😡 They said WHAT?!

Here’s how to turn a negative review into a positive situation.

February 19, 2023

Wash Weekly

Hi Wash Weekly Family.

So someone left a bad review about your garment care business online.

Been there. Done that. Have the battle scars to prove it.

Don’t let it get to you.

One bad review isn’t the end of the world.

BUT, how you handle that bad review can either improve the situation or make it 10 times worse.

Here’s how to make the best of a bad review:

  1. Investigate thoroughly before responding.

  2. Respond as quickly as possible.

    1. 53% of customers expect businesses to respond to negative reviews within a week. 1 in 3 have a shorter time frame of 3 days or less. (Source)

  3. Understand their situation. Put yourself in their shoes, even if you feel they are wrong.

  4. Thank them for sharing their feedback. You want people to know you welcome all feedback about your business.

  5. Be professional. You don’t want to come off as the aggressor. Potential clients will take note.

  6. Apologize and take responsibility. This is incredibly important. Acknowledge the experience they had and take responsibility for it.

  7. Offer a solution to make it right for them publicly.

    1. 45% of consumers say they’re more likely to visit a business that responds to negative reviews. (Source)

  8. Take the conversation offline to work out the resolution. Offer to message, text, call, or email them to work out the details.

If you’re dealing with a Sandbagger, try this:

  1. Make sure the reviewer is a Sandbagger (an angry/former employee or competitor leaving a bad review in order to ruin you). Check out last week’s email for more.

  2. Report/flag the review on the platform and explain why it should be removed (if the platform allows it).

  3. Review the platforms TOS (terms of service). Most review platforms (like Yelp and Google) state that it is a violation of their TOS for competitors and employees to leave a review about a business.

Let me give you a real example of why responding to negative reviews is so important.

We had a client leave a 1 star review. We responded to it and that review was updated to 4-stars, and then 5-stars.

(It’s important to note that because the client updated the review twice, Yelp doesn’t show the original 1-star rating, but it does show her written review).

  • The client left that original 1-star review on 9/5/22.

  • I investigated her review..and we clearly screwed up 🤦‍♂️

  • I responded the same day via the Yelp mobile app (download it, if you haven’t)

  • I followed steps 2-7 as mentioned above in the public reply to her review.

  • The client updated her review to 4 stars after communicating with her by email and providing a solution to correct the issue. Check that second to last line. She publicly stated she will remain a client 🙏.

  • I communicated with the client by email throughout the process to make sure she received and was satisfied with everything we said we would do to correct this.

She stated the following in one of her emails:

“This is all about customer service for me, and I appreciate that you took action once you both were aware of what happened. I'll certainly remain a customer.”

  • After we did everything we said we would do and the client was satisfied, we took one additional step and asked: How do we WOW them?

We had a plant delivered to her home to say we are sorry.

We use plants because they are a living thing the client can connect and bond with, and will hopefully have for a long time. Plus — every time they water it or someone asks about it, they think of us 😁

  • After receiving the plant, she updated her review to 5 stars and added a picture of the plant we sent her.

Remember, 45% of consumers say they’re more likely to visit a business that responds to negative reviews.

Take the next negative review you get and turn it into an opportunity to show the world you care about your clients and your business.

—---

TL;DR:

  1. Negative reviews don’t have to ruin your business.

  2. How you respond to negative reviews can make them positive.

  3. Follow these 8 steps for dealing with negative reviews.

  4. Take a look at how we turned a 1-star review into a 5-star review.

Til the next time, I’ll be here airing out some not-so-dirty laundry every Sunday!– Waleed 🏴‍☠️

I would love to hear your thoughts on this week’s topic– let me know in this issue’s survey below. And for more on the garment care business, connect with me on Youtube and Linkedin!

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