How to handle negative reviews is one of the most troubling aspects of being a business owner nowadays. Let’s face it…we live in a world where people now feel comfortable saying just about anything online. The anonymity of the online environment means that people don’t need to look anyone in the eye before saying rude, crude and offensive things, and your business, unfortunately, could be on the receiving end at some point. Between Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google and Facebook, the opportunity for people to write something negative about any business anywhere in the world is greater than ever.
We’re here to tell you it’s fine. Really! You might not want to wake up and find a Yelp review saying that your pizza is the worst in town, or your stylist gave the worst haircut ever, but it’s an opportunity to improve. Really.
Yes, negative reviews can deter business because the review is online for the world to see, and you might not ever be able to get rid of it. On the other hand, what’s the next thing people see after that negative review? Do they see your apologetic response or follow-up efforts to make it better? If so, that negative review might not have much power at all. The Associated Press recently published an article about the topic of negative reviews. They interviewed a man named Jeff Gates who owns eight restaurants in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. Gates says he allows the negative reviews to provide him with a steady flow of feedback to improve. He considers the criticism akin to what he might hear if he left out comment cards on the tables. He reads and responds to every post and consults with his staff to understand what went wrong and what could be improved. “If multiple people are picking up on the same issue, that’s something we really want to focus on,” he says in the article.
Resist, at all costs, the urge to get snarky in your responses to negative reviews. You may be angered or know that a customer’s words were not justified, but that will not come across to the other people who read the review. This negative response on your part will hurt your business more over time than the initial negative review will if you respond with anything but a measured, cool, level-headed and apologetic manner. Respond in a manner offering to make things right somehow, to have a private meeting with the reviewer to help clear things up, invite them to your next employee meeting to see how you’re adjusting your staff training, or simply say that you’re sorry and hope that they give you another chance. Show that you care and you take the criticism seriously.
As your business grows and you serve more and more people, whether it’s landscaping or massage therapy, there are bound to be people who don’t like what you’re doing. Dig a little deeper and see if you can find that one customer is leaving a pattern of negative reviews at other restaurants as well. This might help you know how to respond or at least not feel so personally about it. Some business have unsuccessfully sued sites such as Yelp, claiming that the negative reviews were a form of libel. In September, a federal appeals court ruled that Yelp could not be held liable for negative reviews.
In California, a law was passed that protects customers who write a bad review. AB 2365 was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown in 2014 after a string of companies tried to discourage bad reviews with penalties. For instance, a New York hotel posted a policy to charge customers $500 if a bad review came up after their stay. Other companies have tried similar measures of charging customers who post bad reviews. The law prohibits companies from making these kinds of claims against their customers.
The House has passed a bill that would prevent businesses from requiring that customers sign an agreement to not post negative reviews. A similar Senate version, called the Consumer Review Freedom Act, passed last year, so these two versions will have to be reconciled before the President sees the bill. Interesting, is it not, that this issue might end up in front of the United States Commander in Chief? Just goes to show how much importance people place on reviews and the power they have over businesses. The reality is, yes, negative reviews hurt, but you can’t please everyone, and it’s your response to the criticism that really matters.
