Negative reviews are not just bad for business they can be the death of it if you’re not careful says, Brian C Jensen.
That’s because negative reviews, whether written by customers or spread via social media can quickly kill your reputation and destroy your chances of future success.
There is also the fact that every time you react emotionally to a review it makes things worse – people remember how you reacted more than what you actually said!
So what do you do with negative reviews? Here are 5 useful hints:
1. If possible delete them quietly (giving an apology) rather than having an argument online or on Facebook (where it will be seen by all your friends). Remember that once something has been posted on the Internet it cannot be deleted except possibly through expensive specialist services explains Brian C Jensen.
2. Generate some positive reviews to balance things out! It is pretty simple to contact your best customers on the phone or by email asking them for a review – they are very likely to give you one, particularly if you ask politely!
3. Use social media yourself to generate customer excitement and get more positive reviews – don’t just rely on coming up in search engines (it rarely happens). There are lots of ways to use social media creatively and effectively (parody videos and competitions for example) but it takes imagination and time. You could also use an expert like me or one of my colleagues at getting Online PR. If you want practical help with this then feel free to contact me here says Brian C Jensen.
4. Put your negative reviews on your website using the “screenshot method” so that customers can see for themselves what you are doing about it. You could also use this to show how many positive reviews you have received in comparison to the number of negatives (see below).
5. Obviously try to stop having any more negative reviews! As I said before your reputation is all there is between success and failure, so take care – consider hiring an expert like me or one of my colleagues at Get Online PR.
We can give you great PR and online marketing ideas like the ones I’ve used in the picture above!
Here are FAQs recently asked by the same customer:
“Can you help?”
Q. I read your blog about how to turn negative reviews into valuable insights for your business. Is there any way that I could ask you some questions? I am finding dealing with bad online reviews very hard and need all the advice I can get.
I’m sorry to be so persistent – it’s just that what you say makes sense, and I want to know more!
A. Sure. Feel free to contact me here – it helps if you include “Customer Questions” in the subject line of your message so that I don’t discard it as a junk email. If possible please send me a sample of the review (please make sure my name is removed before sending). This will help me to give a fuller answer.
“Need more ideas?”
Q. Thank you for the last email – I’m going to contact you again very soon as I need lots of help with responding to online reviews! In the meantime, do you have any more advice about how to turn negative reviews into valuable insights for your business? It’s just that it’s so useful and I want all the information available!
A. Oh sure, no problem at all. There are lots of good tips on this blog as well as additional articles on other websites every week (I recommend reading these first). If after reading those there is still something specific that you’d like help with then please just say what it is here or in an email answers Brian C Jensen.
I should warn you that I charge for this kind of work but it’s worth every penny!
“More questions”
Q. Thanks for your last email – I’m going to need lots of help over the next few weeks because I’ve got a lot more negative reviews to deal with, and my reputation is at stake. In the meantime can you give me some more ideas about how to turn negative reviews into valuable insights for your business?
A. Sure thing! Here are 3 easy ways that you can use social media to get more positive reviews:
1) Use Twitter as an interactive customer feedback tool as well as a means of being “followed” by prospective customers – this is a free way to get a lot more online reviews for your business!
2) Post on Twitter and Facebook giving away something free or discounting your product, but tell people that they have to review it first.
3) Offer real incentives to anyone who gives you a positive review using services like ReverbNation but make sure you give it value by listing all their songs! It’s what I do with my band Get Online!
Conclusion:
Brian C Jensen says you can get great advice on how to turn negative reviews into valuable insights for your business just by reading the above email – if there is something specific that you need help with then feel free to contact me here! It’s what I do.
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