5 Essential Tips to Keep Your Business Safe from Negative Reviews

Are negative reviews of your business giving you sleepless nights? Keep reading to learn effective ways to guard your brand against negative reviews.

 

Author bio: Mia Ryan is a senior marketer at a reputed company in Australia. He has been associated with Myassignmenthelp for the past three years. He loves to provide marketing assignment help to students on demand.

 

 

Do you know that around 95% of the customers read online reviews before making a purchase?

A 2017 report by Spiegel Research Center testifies the fact. This only proves that consumers are more aware of the purchase decisions than ever before. However, this piece of information only increases the worries of brand owners.

While the positive reviews of a product or service can boost its credibility, the negative reviews can do the exact opposite. In fact, a significant number of negative reviews can force a business to shut down its operation.

It’s scary, right?

So, how do you combat the negative reviews from affecting the image of your brand?

We have a few suggestions in store.

1. Monitor your online reputation:

Whether there is a negative review or not, you should be vigilant about what people say about you on the internet. If your brand is involved in CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities, follow the feedback from people and work on their suggestions. And if there is any negative criticism, identify it and try to validate its legitimacy.

Keeping an eye on all the social media platforms including Google can be quite beneficial. This practice gives you an upper hand in handling negative reviews before they can affect your brand image. Your first job is to identify all the public platforms where people can talk about your brand. Don’t forget niche reviewing websites. For instance, Topassignmentreviews and Trustedessayreviews are two major reviewing sites for academic solution providers.

2. Respond as quickly as possible:

Monitoring your online reputation all the time will allow you to act timely whenever someone posts a negative review of your brand. In most cases, a client posts a negative review when he/she is disappointed with your product or service. If the review is genuine and your brand is at fault, it is wiser to fix the problem as soon as possible.

If the client has posted a detailed review slamming the services of your brand, respond to it with an apology. You can reply saying, “Sorry for the inconvenience. May I know your order ID?” This kind of response is ideal for dealing with negative reviews as it not only calms the client with an instant response but also allows you to verify the legitimacy of the review.

3. Take responsibility:

If the review is genuine, there is no point ignoring it.

You should take full responsibility for the inconvenience caused to the client. This may not fix the problem immediately, but it will help to reduce the damage done to your brand image. There are chances that the review may not be genuine, but taking responsibility for the inconvenience projects your brand as a responsible one.

However, you should not entertain internet trolls.

You need to identify the reviews posted by genuine customers, and the ones posted to defame your brand. In both cases, it is necessary to give a fitting reply. You can follow Netflix and Amazon on social media platforms and see how they deal with internet trolls.

Image Source: Pixabay.com

4. Fix the issues:

The review will continue to damage your reputation if you do not fix the problem faced by the client.

Even if it is an insignificant one, treat it with the highest priority and ensure that the client is satisfied with the solution. If the issue is a serious one, it may cost you a significant amount of money to rectify it. In case you ignore the review, it may affect your brand beyond repair.

If the problem is regarding the quality of support, you can offer a replacement of the product or a freebie as compensation. You can offer rework on the service if the client is not happy with the support you have delivered the first time. The best way to understand the client’s problem is to have a one-on-one conversation with him/her.

 

5. Follow up:

After you have addressed the issue and fixed it for the client, you need to offer follow-ups. Ask the customer if he/she is satisfied with the service or not. If there are issues, you should work on them too. When all the concerns of the client are addressed, ask him/her to remove the review from the online platform.

People who read the reviews do not know whether the brand has solved the problems or not. So, if a review remains on the online space even after addressing it, it may damage your online reputation. If the issues faced by the client are met, he/she won’t have any problem removing it.

These simple tricks can help you guard your brand against negative reviews.

However, you need to beware of the fraud writing services that post negative reviews of brands to disrupt their operations. In most cases, these activities are fueled by rival companies.