What!?!
Many businesses panic when they find a negative review, however, it’s important to note that there are some benefits to negative reviews.
Here are 5 benefits to negative reviews that many businesses don’t even consider.
1. A negative review makes your company look real. Over the course of time, consumers are going to begin to wonder if your company never gets a negative review. You’ll look phony and fake. Thus, you’ll need a few negative reviews to improve your status.
According to a study by Reevoo, up to 68 percent of all customers were more likely to trust a company that had received at least a few bad reviews over a company that had no negative reviews. If they didn’t find at least a few negative reviews they were suspicious that the company was editing the reviews.
Consumers anticipate a few bad reviews. It’s vital to consider your bad reviews and not edit them out for your own reputation.
2. A negative review is a great learning tool. If we don’t know what we’ve done wrong how can we fix it? Thus, no matter what the error, it’s a way to improve the site and company.
Consider the negative reviews. Read the good, the bad and the ugly and then consider whether or not you can see a pattern. Are they all complaining about the same thing? Is it a wait time issue, customer service issue? Quality or poor service? Once you know the issue, then you can begin to repair it.
3. By providing prompt and courteous service to your negative reviews, you can actually help turn them into a positive.
Customers are reading your company’s negative reviews and waiting to see what you’re going to do about them. Are you going to make it right with the customer? Are you going to replace defective products? Are you going to improve your customer service staffing? It’s vital to remain sincere and polite no matter how nasty the review.
Once you’ve addressed the situation and made the situation right, you should give the customer an option to re review your company and mention that they were given a replacement product or a prompt response. This can actually work to improve your company by showing that your going to be better in the future and that you’re improving.
4. Concerned about some staffing issues? Negative reviews can help to highlight the issue and show you where the weak link is.
One of the most common negative reviews is that of a lack of customer service. your customer service staff should be friendly and competent. They should be capable and ready to help.
By reading over the comments and paying attention you can find the weak link and either offer them some new skills or let them go if need be. This can provide you with a great team of employees and ensure that you’re customers are always happy.
5. Negative reviews can show that the company is improving. It can spark the employee’s to want to strive to improve.
An unanticipated negative review is an ideal way to improve employee awareness. All businesses need to be able to address issues and by seeing negative reviews alongside of the positive reviews you’ll quickly learn what is right and wrong with your company. Reviews are a way that consumers are able to share with a company how well they’re doing. There are a variety of methods in which to do this. It can bring on an entirely new awareness for any company and help to improve their customer service as well as their products. This can help a company to stay in touch with their customers and provide their customers with excellent service.
As more companies become aware of this, they can use negative reviews to improve their staff and products. The only real mistake made is when they don’t take the negative reviews and improve upon the issue and respond appropriately to the disgruntled customer. Ignoring negative reviews is not a good business policy, potential customers want to see that your company is going to make things right and go the extra mile.