Beat The Internet Trolls: How to Respond To Negative Reviews

Perhaps one of the most overstated truths about customer reviews is that they all have to be positive. You want the majority of reviews to be good, because the ratio of good-to-bad reviews is what dictates your star score – and remember, there is a direct link to your star score and sales revenues. But rest assured, the occasional negative review of your security business is nothing to panic about. In fact, most customer review services will contend that consumers trust reviews more when they see several positive reviews alongside a few negative ones.

If you have nothing but glowing reviews for your business, today’s consumers are savvy enough to know that those good reviews could be “planted” (meaning, you are using employees and family members to write them – or worse yet, paying a review writing service to create them). You don’t need to use these “black hat review” practices because it’s normal and expected to see a review from a disgruntled troll er…customer…from time to time. So, here’s how to handle it when it happens:

Answer the Review

Your punctual, personalized response – one that addresses the specific details of the complaint – shows the entire audience that your business cares about its customers and wants to fix any problems that may occur.

When you respond to the customer who wrote the negative review, you are also speaking to the hundreds of people who will see that review in the future.

Offer to Make it Right

Reach out to them in a honest way and open a dialogue. Ask them to contact you so that you can find some common ground. If your company was at fault in some way, then offer them something of value: a free product, a free a month of monitoring services or even a free upgrade. Whatever you are able to reasonably offer, offer it to show your commitment to remedying the situation. Often, a gesture like that can soften the customer enough to give you a second chance. It’s also an indicator to prospective customers that your company is willing to go the extra mile to deliver great customer service.

Encourage More Reviews

If there is one time when gathering more positive reviews is essential, it’s right after you receive a bad one. You want the good reviews to sit right on top of the bad, so they are the first reviews searchers will see.

Pro tip: Keeping the good reviews coming in will also ensure that your average star score stays high, despite one or two bad reviews.

These are the actions to take when you get a bad customer review online. AlarmBrand offers a review generation service that helps you get the good reviews you want from your real customers, on an ongoing basis so that your star score stays high and the revenues keep pouring in.

About AlarmBrand

We create websites and media for the electronic security industry that communicate your story, resonate with your audience, and generate revenue. Since 2009, brands that you know and trust have leveraged our digital marketing expertise to grow their businesses, including SDM 100, SDI Fast 50, monitoring centers, technology providers, professional corporations, and security SMB’s across the USA.