7 steps to managing bad online reviews

If you are in a business-to-consumer business, you probably already have experienced the sting of dealing with online reviews. There is the customer you bent over backwards to please who still gave you a bad rating. There is the guest who didn’t speak to you first about a poor product or service experience and then aired a grievance in public. Then there’s the patron whose story doesn’t even remotely sound like they are talking about your business. Nonetheless, their negative statements are out there, affecting your bottom line.

It can be incredibly frustrating, but since 70 percent of consumers – according to Nielsen’s annual Global Trust in Advertising survey – trust online reviews when they are making purchase considerations, those anonymous rants (both good and bad) affect your credibility. Sites such as Yelp, CitySearch and TripAdvisor are potentially huge referral sources, but not if you haven’t learned how to tame this particular social-media beast. Despite having little control over what reviewers write, you are not completely without means. Here are seven simple ways to manage your reviews and mitigate the damage from bad ones.

Claim your business’ page

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If you didn’t set up your business page on Yelp, CitySearch or any of the other review sites, that means the site or one of your customers did. Your first step to freedom from review remorse is to claim your site and authenticate that you are the business’ owner. What this allows you to do is log in to the professional side of the site, add photos, hours, directions, links to your website, and most importantly, respond to reviews. Answering your reviewers is your best tool for combatting a poor write-up.

Respond with gratitude
and take action

No matter what the customer writes, thank them for taking the time to tell you about their experience. How you respond is just as, or possibly more, important than the review itself. Any review is an opportunity for you to hear honest feedback and demonstrate your commitment to your customers. Your response can be more memorable than the review.

If someone writes that your restaurant’s chicken soup was cold and the waitress was surly, answer with, “Thanks so much for letting us know.” Then tell them what you’re going to do about it. “We are replacing the bulbs on our kitchen warming lamps and we are retraining the staff on customer service.” And then do take those actions.

Although you may also choose to message the reviewer privately, be sure to respond publicly so that other readers see your concern and responsiveness.

Demonstrate professionalism

There are times when a reviewer has a personal axe to grind or just isn’t in their right mind. Even if what they have written cannot possibly have happened or be remotely true, never, ever call them a liar. As unfair and unnerving as these attacks can be, keep in mind that you have a larger audience that is seeing your conversation. Answer respectfully, and with gratitude and honesty. This will resonate positively with everyone else who is reading your reviews.

For example, I had a client, a large auto repair facility, who called me when a customer had accused them of stealing money out of the glove compartment of his car when he dropped it off for an oil change. Knowing that an allegation like that could damage their reputation for a long time, I advised the client to call the police immediately so that an outside party would investigate. The responding officer examined the entire situation and all parties involved and found that the shop was, in fact, not responsible for the theft. His official report stated as much.

Despite the police findings, the customer was angry, anted someone to blame and decided to continue to air his grievances in public on Yelp. I responded to the customer review on Yelp and reiterated that theft is a terrible violation to experience and unnerving for everyone. I also restated the police conclusions along with the police report number, so anyone who read his review would know the entire story.

I then contacted Yelp and pointed out the inaccuracy of the reviewer’s accusations. Yelp ultimately took the review down – which brings me to my next tip.

Removing reviews

For good reason, it is difficult to nearly impossible to get a bad review expunged from a review site. However, there are some circumstances where you have some room to submit a removal request. If a review is more than four years old, you can appeal to the review site to take it down. If the review has inappropriate content (foul language, etc.) or contains personal information such as email or phone numbers, you also can flag it and ask for its removal.

If you can prove the reviewer is completely off base, (for example, you have a Chinese restaurant and the reviewer talked about how terrible the enchiladas were), or they made false accusations, as in our automotive shop case, you also can submit a removal request.

Yelp has review guidelines at www.yelp.com/guidelines. If a reviewer doesn’t follow these guidelines, it’s grounds for elimination. Similarly, CitySearch guidelines can be found at www.citysearch.com/aboutcitysearch/users/terms_of_use. Get to know them and watch for any infractions that you can use to your advantage.

Don’t incentivize

It’s tempting to offer customers something in exchange for good reviews – a free coffee, a discount or some other incentive. Resist the temptation. It’s a misguided idea for two reasons:

First, you are suggesting to folks that your products and services aren’t good enough to attain five stars on their own merits. The very people who review you may enjoy the discount, but they will also think less of you. Odds are, they’ll tell a friend how to get a discount-for-review deal from you and the friend will think less of you, too.

Second, you may gain some five-star reviews in the near terms, but you will damage your reputation in the long run. In the most extreme cases, businesses have posted Craigslist ads offering cash for five-star reviews on Yelp. Yelp staff members discovered the ads, posed as interested reviewers and answered their ad. They caught the business owner, and then posted a big red-bordered alert box on the business’ Yelp page that said, “We caught someone red-handed trying to buy reviews for this business. We weren’t fooled, but wanted you to know because buying reviews not only hurts consumers, but also honest businesses who play by the rules. Check out the evidence here.”

Ask for reviews

While incentivizing reviews is a no-no, requesting a review is completely acceptable. Ask your customers for them and keep asking. A business with 300 reviews often ranks higher than one with just three. Also, businesses with more and better reviews are more likely to show up on Google Maps and mobile search. Since 70 percent of search is now happening on mobile devices, that’s something to shoot for.

When someone visits your business, get an email address whenever possible. Retailers such as Staples, Nordstrom and Ann Taylor now routinely ask customers if they want their receipt emailed to them. These e-receipts then offer an opt-in for marketing messages or a link to a customer experience survey. You also can add a link to your business’ page on the review sites of your choice. You then can be strategic and provide only the review site links you want them to go to.

Use the power of Google+

While you are adding links to your review pages into your emails, make sure you include your Google+ Review site.  Why Google+? When people Google your business, the reviews from Google+ are in the top results, higher even than Yelp. So, if you are going to put time into managing any review site, Google+ would be the best use of your time.

While online reviews can feel unmanageable, by using these seven strategies you can heal your injuries and tame the beast.

Marilyn Heywood Paige is the principal of Paige Integrated Marketing in Broomfield. Contact her at www.paigeintegrated.com