Negative reviews on the Internet. How to fight?

The Internet is full of opportunities to leave feedback on a particular product / service. Most of them are complaints. It `s naturally.

It is clear that there are all kinds of situations and in working with people it is impossible to be 100% white and fluffy. So, if such cases arise, you need to try to reduce the negative to a neutral attitude and solve the problem.

In this article, I will describe a short list of useful tips for dealing with negativity.



The following case prompted me to write this note: I am eyeing a new car. To this end, traveled to all the salons of the city and chose what attracts me in price and characteristics.

Signed up for a test drive. They promised me that they would call me.

Nobody called me at the appointed one. I waited another hour and contacted the salon myself. There they explained to me that the car got into a small accident and offered for a test drive another car with similar characteristics. Persuaded for about 5 minutes.

In the end, I still got the answer that in about 2 weeks the car that I liked would be on track.

Naturally, I was upset and I had fair questions:

• why no one called on time?
• why are they convincing me that they know better what I need without even seeing me?
• if this is how they work with the client before the purchase, then how will they treat me after?

We will figure out what to do if such a situation arose.

Negative Review Goals

So, our main goal is to solve the problem of the person who filed the complaint, and not to fence off the company, product or service in any way. Only in this case we can not only restore the image of the company, but in some cases and improve it.

So, why does a company need all this:

• understand the essence of the claim
• remove the negative, get a neutral or positive feedback as a result
• show those who will read the correspondence that the company is open for communication, cares about its customers and does not gloss over obvious facts

By the way, a detailed consideration of the problem will also help to make the product / service better, taking into account the information received, which means it is more attractive to buyers.

The most common causes of negativity

The first thing to do is figure out the reason for the negative.

Possible options:

• the product’s advertisement is in the wrong place and at the wrong time
• black PR
• lack of attention on the part of customer service managers
• service / product flaws
• "Punch to the heap"

With those who kick for the company, everything is clear. The intrigues of competitors are also easy to calculate - such “customers” simply don’t make contact, do not leave personal data and unsubscribe in the style of “everything is always bad with you”.

Publication of advertisements where there is no your target audience usually leads to the very “doping”.

If there are objective product flaws (an example with Nokia, which does not go into contact with problematic buyers), you need to try to find out all the possible details about it and try to correct them to make the product even better. This is a free focus group!

General points for working with reviews

Track reviews constantly and respond promptly. Ideally, after someone has added a message, you should be notified immediately.

The nickname and signature of the employee answering the question should clearly indicate with whom the buyer is in correspondence. Company, position, surname, name and contacts.

How to respond to reviews

I will give an example that I remember most of all. A company that produces hand-made dumplings receives feedback of approximately the following content: dumplings are molded by hand, without gloves, this is not hygienic and can lead to poisoning.

The owner of the company wanted to reply hotly, but he was reassured and the staff of the company responsible for working with clients and communicating on the Internet, who understood that they needed to remove the negative and find out its cause, calmed him down.

In response, it was written that dumplings can be sculpted only with bare hands, and it’s easy to wipe your nose and glove. All hygiene standards in the company are respected, and the staff passes a daily check by a health worker.

A description of the staff inspection process, how dumplings are made, filling and dough is prepared, photos of the workshop and the products themselves were also provided.

Some people who read the report wrote grateful reviews of the company, which described the process and the subtleties of their work in such detail.

As it turned out, the review was left by a person working in the SES.

So, how do you respond to such reviews:

• don't write hot
• introduce yourself and indicate the position in the company, name and surname, position of the person responsible, give your contacts
• apologize on behalf of the company for the inconvenience
• find out the details of the order (number, number, etc.) and what exactly was done wrong
• be sure to thank for the tip and write that the information will be communicated to management
• if a person left contact information, call him back, apologize on behalf of the company and clarify whether all questions were published in the review
• find out the true reason for the negative, because often people are dissatisfied with the lack of attention on the part of company employees. In case of discontent, people tend to exaggerate. We arrived at the wrong time, set everything crookedly, trampled, rude
• answer after you have sorted out the details of the order for all the questions in order that the person asked and which you received by phone. Precisely and distinctly.

Some points from personal experience

I do not advise publishing laudatory reviews from non-existent buyers.

A small part of the people who leave feedback enter the dialogue, they threw out emotions and calmed down (I know by myself). So maybe your first answer will be the last. It should lead to the fulfillment of the goals that I indicated at the beginning of the note.

Never convince a person of anything. This will lead to the opposite. He already has an opinion about your company and your task is to fix it.

Thank people for the feedback. For the positive - doubly.

Reviews on other people's sites that you do not have the ability to control. Keep in mind that your message can be deleted or even corrected in such a way that the meaning is distorted. Therefore, I advise you to look at the attendance of these sites and decide whether to do anything at all.

Negative reviews, which have high positions in search engines, need to work too. Minimum - push out from top positions with neutral or positive reviews.

Always re-read carefully your answer so that it is unambiguous and does not contain errors, because some are even mistaken in names. This can cause even greater negativity.

In response, contact the person by name. This will show that you are paying attention to your customers.

Do not forget that your answer will be read by other people who still may not have become your customers, so you need to write for them too. If a claim is made to the quality of the goods - describe and prove with the help of objective facts that your product is made from quality materials and assembled by qualified specialists. If to the price - to describe why the price is such.

And one more thing: if you, for example, correct a marriage made during the installation of plastic windows, then an employee traveling to eliminate defects must be thoroughly aware of the problem, have all the necessary documents on hand, and most importantly, make an appointment by phone and arrive on time, fix everything and ask a person to leave a review.

I hope this information helps you avoid mistakes in communicating with customers.

Thank you for practical examples to Vlad Titov and Ilya Yakamsev.