Reputation Management 101
By Stuart Hardy
Managing your business’ reputation in today’s world has become increasing more difficult over the past few years. Whether their review is true or false, fabricated or honest, makes little difference to the internet. You’re probably asking yourself “How do I make this go away? This is a competitor – not even a real customer!” or “I made it right with them, but they can’t take it down." Rest assured, I have heard all of these and more, and I’m here to help you with this.
Establish Where to Manage Your Reputation
First, help me help you. Where has this this review been posted? Yelp (most common)? Etsy? Facebook? Google Plus? Ripoff Report? Someplace else? I am going to review a few steps that you can take to deal with the issue at hand and in the coming blog posts I will help you understand how to best prevent similar cases in the future.
Next, have you reached out to the customer? I have found that on occasion there is a simple misunderstanding and just communicating with the customer for a few moments can resolve your issue quickly. Always come at these unhappy clients with poise and gentleness. Even if you feel that this person was never at your office/practice it is paramount that you use the utmost care when reaching out to them. Why? Because they hold your online reputation in their hands.
How to Reach Out to Reviewers
At this point you’re probably thinking, “What’s the best way to contact them? Does it look bad if I address the issue by answering on the platform upon which they made their complaint?” In reaching out to them, search high and low until you find an email or a phone number that corresponds with this reviewer’s username or experience. As a general rule, your “last ditch effort” should be to reach out to them on Google +, Yelp, Facebook, Etsy, Etc.
Once you actually contact them, your goal is to get them to retract (you cannot do this on Etsy) or restate their initial review. Whether or not you feel that they are being entirely honest, be gracious in your communication. Stress that you are sincerely apologetic for what has happened to them and that you wish to “make it right”, or change how they feel about your business. Use extreme caution in offering anything specifically at a discounted rate or for free. Most sites that allow reviews frown on “bribery” and you do not want to lose any more than you already have in regards to this situation. Remember your patients/consumers hold your reputation in the palms of their hands. There is nothing wrong with being overly kind.
Stay tuned for our next blog post as I give a few tips on how to deal with negative reviews on Yelp. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to respond in the comments section below or email us at socialmedia@prosites.com. Good luck out there!
Tags: Reviews, Yelp, Bad Reviews, Google, 1-Star Reviews, 2-Star Reviews, How To