Nobody wants to talk about what to do about negative reviews, because nobody wants to receive one. However, there are over 30,000 reviews posted online every minute, so odds are, you’re going to receive one. Don’t stress about it, because all businesses will have an upset customer at some point, regardless of how great their products and service are. There are some things you can, and should, do about negative reviews, though:

Learn from Mistakes

If your business has made an error, this is the perfect opportunity to learn and grow from it. Whether your customer leaves a negative review about your product, service or employees, this is your chance to make necessary changes. Your customer is giving you the feedback you need to help your business grow and prevent issues in the future. When you receive a negative review, talk with your team members, or review your business and figure out what you can do to help your business succeed. Some great ways to do this would be training employees on customer service, finding out which products are most popular for your business and asking for feedback from other previous customers whom you have a good relationship with.

Respond & Resolve (if possible)

NEVER leave a review hanging, especially a negative one. If other customers see that you did nothing to resolve the issue, they will be much less likely to work with you. Besides what other customers might think, you don’t want to leave your previous customer with a bad taste in their mouth about your business. Respond to any and all negative reviews professionally and full of understanding. Something like this would be great, “{Name}, we’re so sorry you had a bad experience with us. Please call {or email} us at 555-555-5555 so we can make things right.” This way, your viewers see that you have reached out to make things right, and you might get the opportunity to resolve the issues with your angry customer. If nothing can be resolved (which is sometimes the case), it’s still important to respond with sympathy and professionalism.

Focus on Flooding in the Positive

The best way to make sure those pesky negative reviews aren’t showing is to drown them out with positive reviews. It’s always important to try to gain positive reviews from your customers, but receiving a negative review is the best time to do something about it. If you haven’t been focusing on asking customers to leave you reviews, get in the habit right away. Train your employees to ask for reviews after they complete a job for a happy customer. Of course, if you’re still having trouble, FreshLime has the software to boost up those online reviews for your business quickly and effectively.

As previously mentioned, a negative review isn’t the end of the world. Especially if you’re working with FreshLime, because we can help you reel those upset customers back in. We’re the pros at customer engagement and customer retention. Don’t forget that FreshLime has software to help businesses stay away from negative reviews, and prevent those angry customers from venting online. Learn more about what FreshLime can do for your business, request a FREE demo today.

For more insights on marketing strategy that actually works for small business, subscribe to the FreshLime Newsletter here. Connect with Jay Bean, Founder of FreshLime and Small Business Marketing Expert on LinkedIn and Twitter. And last of all, if any of these tips have helped you or if you have anything to add please comment below. We’d love to hear from you!