Hungry? Order online and get whatever you’re craving. But first, you’ll check the reviews and ratings, won’t you? Shopping online for your favourite clothing brand? What are others saying about the new Fall Collection? Of course, that matters! According to Inc.com, 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. Most businesses try to do everything they can to avoid bad reviews for that reason. Unfortunately, feedback, both positive and negative, is an inevitable outcome of running a business. Negative feedback is uncomfortable, but it’s also an opportunity to improve. You’re not likely to get those perfect 5-star reviews from every customer, every time. So, remember that you will never please everyone, but you can strive to please many. If you have a customer complaint or criticism, take the trouble to find out what went wrong. Take those negative reviews and use them to create quality content that shows customers you care.
Handling Negative Reviews on Social Media
Customers rely on reviews to determine whether to patronize your business. While you can’t prevent negative feedback, you can certainly respond appropriately. Some customers rely on bad reviews to determine a worst-case scenario. If you have too many positive reviews without any balance, your brand may come across as phony. In one survey, 95% of consumers suspect faked reviews when there are no bad scores. Negative reviews can help you earn trust and build credibility. Instead of censoring and fearing bad reviews, address them head on.
Embrace Customer Reviews
Essentially, there are two main reasons that you get bad reviews. It could be that the customer had unrealistic expectations, had a bad day, or just can’t be pleased. It’s entirely possible that you did nothing wrong. Secondly, you could be at fault. Maybe your product isn’t performing. Maybe your team isn’t providing good customer service.
Regardless of the review, the way you respond to a negative review shows your brand character. If you respond with negativity, other customers will see that and learn that your company doesn’t have empathy. If you respond with sincerity, your audience will know that you do care about your customers and won’t leave them hanging. Sincerity and vulnerability build relationships.
Leveraging Negative Feedback
Your business must have a plan to deal with your negative reviews as they occur. Because that depends on your industry, the size of your business and the specific issues, every business must address that individually. Remember not to take things too personally. Bask in positive feedback when you get it. We’re here to talk about how to use your negative reviews in your marketing. It can be helpful to start a spreadsheet of negative reviews to track what people are saying.
Learn What People Are Saying About Your Product
Tracking negative reviews can help you understand if the problem is a trend or not. One customer complaining about slow delivery might be a matter of chance. Once you see quite a few customers complaining about slow delivery, the problem may really be slow delivery service. You need to follow up on what is happening in your organization to see how you can do better. Identify why your customers are complaining. This can help you address the problem.
Turn those Negatives into Positive Content
Address your vulnerabilities in your content. Talk about slow delivery problems and how it’s affecting your business. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon identified problems with shipping and the company has continued to update customers about the challenges. They got a lot of press about it, too, basically free marketing from all the news stations covering their problems. It was an industry-wide problem, but Amazon used it to show that their business was empathetic and doing what they could to minimize problems.
Explain Problems and Show Solutions
Negative reviews can help you see where your customers need more information. When customers have unrealistic expectations, it could be that your marketing materials need to be updated to be more relatable. If customers complain about costs, maybe the industry pricing is the problem, not your business. Create a piece of content that identifies some of the costs that go into making your product and bringing it to market. You don’t have to make a case to justify your price, but to help customers understand.
Write Copy that Builds Trust
When you don’t try to hide your vulnerability from your customers, you build trust. If customer service has been a problem in your organization, admit your mistake. Send an email telling customers that you have become aware of a problem and show what you’re doing to fix the problem. Empathy connects you to your customer. An apology goes a long way toward rebuilding your relationship. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes to write copy that relates to their needs. Content marketing isn’t about promoting your business. It’s about solving your audience’s pain points.
Contact MintCopy for experienced SEO content writers who can use your negative reviews as the source for ideas to write copy that builds relationships with your audience. We’ll help create a strategy for your online content to align with your business goals and objectives, and then implement the plan to engage your audience.
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