Business owners know how essential it is to receive customer reviews for their products or services. However, the customer feedback you acquire after accomplishing a transaction with a buyer can also make or break your reputation.

If you want to attract more customers, focusing on gaining reviews can help you achieve your objectives. More often than not, shoppers interested in your offers will always check other people’s reviews about your product before deciding if they want to support your brand.

While it’s great to get a positive review from your customer, you can’t always satisfy everyone. You have to be prepared to face negative reviews too, but it’s best to handle them with grace. Keep reading below to find out tips for acknowledging customer reviews the right way.

Take Time to Cool Down Before Responding

Every time your brand receives a good review from your happy customers, it improves your image and encourages other shoppers to try out your products. However, the same cannot be said when you get a bad review from an unsatisfied customer.

In some cases, the bad feedback you receive may be unfair on your part when all you’ve done is ensure your job goes well and strive to build your company to get to where it is now. If you run a small business, you’re likely to feel terrible about it and possibly angry.

You must still respond to the feedback you receive, whether it’s good or bad, but you shouldn’t let your emotions get the best of you. Instead, give yourself time to blow off steam before writing your reply. Whatever you do, avoid sounding defensive and focus on maintaining your professionalism. After all, one bad review doesn’t represent your entire brand.

Admit Your Mistakes and Aim to Do Better

With each negative feedback you encounter, if you think it doesn’t give your business justice, you still shouldn’t take it lightly. It could be because of how your customer feels about you or your products, often basing it on their experience after giving your brand their time of day.

The best thing you can do is acknowledge what took place and develop a response that will prove you listen to your customers and consider their needs and demands. While you can own up to your mistakes for failing a customer, it doesn’t mean you’re admitting to something you didn’t do.

If it’s something you have no control over, such as delayed delivery due to logistics or customs, you can explain it to your customer. However, if it’s sending out a malfunctioning product or the wrong order, you can still turn things around by apologizing for what took place and promising your customer to do better.

Avoid Arguing with a Customer in Public

During instances where a customer gave you a bad review and accused your business of something wrong, you have the right to share your side of the story. However, you must remain professional about it and avoid making a whole scene.

As much as possible, avoid public arguments, whether offline or online, at all costs to prevent tainting your brand’s precious image. If, after responding with respect and your customer still won’t back down, the best course of action is to message your unhappy customer directly.

Taking the discussion in a more personal matter could diffuse the situation and prevent your business from becoming the talk of the town, especially if a bad light is being shined down on you. Reaching out to have a one-on-one conversation with your customer to explain further or apologize for your mistake can help set things straight and maintain your clean reputation.

Conclusion

By now, entrepreneurs and business owners should be used to receiving all kinds of customer reviews. Whether you own a start-up company or a large corporation, the feedback you acquire still has the power to affect your image, so you have to be careful about how you plan to respond to them. When dealing with a bad review, it will help to take time to cool down before coming up with a response, admit your mistakes and do better, and avoid arguing with customers in public. Moreover, you could use reputation management tools to give you an easier time monitoring what people say about you over the internet.

Are you looking for the best reputation management software, for your online business? Turnkey Reputation strives to boost businesses 24/7 with an automated reputation marketing system. Get in touch with us today to try our software for free for a whole month!

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