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Customer reviews on Google are increasing by the day. Setting up and optimizing your review responses is a must. This way you get the most out of a perceived bad experience that a customer has had. Since these reviews are slowly forming your reputation online, you might as well be a part of the conversation and gather the feedback. Simultaneously, you can manage what is being said about your business and address any mishaps that have occurred.

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75% of businesses in 2022 are still not answering their negative customer reviews. This means that you are still able to be one of the few in your industry who maximize the potential of customer reviews and the great feedback they can bring you, for free!

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Why replying to negative reviews matter

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Need more reasons why you should answer reviews? We’ll give you a few data points here:

• Google carries the most significant market share of users with a whopping 91% and 76% of Google consumers regularly read online reviews before visiting a business.
• 72% of people say that online reviews make them trust the business.
• Customers are more likely to spend over 30% more on the business if they have great reviews.

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And for this topic in particular, we found this great stat:

• Over 50% of consumers expect businesses to answer their reviews within a week.

We also wrote an article about how you should try to get more reviews in your channels and why reviews are a crucial part of your online presence. It’s only a link away, here, give it a read.

If this does not convince you that you should be answering your customer’s reviews, we don’t know what will. Or actually, we do. We’ve done the work for you and have created a couple of templates for you to use when answering negative reviews. But first of all, a couple of ground rules when answering reviews.

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Act fast

The first few days after a review has been left is the most crucial time for you as a business to answer and address it. Do not leave a review hanging, take action and answer all the questions. Also, by being quick and acting on the feedback, you lower the chances of the same feedback repeating from other customers.

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Answer everything

Yes, this is crucial. You do not want to be the one who only answers to the good reviews and leaves the negative ones to rot. They will digitally rot and mature into a big red flag for potential new customers. Also, if a review mentions many different aspects that went wrong, address them all. Subjectively not mentioning something the reviewer has mentioned just because you yourself do not see it as a crucial point can make it look like you can’t take the heat, and you can take the heat, right?

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Hello, *name*!

Make the responses personal. A customer does not want the reply to be dry and sound robotic. This is especially crucial when replying to negative comments. Customers want to feel heard and that their feedback is taken seriously. If a customer truly has felt bad and expresses it in their review, remember to apologize for the poor experience. A more personal answer can make the customer more inclined to continue discussing with you and help you improve for the future. Making it personal can be as easy as adding their name to your response, but be creative, and address the issue with a human touch.

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React to feedback

What is the point of reading a review, answering it, and then not doing anything to actualize the feedback and work on improving your business? Make it a task to conceptualize ways to improve and then actually do the concrete work to ensure that the same bad feedback won't appear twice. After all, these people are leaving reviews with feedback on your business for free(!), might as well take the critique and tweak your operations to try and better the experience for the next customer.

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Review management can be a tough cookie, let us help you! Find out more of what we can do for you here.

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Review reply templates for negative reviews

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Thank you for the review, *name*! We are sad to hear that your expectations were not met. Your feedback is essential for us to improve our service. Hopefully, you can give us a chance to serve you again! ☺️

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Thank you for your honest review, *name*. 🙏 We are sorry that we didn't meet your expectations. Your comments are valuable to us in building a better customer experience, and hopefully, we are worth a second visit! 😊

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Hi, *name*! I'm sorry to hear that your experience did not go as expected. If you wish to discuss this further, please contact our customer service *name*. We would love to know how we could make up for your unsatisfactory experience. Hope to see you again in the future! 😊

Thank you for the review, *name*! We would love to hear some comments on how we could further improve your experience with our business. Hopefully, you'll be back soon!

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Thank you for the review, *name*! We are sorry to hear that our service left you unsatisfied this time. This is not the experience we want to give you. We take all feedback really seriously and seek opportunities to develop our service. Hopefully, you will give us a chance to serve you again!✨

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Thank you ${name} for sharing your experience with us, although it didn't go as expected this time! It was never our intention to treat you in a bad manner and we are sorry that you left feeling that way. We hope you give us a new chance to show what we stand for! 🤍

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More templates can be found through the following link. In the article, we talk about all sorts of review replies and how to get the most out of using them.

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Essentially, answer your reviews no matter what. We’ve given you some examples to get you started, but do not be afraid to experiment and brighten the replies with your own brand and expertise to make them even more personal and helpful.

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Still not sure where to start or how to dive into the world of review management? Let us help you! Contact us and we’ll help you figure it out.

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