How to Respond to Negative Feedback on Social Media

It’s happened to all of us and can sometimes seem to be unavoidable. Negative feedback and poor reviews can happen even when you’re doing everything right and being up front with clients and consumers. In this digital age of 2018, it’s become unbelievably simple for people to leave reviews, comments, and other forms of feedback. A lot of this is often done on forums such as Google’s reviews feature or on Facebook posts. This ease of feedback can be a double edged sword since people can quickly spread positive experiences they’ve had with your business, products, or employees, but they can also have a bad word about your company spread like wildfire. If you’re wondering if there’s anything you can do to mitigate the effects of bad reviews and negative feedback, continue reading. You can fight back in a productively and respectively.

Relax

Skipping this first essential step could exacerbate the problem. Let’s say you noticed that a consumer left a poor review of your business online. This individual wasn’t satisfied with your product and let you know about it in a strongly worded paragraph. First, explore. Check to see if other consumers had the same problem. Find out specifically what went wrong with the product and determine if this instance was a fluke or a deeper, more complex production issue. In this same vein, you must remember to relax and not stress out about this negative review when you first notice it. Perhaps you reason that this individual misused your product or didn’t follow directions somehow. Chances are, you’ll be upset. Give it 24 hours to refocus your thoughts before replying.

Respond

Once you’ve thought about your response and given yourself enough time to think, respond courteously. Don’t think of a negative review as negative. Sure, it may be at first, but in the long run, your responses to negative feedback are an opportunity to actually build organizational credibility. If you respond politely, others will notice that your business is transparent and honest, and they’ll likely be understanding when something goes wrong. Always remember that everyone’s review should be treated equally. One of the worst ways to go about this is to make a sarcastic remark demeaning someone. This will almost assuredly mean you’ve lost business from this person and others this person could have referred to your company.

How to Reply

There are a variety of ways to respond to this individual. When these situations involving negative feedback arise, keep these tips in mind.

Respond Quickly

It’s perfectly okay to let a review sit for a day or two, but once that time period has expired, it’s time to offer the individual an answer because they are owed one. They gave your company their business, and the business in turn should at the very least rectify the negative situation.

Comment Directly

Instead of sending this individual an email right away or direct messaging them, respond to the review so others can see that your business responded. This goes back to the idea of staying trustworthy and transparent. Remember, if you’re commenting publicly, others who may have had the same issue will also have their questions answered.

Leave all Reviews Posted

Yes, even the bad ones. Deleting negative reviews is a bad look. If consumers and other businesses see that you only have raving five-star reviews associated with your company, they’ll begin to wonder if this is a false representation of feedback. If you rectify the negative situations quickly and appropriately, you’ll begin to see that the positives will far outweigh the negatives.

There are many ways you can avoid negative feedback and poor reviews. This starts by having a well-developed web presence with a website fully capable of answering consumers’ questions up front. RedMoxy Communications has the knowledge and expertise to help your business boom. Get in touch with RedMoxy by clicking here or calling (262) 303-4238.