These days everyone rely on what others have to say about a product before actually buying it. Think about the last time you bought a product or went to restaurant because you found that others talk highly of the place. You got influenced by these reviews. Yes, you are right. We tend to choose a product based on the reviews it gets from others. Chances to you buying a certain product increases when you read more positive reviews. In a survey conducted by My Testimonial Engine it was found out that:
• 85% of customers read online reviews for business
• 72% of customers won’t take action before they read some reviews.
It was also found out that:
• 32% of the customers visit the business’s website after reading positive reviews
• 93% of customer spend more than 1 minute reading these reviews
So it becomes crucial for your business to gather as much genuine positive reviews as you can. But with positive reviews come negative reviews which is where the panic starts. Negative reviews can affect your business in a way that your business may come to the verge of shutting down. So below I have listed some of the best ways to tackle and handle these negative reviews.
Negative Reviews are of two types:
• Fake negative review
• Genuine negative review
Fake negative review
A business would want as much positive reviews as it can to overshadow the negative ones. But it becomes really annoying when we come across a false review from someone. There are ways you can recognise if these reviews are fake or not. These reviews generally come out as:
• Full of slander and false
• Having grammatical errors
• The user has a fake name
• You have never done any business with this person
• It has illegal, inappropriate, offensive content
• It is irrelevant to your business
• There is a Conflict of interest
How to remove fake negative reviews from Google?
In such cases you must know how to remove these fake reviews. And yes, in cases like these you can remove the reviews. Follow the steps to remove negative reviews from Google:
• First you should know that you yourself cannot delete the review but can flag the fake review which Google will remove if it finds it inappropriate or if it violates any Google’s review policies.
• Go to Google My Business profile
• Click on the link on the Tool Number of reviews
• Search for the reviews that you find fake, click on the flag icon beside the comment and click on ‘Flag as Inappropriate’.
• Now wait till Google sees the flag and notifies you they decide to remove it or not.
If you find the review as false and full of slander, you can fill out a Google form for a legal removal request. This is for extreme situations and it has high requirements so consult your legal counsellor before proceeding on this path.You can also use google maps to flag inappropriate negative reviews. To do this:
• Open Google Maps and search for your business
• Under the star rating you will be able to see a numerated amount of reviews. Click on that
• Find the review you want to remove
• Click on the 3 vertical dots in the upper right corner of the window and click on “Flag as inappropriate
Genuine Negative reviews
These reviews are valid and they do not violate any Google review policies. So these reviews cannot be flagged and even if you do they won’t be removed by Google. But there are few things you can do to improve your online reputation.
Respond to the review and be prompt
According to Hosting Tribunal, more than 4 negative review about a company or product can decrease sales by 70%. So it becomes extremely important to address these customers and being apologetic about it. A prompt response shows that value their opinion and you care about the customer. A customer is very likely to remove the negative review if his/her problem is resolved. Be polite and mature about the response as this can win you over your angry customer.
Make an effort to solve the problem
Sometimes a response isn’t enough to the customer. If you keep getting negative reviews, then chances are that the problem is from your end and what you need to do is to change the way you do things. Yeah its stressful and require a lot of hard work sometimes but it’s worth it. The customer wants their problem to be solved and if you have the capacity to rectify your mistakes then give it your 100% as it will help you restore your relationship with the customer.
Photo by cottonbro
Requesting re-evaluation
When you have done all of above and remedied the issue, you can politely ask the customer to change their review. Don’t be pushy about it. In most cases the customer chances their review even on their own if you show your undivided attention to their issue.
Photo by Tumisu—148124
Learn from your experience
Every negative review can help you learn from your mistakes and improve your business over time. Making progress on these feedback will decrease the chances of getting negative reviews. To understand what exactly you are supposed to improve get in touch with your customers and ask their opinion.
Hire Online Reputation Consultants
If the situation is getting out of hand and you find yourself confused on how to do, what to do, don’t worry. There are plenty of Online Reputation Management Services to help you through the crisis. These services not only help you with rectifying your reputation but also help you improve your business’s reputation after the crisis is solved.
Conclusion
No business is perfect and there will always be flaws. Look at these flaws as areas for improvement and take reviews as feedback of how your business is performing. These reviews will help you improve your business and if you work on it then it will lead you to our ultimate goal. Accept more feedback in the form of reviews and encourage your customer to leave a review. Maybe send a push notification sometime later after the transaction. Reviews may come as both positive and negative but it’s the negative reviews that help you improve your business and not the positive ones. Treat the negative reviews as an opportunity to improvise your product.
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