Have you ever been nervous about checking your business's online reviews?

Although you hope for them to be positive, you can never be sure. Sometimes, you get a negative one that takes the wind out of your sails.

The key to handling negative reviews is to prepare for them and know how to react to them. Read below to learn the best strategy to handle them.

Stay Calm and Objective

It is inevitable to encounter negative reviews online, especially for businesses. To handle them effectively, it is important to stay calm and be objective. It is natural to have an emotional reaction to criticism but it is imperative to remain professional and communicate constructively.

Take a few moments to pause and reflect before responding. Responding immediately or in the heat of the moment is unwise and can amplify the situation. It is important to understand that criticism is not always a bad thing. Take constructive feedback into consideration and address issues.

Respond Promptly

If a customer is unhappy with your product or service, it is best to reach out to them immediately. This can be done by responding to the review, sending a private message, or even calling the customer. However, when responding, it is important to be polite, courteous, and professional in your reply.

You should also focus on resolving the issue to the customer's satisfaction. You should not be defensive or aggressive, as this may lead to further damage to your reputation.

Further, you should avoid publicly engaging in a back-and-forth discussion as it can be detrimental to your business. Finally, always take the opportunity to thank customers for their feedback as it will help your business to grow and improve.

Personalize Your Response

Acknowledge their thoughts and feelings, apologize, and take responsibility. Show that you're sincerely sorry that they had a bad experience. Express that you will personally make sure that the issue is resolved, and ask them to reach out and provide more details about the issue.

Invite the customer to contact you via email, phone, or social media, and always offer a time frame for resolution. Let them know when they can expect to hear from you and make sure you deliver on it. Show them that you are willing to go the extra mile and make sure their experience is positive.

Learn Some Review Filtering

Not all customer reviews are kind or informative. To handle negative business reviews, try a review filtering system like this Yelp review filtering. This gives you the ability to manually approve or reject customer reviews and make sure that only the most honest feedback is published.

Most platforms today have a filtering system when it comes to dealing with negative online reviews. But don't forget that above all, focus on the resolution to provide an effective customer service response.

Learn How to Handle Negative Reviews Online

Negative reviews online can be daunting, but they don't have to be debilitating. A positive response and owning the experience can help turn it into a learning opportunity.

As such, it's important to look for feedback and respond quickly. If you need help working through negative reviews, reach out to a PR specialist to guide you in the right direction.

For more helpful articles, also explore our main blog.