Bad Google reviews are inevitable. No matter how great your business is, there will always be someone who leaves a negative review.
It’s important to remember that not all bad reviews are created equal. Some may be legitimate criticisms of your business, while others may be false or malicious.
The best way to deal with bad Google reviews is to respond to them quickly and professionally.
However, it’s also important not to type in a knee-jerk response.
It’s a good idea to have a simple complaints procedure in place just in case. This gives a framework to guide you and helps to avoid making comments that sound cross, resentful, or too apologetic. It’s important to acknowledge the poor review, but initially, you may not know if it’s a genuine customer with a genuine complaint, a malicious review, or a misunderstanding about the service.
After you’ve considered the review, now is the time to formulate your response. If the review is legitimate, try to resolve the issue with the customer. If the review is false or malicious, you can flag it for removal.
If the reviewer wasn’t even a customer, this can be the simplest way of responding. Remember that other potential customers may read your response, so keep it polite and ask questions rather than make direct accusations. Something like “we’re sorry to hear you’re unhappy, however, we’re unable to find a record of you as a customer. Can you tell us when you…..etc.
Don’t be funny unless you’re funny.
Sometimes, genuinely funny responses are posted on social media. However, humour can be really hard to pull off and so it’s best not to risk your response sounding rude or sarcastic. Keep it simple and stick to facts. If you’ve done something wrong, then you’re often better off owning a mistake, you’re human after all and so are your customers. That said, you may need to check your wording with a professional, especially if a bad reviewer is claiming actual damage has resulted.
How To Flag a Review With Google
If you feel that a review of your business on Google is unfair, inaccurate, or violates Google’s content policies, you can appeal it. First, find the review on Google Maps and click the three dots in the top right corner. Then select “report a problem.”
In the window that pops up, select “I think this review is unfair or inaccurate” and briefly explain why you think that’s the case. Click submit.
This process can take some time, so you will need to be patient.
It’s Not Personal
Excellent reviews can make the world of business seem rosy. Getting a bad review sucks. Remember, it’s not personal, it may not even be genuine. If it is, then perhaps it’s valuable feedback about how you can either improve your service or manage the expectations of your customers?
Finally, don’t let the prospect of getting a bad review put you off using Google My Business or social media sites, such as Facebook. Getting into the habit of asking happy customers to leave reviews can boost your business and the odd poor comment amongst a sea of praise is just part of doing business.