Best to respond to negative Google reviews

Whether you're a new business or already have decades of experience, it's never nice to receive negative Google reviews. These can damage your company's reputation and scare off new customers. However, dealing with such reviews in the right way can drastically reduce their impact. In this blog article, we'll show you how best to respond to negative customer reviews and "recapture" even the biggest critic.

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Why respond to (negative) reviews at all?

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Of course, the question arises as to why you should even bother responding to negative reviews. The background here is simple: by replying, you give context to the customer's review and show potential new customers that you are available even if there is a problem or complaint. If you still offer the dissatisfied customer help or a solution in the reply, this radiates competence and helpfulness to new customers. In short, your response usually reduces the damage caused by a negative review.

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What should you keep in mind when writing a response?

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Of course, this effect of minimizing damage described above is only achieved if your answer is well chosen. A brash or careless answer usually leads in the opposite direction. But what should you actually consider when writing a response to negative Google reviews? You can read the essentials in the following five points:

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1. do not take it personally

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It is not you personally, but your company that has been evaluated by the customer. When writing a response to a negative Google review, it is important to make sure that it does not come across as if you feel personally criticized. Also, if there is a reference to a specific employee in a review from the customer, it makes sense to keep that employee away from any response. This ensures that the reference to the customer's problem is objective and neutral.

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2. apologize

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Even if at first glance you suspect that actually not you but the customer has done something wrong, you should apologize to him. There is no point in risking a dispute in the Google review comments. The actual problem cannot be defined concretely this way anyway.... Even if it turns out later that it was actually the customer who was in the wrong, the appearance was professional and solution-oriented.

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3. time counts

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Studies have shown that the majority of people and customers who complain via social media channels expect a response within 1 hour of sending their complaint. After receiving a negative Google review, you should therefore pay particular attention to defining the customer's problem quickly and responding to them promptly.

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4. first answer briefly

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Since especially the first response to a negative Google review is publicly visible, you should keep it short and not go into too much detail. Under no circumstances should you disclose customer or order data here. In order to actually solve the customer's problem, it is a good idea to contact them by phone or e-mail. This way, the customer no longer has to write to a faceless company on Google, but has a personal contact person.

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5. be personal

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When writing a response to a negative Google review, it is recommended to be as personal as possible. Address the customer by name and actually write individual responses. A copy & paste complaint response will catch the eye of your customers and especially potential new customers sooner or later and leave a very bad impression.

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Reading tip: Tired of negative reviews? In further articles, we explain how you can easily improve your Google ranking and have summarized more tips for responding to negative reviews.

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Improve Google ratings easily with Mateo

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With Mateo, companies collect on average 2-3 times more positive Google reviews. How do you do it? You send targeted rating requests via WhatsApp to satisfied customers. In addition, the Mateo solution enables you to communicate with customers via WhatsApp in a GDPR-compliant manner, to process all message channels from a central inbox and to reactivate existing customers via a WhatsApp newsletter.

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That sounds exciting? We'll explain all the details about Mateo in a free, no-obligation consultation appointment! Book an appointment here.

What is the best way to respond to negative Google reviews?