7 ways to turn negative online reviews into positive ones

Why are online reviews so crucial?

You may be under the impression that the quality of your product or service will defend itself and that properly selected marketing activities will provide you with the desired influx of customers, in the face of which user reviews are irrelevant. However, the numbers don’t lie. According to statistics, 95% of consumers read the ratings and comments of others before completing an online transaction. Moreover, as many as 49% of respondents trust online reviews as much as they make personal recommendations.

There are many services that allow you to rate and leave comments for various companies and institutions. Some specialize in specific industries (such as TripAdvisor in tourism), while others cover many businesses. Among the latter, Google is, of course, the most significant one in Poland.

Why is your company receiving negative feedback?

There are companies on the Polish market that can use online reviews to create foul competition. To do this, they impersonate actual customers and provide their competitors with negative ratings. However, such situations are relatively rare, so unfavorable comments about your offer are probably the result of some imperfection in the way your company operates.

Remember that with the help of the Internet, consumers have access to an ever-widening range of products and services, so their demands for products and services are constantly growing. More often than not, it is not enough to provide them with quality goods. In addition, you need to take care of customer service (e.g., easy payment, fast delivery, or a friendly returns and complaints policy) and build a loyal community around the brand.

If you want to turn your negative reviews into positive ones, you need to first carefully trace the customer’s journey with your company. Look at the various points of contact between the consumer and the brand and answer the question of whether you are offering them a positive enough experience at each one. Once you’ve done everything possible to improve your offer, move on to the actions described below.

How do you turn negative online reviews into positive ones?

Do not treat the negative feedback you receive as a problem. Note that those comments do, after all, represent information about what is not working best in your company. So, they allow you to improve and more accurately align your offer with consumer expectations. However, an excess of poor reviews and unfavorable comments does not do any good to any brand, so use the following tips to turn negative reviews into positive ones after you’ve learned the right lessons:

1. Encourage people to leave feedback
A good practice that can help you gain significantly more positive reviews than negative ones is encouraging users to leave ratings and comments. The more effective you are in getting them to leave feedback, the higher the average rating you will get. You can use our Local Review Booster tool for this purpose, which encourages users to give reviews and redirects them to Google Maps.

2. Distinguish between constructive and destructive feedback
Not every opinion is one you have to worry about. This is because many of them have no rational basis and stem only from the malice of some users, the only goal of which is simply to insult others. You can fearlessly report such comments to the administrators of the various platforms, who will remove them due to the use of vulgarities, hate speech, or the lack of connection between your offer and the content of the opinion. However, constructive feedback requires different treatment and should be your starting point for positive changes to your offer.

3. Respond to ratings and comments
Try never to leave negative feedback unanswered. Pay attention to the problems signaled in those comments and apologize to customers for any inconvenience. Even if it doesn’t elicit any response from them, you will show other consumers that you care about the users’ opinions and are trying to work out appropriate solutions.

4. Ask users questions
Remember, your job is not to constantly keep erasing a bad impression but to get to the point where an issue no longer generates another negative opinion. So, try to find out as much as possible about the reasons for customer dissatisfaction by asking them to elaborate on their comments. Verify when each problem occurred and what (if anything) was done to resolve it. This will make it easier for you to locate the cause of the problem and then eliminate it.

5. Focus on customer satisfaction
There is a reason why it is said that the customer is always right. For this reason, always thank people for their reviews – even when they are negative. After all, the user has taken the time to share his or her impressions of what can be improved in your business. Also, each time you answer, emphasize that you take your customers’ comments seriously and their satisfaction is vital to you. This way, you will show other consumers that any problems are just deviations from the norm.

6. Fix errors and report back
By correcting your mistakes and communicating this in your responses to negative feedback, you will build an image of a professional. Show your customers that their comments have helped open up discussions and bring about change in your company. This will make them feel well-treated, and they will notice that you are trying to tailor your offer to their needs and expectations. The quoted source indicates that 80% of consumers are willing to leave a positive review, even if they initially had a negative experience that turned into a positive one.

7. Compensate customers for the inconvenience
A common practice in dealing with negative feedback is to reach for compensation. In such a situation, you offer some value to dissatisfied customers. Examples include offering a free product or a discount code for their next purchase. By doing so, you’ll prove that consumer satisfaction really is of the utmost importance to you – it’s easy to write about it, and definitely more difficult to actually act that way. By doing so, you will also increase the likelihood that users will change their negative ratings to positive ones. After all, nothing produces as good a result as a little bribery does. 🙂

How do you turn negative online reviews into positive ones? Summary

Remember that negative online reviews are not unusual – they may even be valuable for your business. Just be careful that there is not an abundance of them. However, with our tips and tools like Local Review Booster, you’ll easily earn yourself a high average rating. Our team wishes you all the best in your endeavors!

image source: https://localiq.com/blog/optimize-car-dealership-google-my-business-listing/