Bad reviews: Fight them, leave them, or solve them?

Only after a decade of being an entrepreneur and starting 10+ startups can I truly say that I've gotten the hang of how to effectively deal with bad reviews and potentially convert them into good ones. I'm doing this with my current project RatePunk.

These are tips on when to fight, when to submit, and when to just leave it.

It's essential to have proper etiquette when dealing with online reviews, as that will heavily reflect how people see your business when browsing them.

Always react fast

If you don't have a customer support specialist working for you, you should make it your #1 priority to deal with the review and the problem associated with it the moment you notice it.

The quick response time will help your response get noticed not only by the reviewer but also by other people reading the reviews.

No matter the review, don't procrastinate.

Negative review solving: Provide solutions (if possible)

If the review is legit and the issue is valid, make the possible solutions known to the reviewer right there in your response.

This might seem like an irrelevant tip, but more often than not, you see businesses deal with bad reviews (well, all reviews) by simply replying with a probably automated template response.

Negative review with basis: don't leave it

Sometimes, you get people just being angry at your business and writing reviews just for the kick of it. it happens. Even if the issue was solved, or if it was their own mistake, people will most likely still blame you. Be ready for that.

Although you might think that they will sound ridiculous to everyone who comes across them, that is simply not true. You should always have a response ready for them.

Have some backbone - if they roast you, roast them back. They might even respect you more after that.

It will give you some character and will always be better than just a "thank you for your review and sorry that you didn't like our product."

Negative review without basis: fight it and leave it

If the review on your product is just a blatant lie without any basis about an experience that didn't happen or is completely unrelated to the performance of your product - you should always contest it with the support of the platform.

Just report it, email the review platform about it - explain why the review isn't true, and help them with any potential evidence and arguments you can think of.

I have had a lot of luck getting rid of bad fake reviews with this method. It's always worth to fight these kind of reviews.

Converting a bad review into a good one

The #1 way to convert a bad review into a good one is to just provide a solution quickly and effectively to the reviewer.

If the problem requires a more personal touch and more time, I advise you to try to establish a line of communication with the person, like an email. People notice the personal touch and will most likely appreciate it if you resolve or try to resolve the problem.

One thing to never do: never ask to change the review. That should come naturally from a positive experience.

You should remember the fact that the person did have a bad experience, and there's nothing you can do about the past.

If the review doesn't change, that should just motivate you to make sure that kind of thing doesn't happen again

The most important part of reviews, after all, is feedback; learning from your mistakes is the best all of us can do.

Cheers,