something like, “We want to make things right. Can you please send an email to our customer care team so we can follow up with you directly?”

    You can also add some personalization by signing off your responses with your name or the team you work in. One such response could be, “I look forward to speaking to you soon. Best wishes, Jessica from Customer Service.”

    If they have a specific complaint about customer service, respond publicly by telling them you’re implementing particular rules and protocols to help prevent that experience from happening again.

    By addressing issues quickly and taking immediate action, you show other customers reading reviews that customer service and satisfaction are important to you.
  5. Follow up
    Once the problem is resolved, a quick follow-up such as a phone call, text, or email from you or a trusted team member can do wonders for customer loyalty and your business’s reputation.


In Conclusion

Negative reviews don’t need to be frustrating or embarrassing. Instead, they can be excellent opportunities to showcase your business’s professionalism, customer service, and problem-solving skills to prospective consumers. Proving that you highly value customer experience through honest and engaged responses to reviews can build trust and grow your business.


Happy Customers Make Better Business 

Need assistance with your reputation management or any other area of online marketing? PW Media can help you define a solid strategy to ensure your business excels in today’s digital marketing landscape. Contact us today!


Related articles:


Share by: