If you own a business or deal with customer service you have to work with the feedback from your clients. And they leave really bad reviews from time to time.
It is not a secret that bad ratings on Google, Tripadvisor, Trustpilot, or BBB may ruin your business and scare your potential customers away.
The question is whether you can do anything about it. Are there any tools or strategies to get your unhappy customers to change their bad reviews?
And the answer is “Yes”. And I will show you how exactly you can do that.
Define the Type of Customer
The first step is to define the type of customer you are dealing with. Depending on their intentions there are at least 6 types of clients.
1. Your Fans. These are your returning customers that faced some issues. They want to draw your attention to some problems. Their primary purpose is to tell you, that they spotted the issue and they want you to fix it, so they could continue having business with you.
2. Content Creators. People share their experiences on the Internet. Some of them even make their living by posting content on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. So, they are looking for a “story” in every little thing. Even the slightest thing may be turned into a negative review.
3. Avengers. These clients want to hurt your business. They are angry and irritated. So, their primary objective is to punish you for the issue they faced. They are not looking for constructive dialogue. They just need revenge.
4. Experts. These are the most honest and solid reviewers (hopefully). For example, if you run a restaurant you may be visited by a chef or a sommelier. They may even know much better about your industry than your entire staff. Their feedback may be valuable for your business, but quite damaging if it is negative.
5. Hesitant Customers. Some clients will not be able to tell you that something goes wrong straight to your face. They don’t like open conflicts. This type of customer will silently endure, but then will post a negative review online.
6. Protectors. And the last group of clients is protectors. These are people that want to use their feedback to help other customers. Protectors share their positive or negative experiences to help others. You may call this a form of modern altruism. Though, it is important not to confuse them with Content Creators. These 2 types have completely different purposes and therefore require different approaches.
It is important to admit that 1 review may contain 2 or even more of the above purposes. Hence, it will require special attention.
Main Stages to Get the Customer Change the Negative Review
There are several important stages to working with negative reviews.
Just in case, let’s go over the points that will help you avoid most of the negative reviews.
1) Make an internal inspection of your products and services. Otherwise, working with negative reviews will be your biggest part of customer service.
- Consult with professionals in your industry.
- Research the market.
- Try to predict potential conflict situations.
- Develop protocols for your team members.
- Train your staff.
- Continuously make your services better.
2) Define the sources of reviews you care about. Your clients may leave negative reviews anywhere on the Internet.
- On your website.
- On the marketplace, you advertise your products or services.
- Google Reviews.
- Social Media, like Facebook or Instagram.
- Tripadvisor.
- BBB (better business bureau).
- Trustpilot.
- Yelp.
- Etc.
You need to decide which platforms are the most important for you and then monitor them.
3) When you receive negative feedback try to understand what type of client you are dealing with. Never panic or get angry. Accept this as a part of your work. There are no ideal companies that receive only positive reviews online.
You will be surprised that such a popular brand Nike has a 1.8 out of a 5.0 rating on Trustpilot.
Apple is even worse. It is 1.7 out of a 5.0 rating on Trustpilot.
4) Find proper communication channels and get in contact with your customer. You may have the customer’s phone number or email address. Or perhaps the place, where the customer left the negative feedback, has an option to talk to the client.
5) Now is the most important and complicated stage. You need to reveal the problem, find a suitable solution, and then fix the review. So, let’s see how to do that.
Getting the customer to change the review
First of all, we must understand that customers are not stupid and they know how this world works. So, do not try to simplify your path. You need to handle a complaint properly.
You need to let your client know that:
– you really care and you are on the same side in this battle;
– you want to fix the problem;
– you want to ensure this never happens ever again.
Keep in mind that this is similar to a jury trial, where your customer is a prosecutor, you are a defendant, and all other potential customers are jurors in this court. So, not only do you need to convince a prosecutor, but also other people observing your case. Even if your customer refuses to change the review, other people may still take your side if you did everything you could.
So, let’s see how exactly we can work with each type of client.
Your Fans
You can easily identify this type of customer. They will include such words as “they were better in the past”, “never faced such a problem with them earlier”, and “I wish they could add something new”. So, you understand that they are your returning customers. And they just need to turn things right.
After you identified and fixed the problem you can ask the customer to change the review.
Here is an example.
Hi Name,
I really appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us. It really helped us to fix some issues and avoid them happening in the future. Only this way we can become better for you. Thank you for that.
Here is a quick recap of what was done based on your feedback:
- …
- …
- …
Would you like to update your story? I bet plenty of customers online would like to know what’s going on and if everything is ok, right now.
We are happy to have you as our client.
Warm Regards
Content Creators
You can easily recognize these clients as well. First of all their review will be well-written. Second of all, it will contain lots of details shaped in a nice form. It will look like a post from a blog.
So, you can play along with them. Give them an opportunity to create 1 more interesting story for their subscribers.
When you fix the issue you can ask the customer to change the review. Remember everyone’s watching, including their audience.
Hi Name,
Thank you for your fair, balanced, and factual feedback. We really dropped the ball there. But even more thanks for the opportunity to get it fixed for you. We’ve also made the following corrections to our service protocols.
- …
- …
- …
Would you be willing to update your review? I am pretty sure people will want to read how it all ended.
We thank you anyway and hope to see you soon.
Avengers
This type of customer is also easy to recognize. Most likely they will use abusive language, exaggerate consequences, and distort facts.
Unfortunately, there is quite a small chance to do anything about this. This person just wants to punish you and will use this review as a weapon against your business.
It is still recommended to make an attempt to do something for this client. At least you will be able to use it in your further negotiations.
But the most effective way is to try to discuss the case with the platform (Google, BBB, TrustPilot, etc). There is a chance if you provide all the information they may do something about it.
