Your Small Business Got a Bad Online Review: What Now?

Small business owners know online reviews matter, but to what extent?

A report from Brightlocal helps quantify their importance, noting these startling statistics:

• 98% of people read local business reviews at least “occasionally.”
• 53% of retailers say that online reviews increase their in-store sales.
• 40% of consumers say they only consider a business if it has a 4-star rating or higher. 

That can be pretty jarring for a small business owner, as we’ve all heard horror stories about online “trolls” tanking reviews just to be hateful or ridiculous customer storytelling that tells a false version of the situation. 

It should be some comfort, then, that how you respond to a bad online review matters just as much, if not more than what a dissatisfied customer has to say:

• 48% of customers say they are more likely to buy from a business that responds to online reviews. 
• 64% say they would rather frequent a company that responds to reasonable complaints than one that appears “perfect.”
• 51% of customers are willing to come back to a business if they provide a polite, personal response to their negative reviews. 

We’ve rounded up a few tips to help you recover from a bad online review with dignity:

Assess the Situation Honestly

Seeing someone badmouth your small business online is a gut punch, but you can’t allow yourself to sideline rationality and reason in favor of emotion. 

First, determine which employees interacted with the angry customer to understand what led to the event. Try to maintain a completely objective conversation in which you and the employee talk about the facts rather than feelings. 

If the situation occurred in your store, watch your CC camera footage to get a picture of the context that led up to the negative experience and which parties were involved. 

Respond Publicly Within 24 Hours

While it’s crucial to give yourself the time and space to reflect on what happened before you respond, you should still do so within a day of the review. 

Many businesses start by acknowledging that they are looking into the situation and will respond with a more in-depth solution shortly. This shows the customer and other people looking at your business online that you’re on top of the problem, even if you don’t have all the facts yet. 

It might be helpful to have a pre-written response ready, so you can copy and paste words written under less stressful circumstances. 

Take the High Road

More than likely, the source of the bad review is a misunderstanding, but sometimes the customer truly isn’t right. 

It happens!

Unfortunately, giving a troublesome visitor a public scolding won’t help the situation, even if it feels really good in the heat of the moment. Choose to be professional, courteous, and transparent while sharing your perspective on what happened. 

Know When There’s Nothing You Can Do

Typically, a bad online review falls into one of two categories:

1. Customers frustrated by a genuine shortcoming of your business, such as staff shortages making lines too long, not having a promised product in stock, or a poor customer service experience.
2. Folks who have unreasonable expectations, feel wrongfully entitled to over-the-top requests, or simply refuse to cooperate with your attempts to appease their demands. 

In the former category, most customers with genuine concern just want to feel heard. Acknowledging the issue, apologizing, and ensuring that you’re working to correct it is usually enough to make it right. Invite the customer to stop by again in the future, so you have the opportunity to prove you take customer feedback seriously. 

Other review readers have a keen eye for the latter category. They don’t expect small business owners to pander to every complaint about employees refusing to open the doors 15 minutes early or not giving them free products just because they asked for them. 

Fortunately, those reviews – while real– are few and far between. In these situations, it’s okay to say something along the lines of:

“I’m sorry that we didn’t meet that expectation, but that’s not how our shop conducts business. Our store hours start at 9:00 AM, and we use the half hour before to prepare the store for the day. Even if the lights are on and you see staff, they are working hard to ensure products are well-stocked, everything is tidy, and the computer is online. We hope you’ll stop by during normal business hours, but understand if your schedule doesn’t align with ours.”

Promising to open the door to every early bird might appease that person. However, it also puts your business in a very vulnerable situation, just as a restaurant comping every check where someone didn’t like the temperature on their steak would. If a customer refuses to be satisfied, there’s not much else you can do.

Don’t Let a Bad Online Review Slow You Down!

No matter how efficient and customer-oriented a small business is, there’s a high chance that a bad online review will happen at some point. 

How you respond can be a total game-changer, allowing you to save a troubled customer relationship and proving to other readers that you listen to what your shoppers have to say. 

A positive online reputation also plays a crucial role in your business value and can affect how interested future buyers are when you exit or transition. 

If you’re concerned about righting your online ship or want to learn how to leverage customer reviews as a means of business growth, business coaching with Lori is a great place to start. She’ll help you develop a more comprehensive view of your potential, identify focus areas, and build your vision for the future of your business.