6 Steps to Follow When Responding to Negative Customer Reviews

Negative reviews are inevitable. No matter how well you treat your customers or how thoroughly you complete a service, there are bound to be some miscommunications or disgruntled customers along the way. As frustrating as negative reviews may be, it’s very important that businesses respond to each and every one.



Here are 6 steps you can follow whenever a negative review comes your way:

Step 1: Walk Away From The Computer

The first thing any business owner needs to do when a negative review comes in is to step away and take a deep breath. It’s easy to overreact when a customer leaves negative feedback. Your business is a labor of love and it’s very difficult to control emotions, but responding poorly to a customer online is never a good approach and can make the situation even worse.

Take 5 minutes to process the negative review before letting your passion get the best of you. It’s best to be as level-headed as possible when formulating a response, so vent to a co-worker or someone you trust if you need to. Once you’ve cooled down, move on to Step 2.

Step 2: Investigate The Complaint

Now that you’ve taken some time to process the feedback, the next step is to investigate any claims within the negative review.

Does the review mention a specific product or service? Can you research to see if you have any customer records from the person who left the review? What prompted the complaint and how long ago was it?

Make sure you know all the facts before moving on to the next step.

Step 3: Respond Promptly

Since you know more about the specific complaint and scenario tied to the negative review, it’s time to get a response posted. The online world moves quickly and the person who left the review will be expecting some sort of response within 24–48 hours.

Don’t delay, even if you need to respond with something like

“ Thank you for the feedback. We are investigating this situation thoroughly and will respond further as we learn more.”

The more time that goes by without a response, the more likely it is that people will see a negative review that has no resolution, which reflects negatively on your business no matter what.

Step 4: Include A Specific Solution

This step can be lumped in with Step 3, but if the customer has a legitimate complaint, then your response NEEDS to address that explicitly. It shows that you took the time to read their review and that you care about fixing a problem.

When you include a specific solution in your response, it’s hard for any customer to stay disgruntled. Most people are empathetic and will understand that mistakes happen, but if you offer a solution, you’re going to elevate your business in their mind when it comes to customer service.

Step 5: Take The Conversation Offline

If possible, respectfully request that the customer calls you directly or comes back in to your place of business so that you can resolve the issue in-person. When people are behind a computer screen, it’s a lot easier to get lost in anger and say things that just make the situation worse. By speaking with someone over the phone or face-to-face, you’re removing the barrier of the internet which lets both parties have a healthier dialogue.

Another bonus of moving the conversation offline is that notifications from the back-and-forth on social media is minimized. That way, friends and connections from the complainant won’t be constantly tagged when they respond to you online.

Step 6: Use Feedback To Improve

The last, and in our opinion, the most important step, is to use the negative review to improve. Most negative reviews have some root in truth, so digging into those negative reviews to find common issues is a great long-term strategy to improve your business.

What can you learn from the review and how it was handled? Every negative review is an opportunity to make your business better!

Optimize Social Media provides social media & reputation solutions that evolve with our clients. As social media experts we manage Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yelp, YouTube and Instagram accounts for our clients daily. We help the modern business owner implement a specialized social media strategy so they can make more money in real life. Enjoy our blog.

6 Steps to Follow When Responding to Negative Customer Reviews was originally published in Social Media For Business Owners on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.