How do you respond to negative online reviews?

Of course, sometimes bad reviews are not warranted but are a calculated attack on your business by issue-motivated groups. For example activists at times use a tactic called a “messaging bank” to overwhelm a target company’s social media channels, Seek, Google and other online reviews with negative and critical comments. The goal is to shame the company and its employees for behaviour that the activist group doesn’t like. Issue-motivated groups also attack the company’s suppliers and contractors and employees’ accounts in this way. The “messaging bank” is the term used for the vounteers who gather and use their personal accounts to carry out the spamming attack and fill them with negative and threatening comments.

I have only had a disgruntled message once but the best advise I received was to nip it in the bud. Something along the lines of that is a different angle/ an interesting angle would you be available for a discussion please dm me. I set up a call and listened to the thought process behind the rant on my post. I still didn’t agree with their comments. I decided to not engage much in posts they were on or to like or share theirs to keep my distance. An opinion is ok however everyone has one. It’s likely someone’s will be different to yours. However!!!! There is a way to speak your mind without being rude. Personally I don’t care to engage with rude people so I keep my distance from them . Hope that helps

But if the review is not deserved and is part of a dishonest bullying and harassment campaign against your business by issues-motivated groups, you can: 1. close down the review or account. 2. ensure the settings on the platform make posting by unrelated people as difficult as possible nd encourage employees to do the same of their personal accounts 3. rally supporters of your business like genuine customers, stakeholders and employees to post supportive reviews to counter the dishonest ones. Finally, you lodge a complaint with the platform itself such as Google. However, experience has shown the platforms have little care for the businesses themselves and turn a blind eye to this kind of online bullying and harassment.

You don't always need to apologize, but don't invalidate either. If you strongly disagree then ignoring it is definitely fine. If a bad review(s) comes up as a hinderance to your regular course of business there are steps to take to remedy. Sometimes your pr/legal team can have it removed - but often times there is no need. Too many 5 star reviews looks unrealistic. Best course would be to get out ahead of it and apply positive spin or disseminate counter talking points to media/other locations.

Great point! Responding publicly to complaints shows that the brand is accountable and actively addressing any issues that may arise. This not only builds trust with the person who made the complaint but also with others who may be observing. Additionally, taking the opportunity to share insights behind brand decisions can provide context and understanding for others who may have similar questions or concerns. By staying true to the brand's values and remaining value-centric, the response can also showcase the brand's commitment to its principles, further enhancing its reputation and differentiation in the market.

Respond in a professional way and publically. This shows that you, or the company, are willing to go the extra mile and make things right. If you do this carefully enough, you can actually turn the negative into a positive. Word your answer very wisely. Find out what the customer is complaining about and see if it can be made right. Of course, there is always going to be a customer that simply can't be pacified. There's always one in the crowd. Just remember that you're standing behind your brand and by showing this publically, others potential customers will see that you're a quality product or brand.

This step should be ongoing anyway as primary prevention of negative sentiment or any possible impact from negative reviews. Work on your talking points and work them in wherever possible - consistently.

Incentives for reviews, at least in the United States, is a grey area for FTC Violation right now. Be careful. Instead, in your communications (like email blasts, signatures, invoices, owned content etc. you can have a line that says something like "Happy with ____?, consider leaving a review on ____." Not necessarily those exact words, but you get the point.

One way to encourage more reviews by existing or potential customers is in the way you respond to the negative reviews. When responding to negative comments you never want to attack, insult or use sarcasm when replying. If you choose to respond in a negative way to the negative reviews it can intimidate future reviewers and discourage them from providing feedback/ratings etc. The way in which you respond and handle the negative comments is a marketing strategy in itself.

Great point! Using this negative feedback and collaborating across your organization with other teams who receive feedback to spot trends is paramount to growth. In a healthcare org, reputation and digital marketing should work closely with comms, patient experience, operations and business development to compare notes and develop action plans for this innovation.

Negative comments are an excellent way to get your team thinking about how to resolve conflict and other issues. Read a negative comment at a staff meeting and brainstorm ideas of how to avoid this in the future. Turn it into a positive.

“Sh!tposting” involves teams of activists from an issues-motivated group to coordinate their efforts to simultaneously post unwarranted reviews of a company or contractor online in order to shame them for working in a sector, like oil, gas and coal that the activists do not like. The reviews are made on Google Review, Yelp!, Seek or Glass Door. This form of dishonest bullying and harassment is favoured by anti-fossil fuel activist groups like Market Forces. This can be particularly distressing when the target is a small family-run business that cannot response to the volume of unwarranted negativity.

You know it may surprise you many of us have more than a fourth grade education I was trained by Xerox and Marriott separately I spent 11 years in advertising in media there gets to the point where we don’t always be need To be lectured, worse than that negative use are extremely important if you don’t know it’s broken you can’t fix it of course the way you deliver is important that is a given but personally to me I find this annoying