In this age, when everyone is a critic, business reputation is very much in the hands of the consumer. This can absolutely go in your favour. Good reviews build prospect trust and trial. But a small number of bad reviews can significantly impact your bottom line, and how you handle it could be worth a lot of money.

The reason a consumer will give a bad review will vary from genuine and justified dissatisfaction for a product or service, to serial complainer. Serial complainers are visible as such and as a result, their review is not as meaningful and shouldn’t worry you as much. But a consumer profile known to give good reviews that then gives a bad one will be noted by other potential buyers.

Consider this situation between a consumer and vendor: the consumer pays for a relatively small product but feels the product was unsatisfactory so notifies the vendor of their concerns. The vendor blames the consumer and puts it down to user error, disregards the consumers version of events and considers the problem small fry in comparison to the higher-end growth-driving products. To establish who is actually correct in this scenario is futile. What matters is that the consumer perceives the product and service to have been poor so turns to the very public platform of Google or social media to express their dissatisfaction. With a negative review now up in lights, any potential buyers of their more expensive products and services will consider this in their decision to buy with this vendor versus a competitor. One bad review has the potential of thousands of dollars in your next sale.

So, what should this vendor have done? Remembering that the consumer is a person who deserves respect for choosing to spend their hard-earned money with you is important. Keeping the conversation warm and private is beneficial. Offering a gesture of compensation for their disappointment, as well as a commitment to look into their concerns will often be as much as you’ll have to do. If you still get a bad review, simply respond directly, courteously and publicly via the same platform they selected. Apologise for the way that they feel, and invite them off line to investigate their concerns.

Google and social media reviews are increasingly important in the purchase making decision. Make your reviews count. Invite your satisfied customers to share their sentiments and give you a review. Your next customer may come from it.

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