Online reviews are as effective as personal recommendations. Reviews play an important role in the sales cycle, not only for online businesses but also for other industries like travel, hospitality, real estate, healthcare, and several others.
Negative feedback is a blessing in disguise!
While businesses work hard to make their customers happy, the fact is that every business has its own share of unhappy customers. Unhappy customers are more likely to post a review online. Through it can be disheartening to see negative reviews from customers, the negative feedback can hold the key to making the best possible improvements to grow your business.
There is no such thing as a perfect business
The first thing to remember when you see a negative review is that a legitimate business is never completely flawless. A few bad reviews will not necessarily discourage customers to buy your product. Most customers usually read both positive and negative reviews while making a purchase decision. A balance of negative and positive reviews helps you maintain transparency. If a customer sees no negative reviews on a product at all, it would make him doubtful of your product or the credibility of your positive reviews. Negative reviews actually highlight your positive reviews.
Source: Revoo
Negative reviews are an opportunity to win new loyal customers
Negative reviews can be an opportunity to engage with your customers. Rather than getting defensive or upset and responding to it negatively, businesses can turn the conversation around by responding to the customer in a polite manner. This is an opportunity to turn the disgruntled customer into a potential customer. When an unhappy customer leaves feedback about their unhappy experience, you can respond with an apology promptly and offer a solution to the issue. When your prospective customers see that you are proactively responding to reviews and offering solutions, it helps them gain confidence that your business will address their issue if the need arises. It makes you appear trustworthy. This way you can turn the unhappy customer into a loyal brand ambassador by displaying great customer service skills.
Negative reviews help you identify your weak spots
Reading a negative review is not going to be easy ever. However, negative reviews hold invaluable information that helps a business grow and expand. They help you identify where you are going wrong and make necessary improvements. They help you get an insight into customer sentiments which you can use as feedback to grow your business.
Negative feedback reduces further negativity
Negative reviews can help you reduce more negative reviews. Let’s say a customer reads a review from another customer saying they found the product bigger in size than they expected. The potential buyer will know what to expect from the purchase by setting realistic expectations regarding their requirements. This, in turn, will lead to a happy customer who has made an informed buying decision reducing the chance of more negative feedback.
Negative Reviews are as important as Positive ones
Positive reviews are important for your business. They bring more customers to your business. However, most businesses see negative reviews as simply a small threat to their business and ignore them. Instead of fearing negative reviews or being afraid of engaging with customers who leave them, you should see negative reviews as an opportunity to learn and grow your business to the best it can be.
