16 Mar 3 Tips For Responding To Online Critics
Handling customer complaints can be tricky.
At sometime or another, there will be a customer who has a bad experience. Before the internet, they would tell their friends and the business owner may never have heard from them. In today’s world, a critic can go online, post a bad review Yelp or a similar site, or even create a video explaining their grievance in great detail. Here are three tips for responding to an online critic.
Tip 1: Wait at least 24 hours before you respond. Understandably, you will be upset, but responding while you are angry can make things worse. Overreacting can lead to a whole string of communications that only make the reputation of your business worse.
Tip 2: Respond directly to the critic, privately. Plan your response, write a draft, edit it, then post your response on the review site. Always acknowledge the complaint and do not get defensive. Offer information about what has been done to correct the issue and apologize for the less than stellar experience the customer had. Invite them to try your business again. A discount will usually help.
Tip 3: This should only be used in a last ditch effort and only if there is are gross inaccuracies in the negative review. Write a public response to the review. Correct the inaccurate information, only. Do not attack the reviewer or lose your cool while writing. The response will be online forever, be sure to improve your company’s image, not worsen it.
A negative review is an opportunity for you to show your professionalism more than anything else. Consumers are aware that bad experiences happen. There is a very little chance that one bad review will destroy your customer base. Keep your cool and turn this into a positive.
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