No one believes in your company and your mission more than you do. To be successful, you have to believe in yourself, but unfortunately, not everyone will agree. If you are selling a product, no matter how strongly you feel about it, you will probably get a negative review. Whether on Google, Amazon or your Facebook page, negative reviews hurt, professionally and personally. Far too often people will either get angry and defensive or deflated after reading a negative review. It’s time to change your view on negative feedback. We want to show you a KWSM client case study that turned a negative into a positive!
Reviews Hurt
Reviews are one of the most trafficked parts of your Google, Amazon, and Facebook page. Often people will gloss over your copy and skip to the reviews to get a more honest appraisal. A product with glowing reviews will sell better and more consistently. In the inverse, products with reviews skewed negative (even a 60-40 split can be brutal) have a more difficult time selling. For pages with only a handful of reviews, one negative review can tank your rating.
Once you’ve read the review and stepped back to look at it objectively, it’s time to get to work making it into something positive!
Reach Out
Never ignore the review! The first step is to respond, and under no circumstances should you question or attack the reviewer. You might not agree with them, or they may have misused the product, but never call them out or try to defend yourself publicly. Responding negatively only lends credence to the review, and makes you look awful.
The best move is to evaluate the complaint, and reach out to them through email or direct message. Get a more detailed explanation of their complaint and try to think about how you can make it right.
KWSM has a client that recently received a scathing review from a customer on Amazon. The reviewer had received a defective unit and was upset about the purchase. We reached out to them privately to get more details, and they provided us images of the product. We asked questions about details not included in the review, and not only did we learn more, but it also gave us a way to make things right.
Address What Happened
In our recent situation, we faced a situation that will come up with any product. Defects happen. Sometimes products are damaged in transit. And there is always a chance it was misused. No matter what it was, take responsibility and never blame the customer. It doesn’t matter whose fault it is. Our customer’s product was both defective and mishandled in transit. We apologized, and talked to them about what pieces were defective, and how they should have performed. At no point did we blame them, or try to shove responsibility onto someone else. Don’t blame the factory, the mailman, or customer. Take responsibility for it quickly and repeatedly.
Make It Right
Your primary goal is to make things right with the customer. We quickly sent out a new product using express shipping to make sure they got it quickly. When it was received, we reached out one more time to offer a walkthrough of set-up and use to ensure everything went correctly. They were incredibly appreciative of our responsiveness, the speed of receiving a replacement, and our work to ensure everything went the way it should.
Follow Up
After a few days or weeks, don’t be afraid to reach out again to make sure they are still happy! We followed up a week later, and the customer was through the roof. At no point did we directly ask for them to change their review, but we did make sure to ask if their new experience made them rethink their review. Don’t ask directly, but let them know it’s possible if they are satisfied by the situation.
Resolution
After you’ve followed up, you can consider the matter resolved. Thankfully, our diligent efforts keeping in touch and providing a new product helped make the review into something amazing. Not only did our customer change their review from one to five stars, but they also have reached out to partner with our client! The customer asked for help setting up a fitness class featuring our client’s product and has begun to encourage others to invest in the product.
While the outcome of our situation is far better than you’ll typically see, these steps help eliminate the bad taste the customer has in their mouth. Chances are, they will talk about their experience with others and spread your product by word of mouth. That alone is worth your time.
Your aim will always be to have all five-star reviews, but knowing how to handle the negative ones can be one of the most powerful tools you have. A bad review can become something positive!