Negative reviews are an opportunity to show your customers that you’re listening and care. A negative review is a chance to get under the skin of what went wrong, fix it, and make sure it doesn’t happen again. 

Negative feedback can also help boost your reputation with other potential customers by showing that you’re willing to respond publicly and openly when something goes wrong.

Pay attention to negative reviews

When you see that a customer has left a negative review, don’t just dismiss it. Take note of what they have said, and ask yourself whether there was anything you could have done better. If there is, address the issue head-on.

If you’re unsure whether or not there’s a problem with your product or service, do some research on what other people are saying about the same thing: maybe this customer is right—and maybe other customers’ experiences will help guide how you improve for next time!

In addition, ORM can help you identify and respond to negative reviews before they hurt your business. You can also use ORM to find out if any of your competitors are getting dinged for a particular issue so that you can avoid it yourself.

Ask the customers for feedback

The most important thing you can do is ask the customers for feedback. Let them know that you want to hear their thoughts and opinions, then ask them for a solution. If possible, don’t just stop there—ask them for ways you might be able to improve things in the future or make things right with their experience so far.

Sometimes, this will result in negative comments from customers who feel as though they’ve been wronged by your business. But if they’re willing to open up about what happened and how they felt during the process (and after), then it’s likely that they’ll be more inclined to work with you on making sure something like this doesn’t happen again.

However, pop isn’t the only way to get feedback from your customers. You can also send out surveys that ask people how they feel about your business and what they think could be improved upon.

Respond always

You should always respond to negative reviews. It’s easy for someone to leave a 1-star review and then move on with their life, but it’s up to you, the business owner or manager, to try and turn those frowns upside down. 

Responding will help keep your business in front of this person in a positive way, while also providing an opportunity to learn from what they are saying. If someone has had a negative experience with your business and they feel compelled enough by it that they take time out of their day to leave it on a public forum (the internet), then chances are there is something valuable that can be learned from this experience—and hopefully applied going forward.

Go public with your response

To address negative testimonials, make sure you are responding to the right person. If there is a complaint about your business, it’s important that your response is specific and directed at the issue and problem.

Your response should also use the right tone of voice by being respectful, concise, and clear about what steps you will take to resolve any issues raised in the review.

Put some time to cool down

It can be difficult to take a step back and think objectively when you are the one that is being attacked. You may find yourself feeling emotionally overwhelmed or even angry at the situation, but it’s important to put some time in between you and the incident so that you can consider how best to handle it.

You should also try to identify what went wrong with your customer service, or how else things could have been handled better by either party involved. Putting some distance between yourself and whatever happened in order for you to cool down, will help prevent any rash decisions from being made during times of high emotion (such as deleting negative reviews).

Acknowledge your mistake and apologize

When you get a negative review, the first thing to do is acknowledge that you made a mistake. Then apologize for it—be sincere and specific about what went wrong.

Next, explain how you’re going to rectify the situation by offering solutions or refunds or whatever else makes sense for your business (what I mean by this is that if someone ordered something from you and it never came, then offer a refund or send them another item).

Investigate the issue at your end too

• Investigate the issue at your end too
• If you don’t know why ask them
• If you find out why fix it
• If you can’t fix it, apologize and resolve their issues as best as possible!

Put a process in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again

• Put a process in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again. If you do not have a documented process for handling negative reviews, now is the time to put one together.
• Make sure the process is documented. You don’t want anyone to forget what they are supposed to do next time this happens.
• Make sure the process is communicated to all involved (your team and anyone else who may be affected). This includes people from all levels of your organization, including management and executives if possible, as they will likely need to be aware of how they can help mitigate any fallout from negative reviews online or offline (e.g., by getting involved on behalf of their customers).
• Make sure there are clear escalation paths: Who should take ownership over each stage? What happens if nothing works out or an issue remains unresolved?

Leave the conversation in public view

When responding to a negative review, you want to keep it as visible as possible. This means responding in public places like your website or social media. If you respond on these forums the reviewer or others who read the conversation will be able to see that he/she is being provided with help and support.

You can also leave a reply to their review publicly and share your brand websites, visuals, or business logo. So other potential customers can see & recognize your business, and know how well you’ve handled this situation, and hopefully feel more comfortable about trying out your product or service again in the future if they’re looking for something similar.

Take the conversation offline

To handle negative testimonials, the first thing you should do is take the conversation offline. You don’t want your customers posting these types of reviews on Facebook or other social platforms, because it will likely end up discouraging others from buying.

The best way to deal with a negative testimonial is by responding privately and in person: use a private channel (like email) and make sure that you have all the facts before replying (you don’t want to be caught off guard).

Don’t offer up more information than you have to.

• Don’t offer up more information than you have to. In other words, don’t give away your secrets. If somebody asks for a list of customers who have used your product or service, don’t just say “Sure! Here’s our whole database!” This can be used against you by someone who wants to poach customers from you and sell them something else instead.
• Don’t give away anything that could be used against you in court (i.e., emails with customers). Even if the person asking seems friendly and trustworthy, ask yourself: would they ever turn on me? They may seem like friends now but at some point, their interests will conflict with yours – when this happens, will their words still mean anything?
• Don’t give away anything that goes beyond the scope of the conversation (such as giving out specific sales figures). A smart customer may use this information against you when negotiating future contracts or pricing structures around those numbers—and there’s nothing worse than losing money because someone gave up too much info earlier on in negotiations over contract terms

Handle negative feedback as an opportunity rather than a failure

• Don’t worry about it
• Don’t feel bad about it
• Don’t take it personally
• Don’t be defensive
• Don’t feel like you have to defend yourself or your company or your product.

It’s important to remember that the customer who wrote these negative reviews is just one person, and probably doesn’t represent the views of all of your customers, even if their comments are accurate.

Final words

These are some of the tips that you can use to handle negative feedback for your business. It’s important to remember that these are just some of the ways and it’s not a foolproof method. 

You might face situations where you need to improvise based on your situation. This is why I’ve mentioned earlier in this post that it’s important to keep an open mind while handling negative feedback because they can teach us so much more than positive ones do.