1-Star Reviews: It’s how you respond that instills confidence in the customers, not the review that is necessarily left.
The dreaded 1-star review is enough to send shivers down any business owner’s spine. But it’s not for vanity reasons, as some would have you believe.
This fear stems from a user expierence and SEO standpoint. Online reviews are very important for both the owner and consumers in the modern day. While reviews are viewed as a simple form of feedback from a business perspective, the contemporary online world depends on these reviews for a digital standpoint.
It is up to you as the business owner to use the reviews as constructive criticism to improve you and the company.
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93% of customers check review sites before they buy from a company, whilst 91% of customers trust review sites as much as word of mouth. You can find out more about these statistics through this Brightlocal article.
Reviews will show your credibility and trustworthiness as a business, and can both be a good and bad thing for each company (depending on what the reviews say). The more feedback you gain then the better it is for your business. With more positive reviews the more your business will grow.
Customers generally read around 10 reviews before they trust a business, so it’s beneficial to have more positive snippets of feedback. And, of course, those reviews need to be semi-positive at the very least.
Google Reviews, Facebook, Yelp and Tripadvisor are some of the most popular review sites that customers will use.
However, the more customers you get, the more chance you will eventually run into that 1-star review. Don’t be scared of such an event, though! The Karens can be defeated.
Of course, hundreds of 1-star reviews will eventually sink your reputation, and probably suggests you probably need to be doing something different.
But one ot two bad reviews doesn’t have to be the end of the world. In fact, a couple of bad reviews might actually be a good thing in the long run! That statement might sound as though we’ve had cocaine for breakfast, but there is method to our thought process.
For instance, If a business has all 5-star reviews (say, 200 of them) then it looks fake, having a few mixed reviews makes the business look more authentic. After all, you can’t please everyone. Let’s dig a bit deeper…
What Are 1-Star Reviews?
This may seem like a strange question as, at face value, there’s not much to discuss. Seems pretty self explanatory, right?
Getting the obvious out of the way, a 1-star review is the worst kind of review you can receive from a customer. It highlights that someone endured the worst possible service known to man, rude staff, a poor product/outcome, and would not recommend the business to their worst enemy.
Delving a little deeper into what they are, 1-star reviews can differ drastically in what they are, and how they’ve ended up on your page.
1-star reviews can be spam, they can be fake reviews from people who were never customers or real reviews left by disgruntled customers.
All of these can be detrimental to your business, and it is important to address these correctly.
One unfortunate part of review sites, especially Google, is that you shouldn’t just delete negative reviews as it can have a negative impact on your search engine ranking.
The only reviews you can get away with deleting are those that are spam. You can click here to see how to delete spam reviews.
The other types of reviews are all down to you to resolve. Which isn’t as daunting as it sounds.
Simply put: it’s all about how you respond to these reviews. If you engage with the negative review in a bid to either explain yourself or oust a Karen, then potential customers won’t be deterred. If anything, it shows that you are passionate about your service – which is what we all want to see!
Why You Should Reply To Reviews
You should always respond to any reviews you get online, whether they be positive or negative.
The purpose of responding to negative reviews is to salvage your reputation and give you the chance to explain what might have happened. Not to mention the SEO benefits, as Google gives brownie points to those who engage with their customer’s reviews. Even if it’s a simple ‘Thank you!’
The benefit of responding to reviews is that it boosts your google search ranking.
It also humanises you and gives potential new customers the chance to understand the situation from your point of view.
Responding to reviews correctly can improve customer satisfaction and perception dramatically.
However, failing to respond and just hoping it’ll dissolve into the ether, can result in driving customers away; as they want to see you replying.
Reviews can also be a form of constructive criticism. If you get a series of negative reviews on one topic or area, you know that this is something that needs to be addressed.
Get ready for another statistic…
71% of customers are more likely to use a company if they reply to their reviews.
Customers expect you to reply to their comments even if it is just an acknowledgement or a thank you.
1-star, or negative, reviews in general will happen, you’ve got to prepare yourself for it. No matter how perfect your business is, you will at some point be on the receiving end of negative reviews. Because people can be hyper-sensitive.
