Negative Reviews Help Denver Digital Marketing Strategy
July 1st, 2016
Amazon. Yelp. TripAdvisor. Rotten Tomatoes. Angie’s List. You name it, there’s a site collecting reviews on whatever goods or services you’re selling. These sites and more allow consumers to post reviews, oftentimes anonymously. With the prevalence of digital marketing, one might be forgiven for crediting these reviews with a great deal of influence and even conclude that negatives reviews sound the death knell for that product or service or even the company. While your digital marketing strategy should include the power of positive consumer reviews, negative reviews can have a positive impact on your business. Negative reviews are inevitable, so here are a few tactics to effectively engage a negative review and help improve business!
Identify and fix the problem. Customer perception often reveals gaps and defects that management may not have considered or even noticed. Harsh feedback that puts a spotlight on a particular problem is your clarion call to fix that problem.
Make it right. That negative review is an opportunity to show customers that you value their business and good opinion. Make it right. Offer a refund or credit toward future service or a future purchase. You may even want to contact that customer personally to see what will alleviate any hard feelings. Then post your corrective action in response to that negative review. Potential customers will read the review and the follow-up comment, understand that your business responded, and know that if they have a problem, it will be treated fairly and professionally. Businesses make mistakes and people understand that, so how you respond to negative feedback makes all the difference.
Improve employee performance. Customer service isn’t easy and no one is perfect all the time. Negative reviews offer management the opportunity to discuss potential problems with employees and address root causes of issues. Negative reviews can also inspire employees to step up their game and can be an issue of pride. While we can’t assume that all negative reviews are legitimate, they certainly do provide an opportunity to highlight issues and improve.
Realism builds trust. Let’s face it, it’s easy to purchase glowing reviews in order to dupe your customer base. However, a slew of gushin and positive reviews might not pass the test if your potential customers are scoping you on review sites. Some negative reviews might help your potential clients gain a little trust that you're a real company, with real people, working with real customers and reviews. Besides, if your clients ask for references from your company, you want to be able to point them to someone who will gush about you realistically.
Build customer confidence. Critical reviews help customers determine whether a product or service is suitable for their needs. For instance, a customer seeking to read a book in a particular genre may come across a title by an unfamiliar author. Reading the reviews of that book, the customer can determine whether that book will suit his tastes, which is more likely to result in a positive review when the book fulfills his expectations.
There’s no need for doom and gloom when a product or service acquires the occasional negative review. There will always be customers unsatisfied for whatever reason and the best you can do is to address their complaints in a manner that’s fair and professional without throwing your staff under the bus. Take a deep breath, be practical, and don’t worry so much unless what you’re selling garners mostly negative reviews.
Be aware that responding to harsh feedback is a reactive customer relationship strategy. To engage in a proactive strategy consider enrolling yourself and employees in “voice of the customer” programs that teach tried-and-true processes in how to connect with customers on key points.
Denver Website Design offers digital marketing that will put your business’ best face forward so that your customers are more likely to have a positive experience and, therefore, to leave a positive review. Call (303) 498-9000 to talk about improving your business’ Denver content marketing and SEO strategy.
Go Back Identify and fix the problem. Customer perception often reveals gaps and defects that management may not have considered or even noticed. Harsh feedback that puts a spotlight on a particular problem is your clarion call to fix that problem.
Make it right. That negative review is an opportunity to show customers that you value their business and good opinion. Make it right. Offer a refund or credit toward future service or a future purchase. You may even want to contact that customer personally to see what will alleviate any hard feelings. Then post your corrective action in response to that negative review. Potential customers will read the review and the follow-up comment, understand that your business responded, and know that if they have a problem, it will be treated fairly and professionally. Businesses make mistakes and people understand that, so how you respond to negative feedback makes all the difference.
Improve employee performance. Customer service isn’t easy and no one is perfect all the time. Negative reviews offer management the opportunity to discuss potential problems with employees and address root causes of issues. Negative reviews can also inspire employees to step up their game and can be an issue of pride. While we can’t assume that all negative reviews are legitimate, they certainly do provide an opportunity to highlight issues and improve.
Realism builds trust. Let’s face it, it’s easy to purchase glowing reviews in order to dupe your customer base. However, a slew of gushin and positive reviews might not pass the test if your potential customers are scoping you on review sites. Some negative reviews might help your potential clients gain a little trust that you're a real company, with real people, working with real customers and reviews. Besides, if your clients ask for references from your company, you want to be able to point them to someone who will gush about you realistically.
Build customer confidence. Critical reviews help customers determine whether a product or service is suitable for their needs. For instance, a customer seeking to read a book in a particular genre may come across a title by an unfamiliar author. Reading the reviews of that book, the customer can determine whether that book will suit his tastes, which is more likely to result in a positive review when the book fulfills his expectations.
There’s no need for doom and gloom when a product or service acquires the occasional negative review. There will always be customers unsatisfied for whatever reason and the best you can do is to address their complaints in a manner that’s fair and professional without throwing your staff under the bus. Take a deep breath, be practical, and don’t worry so much unless what you’re selling garners mostly negative reviews.
Be aware that responding to harsh feedback is a reactive customer relationship strategy. To engage in a proactive strategy consider enrolling yourself and employees in “voice of the customer” programs that teach tried-and-true processes in how to connect with customers on key points.
Denver Website Design offers digital marketing that will put your business’ best face forward so that your customers are more likely to have a positive experience and, therefore, to leave a positive review. Call (303) 498-9000 to talk about improving your business’ Denver content marketing and SEO strategy.