How to Deal With Negative Feedback and Reviews on Your Platform?

Introduction

Are you struggling to determine the primary means of gaining customers' trust? It's customer feedback! It's no secret that positive feedback does wonders for a business. In fact, 91% of 18 to 34-year-olds believe in online reviews just as much as personal recommendations. But, realistically, it's not always possible to get positive feedback. Negative client feedback is never encouraging for a business owner, but they also don't guarantee the end of a business. Consumer loyalty can be gained not just from the consumer who had the bad experience but also from other customers who read your response if you use negative feedback to improve your processes and answer to the reviewer with honesty and empathy. This post covers how to respond to negative customer feedback and tips for improving your brand's reputation. By the end of this article, you'll have gained knowledge of:

1. How to respond to negative feedback?

2. Tips to handle negative feedback.

How to Respond to Negative Feedback?

Responding to negative feedback is tricky. However, there are ways you can use them favorably for your business. Let's check out the best ways to respond to negative feedback:

1. Investigation of the Incident

Check the authenticity and applicability of the feedback first. If it's only spam or vulgar, delete it. You might need to check the commentator's name and email address for extra information about the review's authenticity. Investigate the specific occurrence further after verifying the authenticity of a review. Before pressing respond, consider the following questions:

a. What happened?

b. What can be done if a vendor delivers a subpar product, a shipment is damaged, or a technological mistake occurs?

c. Is there a quick fix you can offer?

d. What's the reputation and disposition of the client? (How influential and aggrieved are they?

This will enable you to customize your response to the circumstance rather than sending an automatic response. Give the commenter the choice of an exchange or refund, for instance, if they are talking about the poor quality of the goods. Discuss the problem with the parties concerned (internal team/vendor/shipment firm) to prevent these errors in the future.

Even if it takes some time to examine the problem, stay in touch. Tell them you're looking into it and will get back to them as soon as possible.

2. Craft Appropriate Response

The most important element is this since both the dissatisfied customer and future customers will probably read your response.

You should add these 3 "As" to get the best response.

Acknowledgment: It entails accepting responsibility for your error, expressing regret, and showing sympathy for the trouble it may have caused the client.

Assistance: A quick and practical fix for the current issue. Consider offering a gift or discount depending on the seriousness of the problem.

Assurance: Assuring them that the problem has been fixed and won't happen again.

3. Encourage Them to Revise the Feedback

You may even risk asking your clients to provide an updated review after you have successfully fixed the problem. Use caution in this area. Timing is everything; determine how the impacted client feels and politely ask them to remove the negative feedback if their issues have been resolved.

Tips to Handle Negative Reviews

When handling negative reviews, you must be mindful of how to respond in a way that benefits the business. At the very least, you must reply so that it doesn't damage your digital presence. Let's check out the tips to do so:

Answer Promptly

If someone is outraged enough to write a bad review, they often do it quickly after the unpleasant encounter. And they'll anticipate receiving a reply quite quickly. It is the moral thing to do, and it also lessens the harm done.

Consider the Response

In addition to responding quickly, it's important to value all review answers, including the unfavorable ones. All input is valuable, but negative feedback is especially so. This input probably helps your team understand some of the client's pain points while interacting with your business daily. Appreciate their efforts in informing your brand's stakeholders, and act to change things based on that.

Answer Honestly

Be honest, as well as prompt and considerate in your response. Transparency is really beneficial. Consumers, in general, and the majority of those who post negative reviews, prefer an honest response to a genuine mistake, assuming that their complaint will be treated honestly and truly. Most of the time, doing so benefits both the customer and the business in the long run.

Keep It Appropriate and Polite

There's no denying that some online reviews may be quite negative. Whatever the case, a company should never go to that low a level of irresponsibility. Maintain the same demeanor that you would desire from an employee in person. Maintain composure, keep in mind the customer's complaints, and always provide an apology. Remember that companies that don't behave properly and don't correct a bad situation by gratifying a dissatisfied client have far more to lose.

Consider Your Clients' Perspective

It's critical to consider the issue from your customer's perspective when managing feedback so that you can react and address it effectively. Don't just take their rage or dissatisfaction at face value; take note of the words they used and attempt to figure out what went wrong. When it comes time to answer those unfavorable reviews, you'll be able to do it in the most professional and personal way possible since this method will help you truly grasp the issue and be more sympathetic.

Provide Compensation for the Trouble

Commonly, it is not essential to provide restitution when a poor review is made. However, other times it certainly is. People only want to have their thoughts respected and heard, to reiterate. The least a company may do to subside the complaints of a disgruntled client is to offer compensation, even in the form of a money-back guarantee, if someone has incurred monetary loss or physical harm.

Understand the Workings of Review and Rating websites

Business stakeholders must also comprehend how reviews and rating websites function to understand the influence of reviews properly. There are instances when several platforms are beneficial for various reasons. Learn how the internet marketplace platform operates, consumer effect, and brand reputation to make the most of these reviews.

Keep an Eye on Your Reputation Online

The only guaranteed method to continually keep up with all reviews is to monitor your web presence. By doing this, you'll be able to put all the advice for handling reviews that were previously given into practice and ensure your company is set up for success both online and off.

Be grateful and Considerate

All criticism is valuable criticism. Even if someone's criticism is severe, be grateful that they took the time to express it and recognize that they are still giving you a chance to put things right. An excellent (and free) way to keep customers coming back is to resolve bad reviews. Make every possible attempt to improve the company's shortcomings.

Conclusion

Negative reviews should never dishearten you but should be a driving force to improve your products and services. Analyze the reviews and make appropriate changes in the product and services to make the negative reviews your power rather than a weakness.

A website with customer reviews is more likely to have customers make purchases from it than one without. By displaying reviews on your website, you may increase conversion rates by giving potential consumers more certainty when purchasing and removing any remaining questions. If you are a business owner who wants to switch to selling your products online or struggling to build a significant online presence, GoNukkad is an ideal option!