I agree with you more than not. Nevertheless there are many decent businesses with few reviews for whom a single bad one can unduly and unfairly influence public perception for a long, long time. That isn't fair.
Everyone reading this can probably think of at least one time they dodged a bullet when a less than satisfied customer didn't post a negative review. After all, you can't please everyone all the time no matter how good you are. That includes me. I've never had a bad review, but that doesn't mean every customer I've ever had named their firstborn after me. Some customers are just determined to be dissatisfied.
Yes, but a proper response to a bad review by the business can go a long way to mitigate an unhappy customer. I'd argue, in fact, that a proper response to a negative review will go a long way to
encouraging clients to pick you.
Don't try to be "professional" and have a nearly automated replace that sounds like a robot created it. No "Here at ____ we strive to meet the needs of all out clients" blah blah blah. That comes off as dismissive.
Don't try to argue for your side of the story. "I understand you're upset, but we told you at the counter that such and such would happen". That comes off as combative and nobody enjoys watching people play the Blame Game.
Address the root cause of their complaints. Not what they think it is and what they're complaining about, but what REALLY caused it. Once you identify it, apologize for it, and explain that you'll try to be better for future clients. I'm not saying admit to mistakes, and especially not saying admit to something you didn't do. But you can always find something to improve in your business by understanding what
really caused the problem. And even if you can't, or won't implement such a change, you can at least acknowledge that you thought about it, and will consider ways to prevent it in the future. To onlookers, this will instill trust in you, more so than a bunch of generic 5 star "A+++++ WILL USE AGAIN THX!!!!" reviews will.
As an example, lets take the diag fee complaint Saphirescales had.
Don't say : "We're sorry to hear you had a bad experience at ____. We work very hard to accommodate all our clients and to resolve their issues as best we can. In this case unfortunately we were unable to fix the issue, and only charged the agreed upon diagnostic fee to cover our costs of performing the diagnostic work we performed."
While this is a professional response, it comes off as lacking any real empathy. It makes people feel like you're going to be just another corporate drone following policy. Like you were forced by your boss to address bad reviews 5 minutes before your shift is supposed to end.
Also definitely
don't say: "I'm sorry you felt the diagnostic fee was unwarranted, but it was explained up-front that we charge it for systems that cannot be fixed, or that you decline the repair after we've already done a bunch of work to figure out the issue. We still have to pay our techs regardless of whether a job is paying or not, and the diagnostic fee covers the base costs we incur while doing this sort of work. We explained this charge up-front before you signed off on the work order agreeing to it. If you found it disagreeable, you should have said so right then and there and we could have worked something out, or declined the job entirely to save you that risk."
Again, its combative and even if its entirely true, makes 100% practical sense, and even the onlookers agree with it wholeheartedly... it exudes a tone of stubbornness. A reader's mind may be saying "this makes sense" while their heart is saying "but I feel like they may be a hassle." On the rational level they agree, but on the emotional level they're repelled.
So if not the professional sounding approach, and not the defensive approach, then what to do? The humble and thoughtful approach. When was the last time you had a bad first impression of someone when that impression was "they're modest and thoughtful"?
So
do say: "Hi so-and-so, I'm sorry you had a bad experience with us here at ____. I think that perhaps we didn't do a good enough job making it clear what the diagnostic fee was for, and when it would apply. We only charge this fee to cover our costs of doing the diagnostic work and it turns out to be unrepairable, or something you decide is not worth fixing. We still have to pay our employees for that time after all! We also waive the fee should you approve a repair, but I think we could have done a better job communicating that to you up-front so you could have made a better choice on whether you wanted to leave it with us or not. I do truly apologize if we didn't make that clear enough for you to make a proper decision. We'll make efforts to improve on how we communicate this to our customers in the future, and if you have any suggestions or other input, I would be grateful to hear it. You can email me at _____"
Some third party person just looking through reviews will see this and respect you for it. The review could have been full of vitriol and hate and adamant statements of about how your company sucks, but a proper response will turn it around on a dime. Even if this customer still hates you, and they just email you a list of suggested ways on how to go F- yourself... to other prospective customers you look good.
Wow, this turned into, like, a whole article