Experts
Let’s first define the term “expert”. It’s an educated customer that has a practical experience in your industry.
Their review is full of solid facts and useful information. They speak about the problem and its possible solution. Basically, you can use it to improve your products or services in the future.
So, what you want to do is to show them your respect and appreciate their time in helping you. Some companies pay lots of money for such experts and their feedback.
Therefore, try to fix the problem that the expert faced and thank them for that. You may ask the expert to change the review the following way.
Dear Name,
I don’t even know how to thank you. I really appreciate you pointing out gaps in our services. We read through your review carefully and here is what we did to get everything fixed.
1. …
2. …
3. …
And here is what we plan to do to prevent it from happening again.
1. …
2. …
3. …
That’s all thanks to you. I am extremely happy that we can become better with such wonderful responsible customers like you.
I am pretty sure that people on Google/Trustpilot would want to hear how your experience turned out and what positive impact it had on our business.
We love you anyways!
Hesitant Customers
These customers rarely show their negative experiences publically. They are afraid of conflicts. But it is easier for them to leave a negative review online rather than say anything straight to your face.
Their review will be full of doubts and fear. They will say something like “I wasn’t sure”, or “I am afraid”, “I have some doubts”, “I thought they will…”, etc.
So, what you want to do is to assure hesitant customers that there is nothing wrong with posting a negative review and that it’s one of the possible ways to fix some issues.
After that thank them for the opportunity to resolve the problem and ask to change the review.
Hi Name,
Thank you so much for helping us reveal our weaknesses. You are absolutely right. It has to be clear what is included in the service and what is not.
Our customers shouldn’t guess. I am terribly sorry for that. And I am thankful for catching that and bringing this to our attention.
You are the best.
This helped us to fix it. I am sure it will bring us to the next level. Here is what we did.
1. …
2. …
3. …
Would you be willing to update your review and share the rest of this awesome story with other customers?
I’m sure everyone will benefit from this.
Thank you again.
Protectors
This type of customer has self-imposed responsibility for other people’s experiences. So, they will not recommend something to other people unless it is 100% quality and secure.
Hence, what you want to do is to guarantee them that even if you screw up you got them covered.
Here is a possible example.
Hi Name,
I am terribly sorry that we screwed up your order and I am extremely thankful for giving us an opportunity to get it fixed.
Customer satisfaction is our top priority. The world is not perfect, but our primary goal is to eliminate imperfections as much as we can.
So, what we did was:
1. …
2. …
3. …
I was so excited to work with your feedback, so I went ahead and checked your other reviews on Google/Yelp/Trustpilot. I can see that you always share your honest thoughts with other people, recommend good services, and protect people from bad ones.
So, would you like to update your review, so other people know how the issue was resolved?
We appreciate all your efforts.
Other useful phrases
As you can see there are several stages to get your customer to change the review. Each stage requires proper communication.
Here are some useful phrases to calm down and set the client up for constructive communication.
I was informed about the difficulties you encountered. I will deal with this matter for you immediately.
I really want to be 100% sure that you are our happy customer. Is there anything else I could do for you?
I am terribly sorry that you expected to have “X” but received “Y” instead. No wonder it made you frustrated. I want to address this case personally.
This shouldn’t have happened to you or any other customer. Not only do we want to fix the issue, but also to compensate you for all the inconveniences you faced. What is the best way to reach you?
What if the customer refuses to change the negative review?
There will be some cases when the customer will not change the review.
1. The customer ignores your calls or emails.
There are different reasons why the customer ignores your calls or emails. He/she may be extremely busy, you try to contact them not at the right time, or they are simply angry at you.
In this case, try to use different communication channels at different times. For example, try calling them early in the morning or at the weekend.
But there will be some percentage of customers that will never reply. So, just accept that as your business reality.
2. You didn’t do enough.
Make sure you go through all the main stages before asking the customer to change the negative review. Never tell the customer that you disagree and never request to change the feedback right away without doing anything. It will cause the opposite reaction.
– Reveal the negative feedback
– Prepare possible options and solutions in advance
– Get in contact with the client
– Fix the problem, offer compensation
– Make sure the customer is satisfied and happy
– Only after that offer the customer to change the review
3. The customer is simply being unreasonable
Sometimes you underpromise and overdeliver, but the customer is still not happy and demands something unrealistic.
In this case, make sure you did everything you could. If nothing works and you understand that you deal with an unreasonable customer you can stop wasting your time and simply reply to the review on Google or Yelp. It will be more for those who will check reviews, rather than a particular customer.
Dear Name,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are terribly sorry that this happened to you. We do our best to keep our customers happy. So, what we did was:
1. …
2. …
3. …
Moreover, to prevent this in the future we did:
1. …
2. …
3. …
Our customers are everything to us. We wouldn’t exist without you. Hope, to see you back soon.
Warm Regards
GDPR
A quick note about GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). If your business is based in the EU (European Union) or your customers live there you must be GDPR-compliant. Many other countries like Canada, Australia, the USA, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, etc have similar laws.
This regulation controls the secure storage and usage of customers’ personal data (like name, email, phone, etc).
So, make sure when you get in contact with the client you don’t violate any laws. There are strict rules that regulate how you can keep the customer’s personal data and what exactly you can do with it.
Useful takeaways
So, to sum up.
– Bad reviews can be extremely damaging to your business.
– Working with negative feedback is an essential part of any modern business.
– Plenty of your clients consider their reviews as live documents.
– But customers can be super forgiving and self-correcting if you do everything correctly.
– There will be always a small percentage of clients that will never change their reviews.
Keep your products and services up-to-date and good luck!