When business owners start receiving negative feedback, their first reaction is usually fear. They immediately start to look for people to blame, wondering if their business would go down the drain. However, you don’t need to view negative customer feedback negatively. In fact, if you handle them carefully, they can actually help you beat the competition and race ahead. That is, if you respond in time and respond well. Here’s what you need to do to get the best possible benefit from negative customer feedback.
Read the Review
There are several people who jump to conclusions and react impulsively. There are some who simply don’t know how to deal with it and tend to ignore such reviews. None of these actions are a good idea. First, you need to control your instinctive reaction. After you’ve calmed down a bit, read the reviews carefully once again. Study every line and comment the written in the review carefully.
More often than not, when people leave behind negative reviews, they intend to make you aware of problems. They want you to correct them. They are willing to give you a second chance. It’s vital to consider this feedback very seriously. Look at it as though it’s an opportunity rather than a burden. If you don’t do that, you’ll lose a great chance to win customer loyalty.
Consider Your Response
After you’ve read the negative feedback, consider how you should respond to it. If the review offers genuine advice, you need to make sure that you note it down. You first need to contact the reviewer and initiate a private conversation. After that, you need to make sure that you discuss the problem with them in depth. You can even ask if they would permit a phone call. Just take careful not of all the suggestions they make during your conversation.
Start Working on Solving the Issue
The next thing you need to do is start working on solving the problem. After all, you don’t want another negative review to pop up. You should discuss the solutions with your team and take steps to correct it. Make sure that your solution is comprehensive and eliminates the root of the problem. You should also forewarn other clients. For example, if too many of your products are malfunctioning, you might want to warn your clients and offer an immediate working replacement. That might not sound like the best strategy, but it works in the long term.
Contact the Reviewer Again
After you have resolved the problem, you might want to contact the original reviewer once again. You can inform them that the problem has been dealt with and thank them for the feedback once again. This prompt action and communication would show your customers that you value their opinion. It would increase customer loyalty.
If you react to negative feedback in a calm, rational manner, you’ll definitely reap rich rewards. The customers would be confident that you will address their problems immediately, so they will trust you.
