Use Negative Reviews as an Opportunity to Improve

Is there ever a time when we should look upon negative reviews about our business, its staff and products/services as an opportunity? You bet!

A recent article that caught my eye just proves how trying to suppress freedom of speech when it comes to reviews – even if it was meant as a joke (maybe?) – can really come back and bite you.

Whether or not the hotel in question had indeed meant the policy as a joke is still unclear but it seems the damage is done. But joke or not, why does it seem that some businesses are so terrified of negative reviews?

After all, we don’t get everything 100% right every time and that’s just as true in life as it is in business. Therefore, negative reviews should be seen as an opportunity to improve going forward and maybe even see our negative review updated.

So what should you do if your business receives a negative review or unfavourable feedback?

Comfort your employees

Whilst you may be feeling slightly miffed about reading something bad about your business, spare a thought for your staff. They’ll be experiencing mixed emotions and will be looking to you, as their leader, to pick them up.

People hate to hear criticism and your employees are no different. You need to understand that they’ll be feeling demoralised, despondent and as though they let you down. Comfort them, raise their spirits and get them fighting fit for another day.

Remain calm

The hotel in the article I cited at the start of this post definitely approached negative feedback in the wrong way. The trick is to remain calm in the face of criticism and never overreact.

Often, knee-jerk reactions can have the total opposite effect of what we want and make a bad situation even worse. For example, attempting to respond to a negative review defensively will just draw more attention to the situation and turn your potential opportunity into a public nightmare.

Reach out personally

Get on the phone or send an email to the customer in question expressing your regret that you didn’t meet their expectations and seek further advice – that’s right, ask them how you can improve going forward.

By doing so, you show that you take their opinion very seriously and want to use their experience to better yourself for future customers. If you can resolve any issues that were highlighted, you might just see that negative review be updated to reflect your business much more favourably.

Discover the root causes

Negative feedback and bad reviews are almost always due to only a handful of factors:

1. A bad customer experience – poor service, low-quality product, tardiness. In this instance a negative review should serve as a wake-up call to your business that you’re perhaps missing the mark on occasions.

2. Customer expectations mismatch – they expected one thing but what they got was quite another. This is a bit more difficult to remedy than the previous point but the customer’s feedback should be analysed carefully and your marketing, pricing and staff approach be reviewed accordingly.

3. Your business is inaccessible – people don’t want to deliberately bash your business in public but if you don’t give them any other options, what can you expect? That’s why your customer service channels need to be effective and act upon any feedback you receive.

By tackling negative reviews/feedback head-on you can really turn them into an opportunity for your business to shine. Reacting rashly or overly defensively will not help the situation. Show all your customers that you value their opinions and use feedback, positive or negative, to improve everything that you do.

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