You can’t let it get to you. You might have hundreds of 5- or 4-star reviews, but they can all be cancelled out by the one negative review.
If it’s your first negative review, you’re probably going to take it personally and it will hurt you. Rise above it and push on.
How To Respond To A Negative Review
Firstly don’t panic, take a breather and leave the review for an hour or two. A knee-jerk reaction isn’t going to solve the issue!
The best thing to do is to not engage with the review whilst emotions are running high.
You don’t want emotion to overrule your response and potentially damage the reputation of your business.
Hitting the sweet spot of replying is key, usually giving yourself a few hours to come up with a suitable response that is professional and that you’re happy with.
1. Do your research
Research the person who has left the review, look into what happened during their visit or experience with you, find out why they have left the review they have. Before responding, you need to know all these answers so you’re not caught off guard.
2. Include the reviewers’ name in your response
It’s a friendly opening to start the tone of the response. You don’t want to come across as rude, including their name allows you to be relatable, and so it doesn’t look like it’s an automated response.
3. Say ‘thank you’ for the review
This is just another simple way to keep the response friendly. Let them know that you genuinely appreciate the feedback. You should always thank the reviewer for leaving a review no matter what star they give you.
4. Apologise and provide a solution
You want to be seen to be attempting to appease the situation whilst commenting on review pages. The whole point is so that you come across better than the reviewer, or at least come off well enough so that the original review is no longer an issue.
5. Offer to follow up and address the matter offline
Ask for contact details from the reviewer or offer your email address so you can continue resolving the issue offline. Dragging out the response on the review pages can be bad for business, especially if the reviewer doesn’t like your response.
As a typical rule of thumb for all replies, keep them short, professional and polite.
Avoid going into too many complexities, and be careful when deciding to respond with humour.
If you try too hard to make a quirky or funny response you run the risk of digging yourself into a hole. After all, nobody likes a wise-ass.
If you’re struggling to come up with your own, Review Trackers have a great template to follow.
Make sure you change it up a bit though to keep each response a little different and personal.
Otherwise here are examples of good responses from other business owners.
How Not To Reply To Reviews
This might be fairly self-explanatory or at least for the most part it should be.
The old business saying of “the customer is always right” is certainly the case when it comes to replying to reviews.
Very few businesses can get away with just being rude to customers on reviews sites and still maintain a successful operation.
Strangely enough, some businesses almost become a parody account where they are trolled regularly due to the less than professional manner of replying to customers. See Amy’s Baking Company for further evidence.
They will get hundreds of fake reviews, just to agitate the owner and look for a bite. It’s kinda like professional trolling, and you should never engage with a troll.
Boiled down: this isn’t something you want to do.
These are 3 common mistakes businesses make when replying to reviews.
Calling out the customer
Don’t call the customer out and accuse them of being wrong. Thank them for the response and offer to talk about it online. It’s bad for business and can damage your reputation if potential new customers see you talking poorly to customers.
Using negative, offensive or unprofessional language
You’re the face of the business when replying, you’re not out laughing with friends. Keep your language professional and certainly don’t be offensive to the customer.
Failing to provide a resolution
This is often one of the biggest mistakes people make whilst responding to reviews. They thank them for the review and even if it’s a negative one just move on. Providing a customer with some sort of counter or resolution really makes your response, it establishes your professionalism.
It’s All Part Of Running A Business
Getting the feared 1-star review is all part of the learning process of sustaining and building a successful business.
Responding to reviews in the right manner can allow you to take them as constructive criticism and use them to take your business to the next level.
You can use your responses to build relationships with your customers and make your business more approachable.
The main part to take from negative reviews is that they aren’t the end of the world.
1-star reviews are salvageable, and can help make your business more relatable. Not everyone in the world is perfect and you can’t please everyone.
As long as you aren’t getting persistent 1-star reviews for the same issue (such a punching your customers in the face), or that one of the reviews is for something disgraceful, you have nothing to worry about.
It’s how you respond that instills confidence in the customers, not the review that is necessarily left.
You have to take responsibility and attempt to make things right with the customer who has left that negative review.
Just remember to take a breather, soak in the review, find out why it’s been left and please respond politely.
Andrew Wright
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