Let’s not beat around the bush. With the market share that the search engine has achieved, Google Reviews has become mandatory, Whether you like it or not, they have a big impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions. But they are not easy to manage: it is difficult to respond to opinions in a systematic and constructive manner when they are sarcastic or aggressive, for example. Rest assured, you are not alone! In this guide, we’ll look at how to best respond to reviews and how to customize feedback for the type of review a user has left. good read…
Before you can best respond to your customer reviews, whether they’re bad Google reviews or not, it’s important to understand what tools Google has for you to manage those reviews.
Simply put, you have several options for responding to reviews:
- Check out the Google My Business app (available on iPhone and Android);
- View the Google My Business site;
- go through google;
- Go through Google Maps.
In this guide, we’ll use the simplest method: the Google My Business site.
Step 1: Log in to your Google My Business account.
Step 2: Click on “Review” from the left menu.
Step 3: Click “Reply” below the reviews.
Thereafter, you can revise your answer by clicking on the 3 dots then “Modify” if required.
Now that we’ve seen how to answer, let’s see what best practices can be followed Good to answer.
It can be tempting to ignore negative reviews and not respond to them.
But it would be a mistake because:
- A person who leaves an unfavorable opinion may be convinced to revise his opinion after discussion with you;
- Your feedback can be read by those who see negative reviews and can make them believe that you are a trustworthy company.
These two positive effects are measured in reality. A Cornell University study found that responses to negative reviews had a direct and positive impact on hotel bookings (source).
Some tips for responding to negative reviews
Now let’s see how to respond to negative reviews properly.
1. Take a Step Back
Let’s start with a simple tip: Take a step back.
It can be difficult to take in some negative reviews, especially when they directly question your work.
When responding, keep in mind that your main goal is for the customer to convert your review to your advantage. For this we must be careful not to point it out.
2. Respond publicly to reviews
Public reactions have two advantages:
- You show that you are not trying to hide and accept public discussion;
- You show your customers and potential customers that you care about them and that you care about their feedback.
3. Try to start a direct discussion with the customer.
While your first reaction to a negative review should always be on Google, it’s not always the best place to start a conversation with your customers.
Actually, Googlel doesn’t provide any way to chat privately and in real time.
If you know that a negative review is going to take a long time to recover, you should try to interact directly with the customer by phone, email or social media.
To do this, do not hesitate to ask that he contact you at the e-mail address.
4. Embrace Your Mistakes
No business is perfect and it is impossible to please everyone.
Most important is how you respond to these errors. This is what determines how customers view your brand.
5. Ask questions when details are unclear.
To respond to reviews effectively, feel free to ask questions and get more information from the customer. This will start a healthy dialogue that will help you diagnose the bottleneck facing the customer.
6. Show empathy and offer solutions.
Just writing a sweet answer is not enough. Customers who leave a review often wait for a solution or action to reduce or compensate for the problem they are facing.
7. Mind Your Spelling
According to an Ipsos study, 80% of French people say they are shocked when they encounter a spelling error in a company’s communication.
So there is no question of letting your response to reviews be falsified. To make your comment a success, consider checking it out with a spell checker.
8. Respond Personally
Customers leaving reviews need to be considered.
Consider personalizing your answers. To do this, you can:
- call them by their first name or by their last name;
- Fully adapt your response to their opinion;
- Sign your notice with your name and title.
3 Examples of Good Responses to Negative Reviews on Google
The reaction of a luxury hotel to a dissatisfied customer
We found this answer for a review on the page of Krylon, a Parisian palace.
The hotel’s response is perfect:
- The author of the opinion is thanked;
- The person apologizes for the bad customer experience;
- The hotel offers to contact the person again to learn more and resolve the issue;
- The person responding to the notice must sign it with his full name and title.
Printemps’ response to an unhappy customer
We found this answer on the Printemps page.
Several elements are particularly relevant:
- The defendant mentions the customer by name;
- He took the time with one of the store’s employees to find out the problem the customer was facing;
- She scheduled a call with the reviewer to investigate the problem.
Ibis Hotel’s response to a dissatisfied customer
This answer is interesting because it is factual and detailed:
- The hotel manager states subtly and factually that the author’s opinion is incorrect;
- He nonetheless offers to make a gesture and invites the author of the notice to contact him to obtain credit.
Fortunately, not all opinions are negative. If it seems necessary to respond to negative reviews, what about positive reviews? Should we respond to them systematically?
Responding to positive reviews provides two good impressions:
- He encourages those who support you to encourage you even more;
- He encourages those who have not yet left a review to leave a positive review.
In short, responding to positive reviews helps create a positive dynamic.
1. Respond Personally
Include the person’s name in your response.
A US study showed that people are very sensitive to the mention of their first name (source, in English). As with negative reviews, responding with your first or last name shows that you have really taken the review into consideration.
2. Reply to Full Review
Some of the positive reviews include suggestions for improvement. Remember to keep these suggestions in mind in your response.
3. Show You’re Grateful
Expressing gratitude to a customer who gave you a good review shows that you pay attention not only to negative reviews, but to customers who are happy with their experience.
4. Sign Your Message
Signing off your response helps make the message more personal and beneficial for the reviewer.
Let’s be clear: As a business owner, removing negative reviews from Google can be tempting.
In this case, what is the procedure to be followed?
Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Google does not allow you to delete a comment directly. It provides a reporting option.
This option allows you to ask Google to remove the review in the following cases:
- Incitement to hatred or discrimination: If the notice causes harm to any person or group of persons by reason of their identity;
- Spam: If the review was posted by a robot or a fictitious account, or contains advertising and promotions;
- Hateful Content: If the review contains obscene words or explicit language;
- Threat: If the notice personally attacks a person;
- Off-topic: If the notice is not related to your visit to the Establishment or your use of the Services;
- Conflict of interest: Whether the review was written by someone who works for you or works for you or a competitor.
In short, you can’t delete a review just because you don’t like it.
If you are indeed in one of the situations mentioned above, here is the process to follow:
- In your Google My Business account, put yourself on Pending Notice;
- Click on the three dots available to you in the top right.
- fill out the form that appears
Here we are at the end of this guide. I hope they reassure you that every Google review deserves feedback, whether the review is positive or negative.
In all of your responses, remember to keep a warm, personal and professional tone.