Let us ask you this: when was the last time that you left a review somewhere?
It’s funny that we all rely on reviews, but few people ever write them, right?
Those who do write reviews are providing your business with an extremely valuable resource: Influence. And the thing is, influence (aka social proof) is one of the 4 key elements of your sales pitch that will ultimately help you boost your sales conversions.
So if there’s one thing you can’t have enough of – It’s social proof. And you want it to be positive.
What if it’s negative?
With over 95% of customers checking online reviews before making a purchase, positive reviews are more important than ever. Negative reviews of your brand can end up damaging your brand if you don’t take action.
The good news?
The right response can turn these negative reviews into positive outcomes.
WHY respond to negative reviews
Here’s the thing – all you need is the right response, and your brand can actually benefit from negative reviews.
Think of it as turning the frown upside-down.
In fact, here’s what you can achieve by properly responding to negative reviews:
- By responding to the reviews, you can show that you’re listening to your customers, which creates a better impression of your brand.
- With a fitting response, you can mitigate the damage of negative reviews and even convert them into positive reviews.
- Sometimes negative reviews can also give useful feedback, so engaging with them can help improve your products.
- Responding to reviews can also give you a chance to personally interact with customers, build a relationship, and convert them into repeat customers.
Our Top Tips for responding to negative reviews
Before you can start replying to your negative reviews, there are a few things you need to consider first:
- Try to reply as fast as you can since people appreciate a quick response from businesses.
- If you want to create a better impression of your brand, the best option is to be professional and polite – even when the reviewer is rude.
- Check if there was a problem or mistake on your end. If so, you can apologise and let them know that you’ve taken steps to prevent it from happening again.
- While it’s best to apologise, you don’t have to take responsibility if the problem wasn’t actually your fault.
- Let them know they can reach you via email or phone call and offer to help solve their problem.
- To create a better impression, you should make it clear that a real person is responding to the review. You can also sign off the email with your name or initials.
Using these tips, you can appear professional, helpful, and empathetic in your responses.
On top of helping you build a relationship with the negative reviewer, anyone seeing your reviews will have a much better impression of your brand.
And there you go!
Now you know how to respond to negative reviews online and create a better impression of your brand with ease.
Social Proof is just the beginning
Remember how we told you that social proof is one of the 4 key elements of your sales pitch that ultimately help you boost your sales conversions?
That’s where we come in. Our team at SBIM can help you develop your sales pitch and create awesome offers – irresistible to your customers.
We can help you drive more opportunities, more leads and more sales (which is what everyone wants)!