How to Respond to Positive & Negative Reviews

 

Now more than ever, customer reviews are vital to a company’s image and brand. This is because more people search for and rely on other customer reviews before they decide on your product or service. But, the good news is customer reviews are a two-way street! Your response to customer reviews can also positively or negatively impact future customers. So, let’s dive into our best tips on how to respond to customer reviews.

 

Why You Should Respond to Customer Reviews

Before you dive into responding to reviews, you should know why responses are so important. Responding to all customer reviews, not just the good ones, is something you should make a habit of. Overall, responding to positive and negative reviews shows you value your customers’ input. In addition, current customers will appreciate you taking their feedback to heart, and your responses to reviews may even persuade potential customers to use your business. You also have opportunities to improve your website’s SEO by using keywords in your replies to reviews.

 

Responding to Positive Reviews

Responding to a positive customer review might seem simple, but be strategic and thoughtful about your response to make the most out of it. First and foremost, always use a unique and custom response to each review, specific to their points. Now, here are more practical steps to crafting a fantastic response.

• Thank them for the feedback

Always start with thanking your customer for sharing their review and positive experience. Then, go a step further by mentioning specific details they discussed in their review. This could be acknowledging the product, department, or employee the customer reviewed.

• Include SEO keywords

Did you know you can help implement your winning SEO strategy in response to customer reviews? As a business owner, you want positive reviews to be one of the first things potential customers see. One way to help elevate that is to include keywords, your business name, location, and business category in the review. Again, keep it organic, but make it a priority to include some of your business’s important information.

• Add brief marketing

While you want the true focus of your response to be on the customer, you can still include some marketing. Think about highlighting a new product/service or promotion you have coming up. For example, a response to a review for a family-friendly restaurant might include, “We offer a kids-eat-free night every Tuesday!”

• Offer a next step

A great way to end the response is to invite the customer to take a next step. This could be inviting them to visit again soon or encouraging them to try a certain promotion or similar product. Finally, close out your response with a final thanks and let them know you look forward to seeing them soon. 

 

Responding to Negative Reviews

Negative reviews can be frustrating to manage, but don’t run away from them! If negative reviews are handled intentionally, they can still positively impact future business. We should note, though, this isn’t a time you want to include SEO keywords in your response. Instead, you want to keep those positive reviews at the top of the search page! Here’s what you should say in your response to negative customer reviews.

• Address the customer 

A simple step you can do to help your grieved customer feel seen is to address them by name if possible. This makes it a more personal experience and shows the customer you care about them and their feedback.

• Apologize and thank them for the feedback

You should always start your negative feedback response with an apology and thank them for sharing their thoughts and experience. No matter how the situation went, a simple apology and thank you set a positive tone for the rest of your response.

• Take responsibility

It’s best to keep responses to negative reviews relatively concise and not try to solve it entirely in a public forum. However, take responsibility for the situation, regardless of how random it could have been. This is also an opportunity to highlight the high standards you hold your business to or how popular the product/service typically is. An example of this might be, “We’re normally known for providing prompt service for our customers, and we are deeply sorry we missed that for you this time.”

• Move further communication offline

Use the public comment to offer a way for the customer to get in touch with you by phone or email to fix this issue and then close out your response. This is successful in two ways. First, it shows the reviewer and anyone reading the review that you take this seriously and are working toward a solution. Second, it closes the door to hash it out on the internet.

 

 

With more and more people trusting reviews, your business’ quick response is essential. Using intentional and custom approaches, you can make your customer review responses a part of your overall marketing strategy and provide value for your customers. If this has you ready to revamp your marketing and website strategy, there’s help for you. Suite Edge is a digital marketing company specializing in e-commerce, website development, content marketing, and SEO. Our expert team provides the strategy and implementation you need to help your business win. Contact Suite Edge today to learn more about our services.

 

 

 

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