How to Deal With A Bad Review

Not Just Death & Taxes: Dealing with Bad Reviews

So, you've just got a bad review. Or perhaps you've had a couple accumulating. It's time you dealt with them, don't you think?

But how? The dilemma online is always that by responding to bad reviews, you could just be calling attention to them (actually, there's the danger of that with offline reviews, too). On the other hand, if you fail to respond to the review, any customer who sees it will be seeing unfiltered negativity.

Don't worry, there are answers. We've even laid them out in a step-by-step formula.

4 Steps to Deal with A Bad Review

Step 1: Analyse the review

There are two reasons to do this. The first has to do with your reputation: if your customers see the review, you need to know what they're reading. The second has to do with information-gathering. The details mentioned in the review can enable you to pinpoint the exact event that triggered it, and confirm with your staff what happened.

Step 2: Analyse the situation

Once you know the details that prompted the bad review, you can start your investigation. Is this beginning to sound like a police detective show? That's because it is. From your point of view, the bad review is unfair, but the writer must have been prompted by something. Determine the mechanics of the problem.

Step 3: Analyse the personality of the reviewer

This is a vital step. What sort of reviewing history does your reviewer have? Do they give thoughtful, insightful reviews, or angry ones? Is your bad review an aberration? The answers to these questions will give you clues as to whether the reviewer wants solid solutions or a simple apology.

There are some reviewers who cannot be placated, no matter how you respond to them. To paraphrase an old internet saying, trolls don't need any more feeding. Some reviewers are simply incapable of being placated; others have reviewed deliberately to start a flame war with your company. Neither of these types of reviewers is going to give the response you want when you reply to them.

Step 4: Craft a beautifully-worded reply

The final step in the process is to respond to the review. This is the step that most SEOs argue about. By responding to a bad review you are giving the webpage more traction in the search engines. However, by leaving the issue unresolved you could be doing more damage.

A well-worded reply can turn a bad review into a good situation. In responding thoughtfully and effectively to the complaint, you can establish that your company is reliable and trustworthy. In a sense, you're advertising. (If you're in doubt of this effect, have a look at some of the company responses on Trip Advisor some time.)

Bad reviews aren't something any company looks forward to. We are not advocating that you go out and court them. However, a good reply strategy can turn this negative situation into a positive asset for your SEO campaign.