Believe it or not, the same premise applies to negative review response as it does to positive reviews. How you respond to a negative review impacts not only the reviewer, but all the sets of eyes that come afterward. Seeing a business handle a particularly challenging review online suggests that management is proud of their business, and willing to go the extra mile to maintain their reputation!
Make potential clients see the light with these four steps: apologize, promote, get offline, keep it simple.
How to respond to negative reviews
Apologize and sympathize The first step towards fixing a problem is acknowledging that one occurred. No matter how amazing your home service company’s service is, someone will always wind up unhappy sooner or later. Regardless of what happened, a simple apology and sympathy for your customer’s experience goes a long way. Sympathize with them that they did not enjoy their services and let them know how important customer satisfaction is to your business.
Promote So your famous amazing customer service weren’t up to par the day this particular customer visited. Maybe it was an off day by one of your employees or personalities clashed. If they’re what you are known for, why not reiterate that? “Our service experts / technicians are usually a hit, we’re sorry to hear that they weren’t up to par when you visited!”
Move the conversation offline Don’t open a can of worms. Keep the lid on tight by offering the reviewer the chance to reach out via phone, email or both. Better yet, call them before responding and if they don’t answer you can respond that you’ve reached out and how they can get ahold of you or management directly.
Keep it simple Avoid specifics and don’t ask questions. Those conversations are much better served in a space away from the prying public. Dragging out details and making the customer look bad will never make you look good.
One last pro tip: leave your business name, location and category out of this. You don’t want your negative reviews showing up in search!
