Reviews and testimonials play a crucial role in the growth of a business, especially when it comes to eCommerce. More than 85% of customers take reviews as recommendations; hence, this puts a peak amount of pressure on eCommerce business owners to get maximum positive reviews and have a solicited approach towards negative review management.
Moreover, researches prove that 95% of online shoppers read reviews before making a purchase decision. While 92% of B2B customers are likely to purchase after reading a positive review on a trusted site. 68% of Americans believe that a favorable review makes them use a service.
Keeping the above statistic in mind, Professionals making strategic marketing plans for B2B customers, most business owners take negative comments as a nightmare and are scared to respond to them while seeking ways to avoid them.
However, as we all know that no online business is immune to negative reviews, and popular review sites and social media give freedom to the customer to express their opinions. It is often unfortunate that the most offended clients make the most rackets.
Ineluctable negative reviews can create a panic in your company, and it is obvious to know why. Still, there is an opportunity in every problem that may give you a chance to get close to your customer and convert a dissatisfied prospect into an advocate.
The Truth About Bad Reviews
It is impractical to expect a five-star review from every customer; nevertheless, companies are afraid of negative reviews. eCommerce owners should consider the fact that negative reviews are actually needed to make improvements.
A negative review doesn’t make your business bad. Handling a bad review is easy if you follow the right approach. Having a review means your customer is responding, and you can make a good relationship if you tackle them properly. The best way to combat bad reviews is to get some good ones.
A Step-Wise Guide To Online Negative Review Management
You can follow below steps if you receive a negative review on any of your products.
1. Online Reputation Management
Usually, prospects are plagued by a specific pressing issue. Don’t make them wait as they will become more agitated. Also, there are many forums available online for customers to post a review. It might also happen that a negative review slips from your eye and remains unsolved. This can also make a crack to your image.
To avoid this reason, we recommend you to use software or develop your own content management system to monitor your company’s postings regularly. Below are some reliable and tested ways to implement as soon as possible:
Google Alerts is an easy and secure way to monitor your online reputation. Set up an automated Google Alerts system to get informed whenever your brand, product, or company is mentioned online.
Make an account on popular review websites and visit them regularly. Establish a workflow that provides easy access to these sites customers most commonly used for reviews. Trustpilot, Trustradius, Yelp, Choice, G2 Crowd and Glassdoor are some reliable platforms to play on.
Social media automation has changed the definition of a customer review by giving it an entirely new perspective, as a simple tweet can serve as a negative review of your business. All you need is to search for some relevant focused keyword around your brand and products. This will help you get an alert whenever a negative feedback is given by any customer.
Ignorance is bliss; this phrase is not applicable when it comes to running a business because not knowing what your customers have to say about your business can impact your ability to attract new customers and generate revenue.
2. Verifying A Negative Review
According to crowdwriter.com, not every bad review is worthy of your attention. If someone has posted with irrational language and opinions with frequent complaints, you better ignore them. Also, if a negative review is displayed on an obscure personal blog, you may not respond to it as it’s utterly unfair to your business. Moreover, you should be careful to respond to genuine customers that have raised a high-profile query. You can filter them out to legitimate concerns posted by regular customers on popular sites.
3. Delegate Ownership
Based on the data you have got from the feedback, assign the responsibility to a person in your company who can best handle the issue raised. You can also hire an experienced customer service manager to respond to those companies, reviews and issues. A vast experienced sales representative with good relationship management skills can also be an asset to you. If you have insufficient information about the customer, you may like to delegate the ownership to the customer service officer or the sales representative who can adapt on the fly and handle these types of scenarios.
4. Engage Customer Privately
Canned messaging can work to an extent; however, connecting with your customer on private chat addressing with their first name develops an instant connection. The customer’s mindset may switch from negative to positive one when it comes to engaging them on a personal level.
Instead of saying “Hello Mr. Pine” and saying “Hi Mark” will build your connection instantly. Show them how much you are concerned about them and how much you care for them. Let them feel valuable and connect them in a personal way. Prospects observe how you respond to their problems and how you provide results. This plays a vital role in retaining eCommerce customers and gives you a significant lift in revenue.
5. Post A Public Response
After communicating effectively with your customer, posting a public response is the next step to take. Acknowledging the concern and outlining your input to resolve the issue publicly is a good idea.
This will boost your awareness and build a good reputation among readers to see you responding to the feedback. Despite the time your staff will take to resolve the issue, posting the comment will let your reader give a glance at your positivity. See how Snowbird did it with Greg when they received a one-star rating.
6. Take Action Towards Negative Review Management
An apology is not enough to change the customer’s perspective. Instead, resolving his / her issue is much more likely to change their negative mind for your business. Researches prove that 70% of the customers who complained will do business again if the company successfully resolves their problem.
Hence it is a better idea to consult the department which is best equipped to handle the problem once you have understood it from your client’s end.
For example, if it’s a technical issue, forward your complaint to the engineering team. If the issue is of delivery, send it to the eCommerce logistics department. As both parties address the problems, stay in touch with both to confirm when the issue is solved. Till then, have a strong follow up.
Create a formal process for handling customer reviews and resolve complaints. Channeling the procedure will save time to you and your prospect. Professional workflow is always an excellent choice to tackle issues efficiently.
7. Offer A Token Of Gratitude
Offering your client an additional token of gratitude after the issue being resolved is a generous way to show your client that you care. If your mistake has caused the customer to lose his / her valuable time or money, compensate it with a voucher, gift or a discount.
Be cautious while sending gifts. Don’t throw it at every person who voices a negative opinion about your company. Your objective should not be rewarding for a negative review or appreciating a negative empty gesture. Your priority should be clear that you want to fix a problem of your potential customer and make the things right appropriately.
8. Add To Their Experience
After doing every possible thing to make your client happy, still, if he/she is not satisfied with your customer service, this may be your last straw. You need to be more proactive to make sure they feel attended. Provide them with the best possible information, a replacement offer or a refund offer in the worst case scenario. The client will definitely want to have a quick response, so this is your last chance to create a stable long-term positive impression.
9. Report And Make Strategic Improvements
Honestly, negative feedback or a bad review is a blessing in disguise. They help to identify your flaws that you would not be able to see otherwise. Report your regular issues and make a strategy to improve them to prevent further lousy feedback. Most of the bad reviews have a common trend that may navigate a particular problem. Execute a foolproof solution to make it work smoothly.
Take Home Message For Negative Review Management
As mentioned above, there is no way to satisfy each and every customer who has an issue with your company. The only thing you can do is to handle them with care via negative review management. If you do so, you will win your customer’s heart and their loyalty for a lifetime. Hence take negative feedback as an opportunity to expand your client pool. By this, you will make a positive impact on your customers, your employees and your brand.
Author Bio
Stella Lincoln is a qualified marketing consultant, currently working as Business Manager at Crowd Writer. She has a former working experience of writing consultant at HarperCollins Publishers, contributing to Educator House as well.