Reputation Management: Ouch! How To Handle Negative Online Reviews

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 With the growth of social media and online reviews, business owners can no longer hide behind a perfect reputation. Responsible reputation management includes thanking happy customers for their positive reviews, as much as proactively handling negative reviews on Google My Business and Facebook.

But what should you do when a negative reviews lands on your doorstep? The simple answer is to have a system and a strategy to put your best foot forward when dealing with unhappy customers.

If you’re unsure where to start, that’s OK! Here are some basics to build a solid online reputation.

Get Alerted About New Reviews

Whether positive or negative, company owners must respond to customer reviews on Google My Business, Facebook, and other platforms where reviews are encouraged.

Getting alerted when new reviews get posted is an excellent place to start when monitoring your online reputation. By doing so, business owners can address feedback quickly and efficiently– before a bad situation spirals out of control.

Add Reputation Development As Part of Your Business Plan

In the past, online reputation often got overlooked by business owners who were too busy focusing on growing their companies. Nowadays, small businesses need to ensure that they plan to manage online reviews and respond accordingly. Further, by asking customers for feedback seamlessly, you can develop a stronger online reputation by getting more positive reviews more frequently.

Review Past Efforts To Manage Online Reputation

Taking the time to review previous efforts to manage your online reputation can help you improve your approach moving forward. Keep in mind that ignoring previous reviews isn’t a healthy approach to reputation management! Business owners must be honest about what’s worked and what hasn’t worked so far. Honesty about your situation will help identify areas where you should make improvements.

Respond To Reviews Immediately

These days, negative news travels fast. So managing your online reputation starts with an early detection system that alerts owners about new reviews. Next, business owners need to take immediate action by responding to those reviews as soon as possible, whether the feedback is positive, negative, or neutral.

Develop Strategies Based on the Different Review Sites

Not all reputation strategies are created equal or effective across all online review sites. For example, while most platforms rely on positive feedback for business growth, Google My Business also factors negative reviews and reputation scores into the search engine’s rankings.

Business owners should prepare to prove that they’ve taken action to improve their ratings by documenting all past efforts. In addition, they need to stay on top of their online reputation by responding to negative reviews right away. Managing your reputation management is a fluid process that requires business owners to stay on the ball and continually improve their efforts.

Always Respond Politely and Professionally

Business owners can best do when addressing negative reviews to remain polite and professional in customer interactions. Never respond to negative reviews with insults or anger. In addition, always remember that you may have more than one customer, and make sure not to single out a dissatisfied customer in your response. Finally, company owners should manage their reputation to show how professional business owners deal with unsatisfied customers.

Create An Opportunity for Customer Service Improvement

As much as negative reviews can hurt your brand, they also represent an opportunity to improve customer service. Many customers that leave bad reviews on Google My Business and other online review platforms are simply looking for a quick fix or resolution to their issues. By addressing those issues quickly and professionally, you can turn a dissatisfied customer into a happy customer – perhaps even a brand advocate!

Improve Your Reputation

Negative reviews can hit business owners hard, but dealing with these reviews professionally and efficiently is the best way to bounce back. Managing a reputation requires business owners to treat every customer with respect and grace, regardless of whether the product or service warranted a negative review or not. The end goal of  managing your online reputation management is to improve your company’s reputation, and a business owner can only achieve this by treating everyone fairly.

The truth is that most customers don’t care about big businesses or corporations – they care about how the product or service you are providing makes them feel. So by improving your reputation management efforts, you’re investing in the future of your business.

Let Us Help You With A Reputation Management Solution!

Suppose you’re interested in keeping track of your reputation or reviews daily. In that case, our company can help your business with reputation management services to monitor and address your reviews in a way that supports your goals without breaking the bank.

Please book a no-obligation consultation today to start the conversation!

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