Burying Bad Reviews with Better Reputation Management

Written by Michael Bass

Your online reputation can make or break your chances of success. You need to maintain a positive image, whether you’re selling affiliate products or producing your own items.

When a customer leaves a negative review, it can cause potential prospects to reconsider their decision. You could lose sales due to these negative responses, which is why you need to bury them as quickly as possible.

Typically, you can’t make bad reviews go away. Once they’re posted online, they are there to stay.

But, with better reputation management, you can start to bury these reviews and limit their impact on future business.

Dealing with Negative Responses on Social Media

One of the biggest forums for negative feedback is social media. People love to share their experiences on Twitter and Facebook. You should have an email alert to let you know when someone mentions your brand in a post.

When you notice a negative response on social media, you should respond quickly. A fast response can diffuse the situation and this could be one of the few opportunities that you’ve got to actually remove a negative response.

Respond to the person leaving the negative response by sending them a direct message. Send them a message to find out how you can resolve their issue. If corrective action is taken, and they’re happy with the results, then you can publicly comment on their initial comment.

This public comment shows that you’ve resolved the issue, but it doesn’t include any details of the conversation that you’ve had with the customer.

Dealing with Negative Responses on Review Sites

If the negative response was left on a review site, you probably won’t be able to get the review removed. But, you may be able to keep the customer.

As with the previous tip, you’ll want to respond to these reviews as soon as possible. Always respond in a friendly manner and ask how you can solve their problem. You may need to offer a refund or a discount. But, that’s a small step when it comes to your online reputation.

Encourage Satisfied Customers to Leave Positive Reviews

The next step for burying bad reviews is to encourage your happy customers to leave good reviews. When you send an invoice to a customer, it should include a small thank you, along with a reminder for them to leave their feedback online.

You don’t have to directly ask your customers to leave a good review. But, you can encourage them. You can also leave these reminds on your order confirmation page or contact page.

Make a List of Negative Responses

You should also start compiling a list of negative responses to the products or services that you’re trying to sell. Make notes about the most common complaints.

If you start to see similar feedback from multiple customers, then there could be a problem with the items that you’re selling. These notes will help identify the main issues with your products or services.

If you’re responsible for the development of your products or services, you can use this feedback to improve your offerings. By delivering a better product or services, you can gain more positive reviews and comments.

In the end, the best way to overcome negative reviews to get positive reviews. At the same time, you can attempt to keep your customers happy. Respond to their negative comments in a timely manner. And, remember to encourage your satisfied customers to leave their feedback.

Along with these reputation management suggestions, you can find even more marketing tips and ideas, along with a system for generating conversion-ready internet prospects, by clicking here to learn about my done-for-you system.

Image Sources:
Furubayashi, J. (Posted: June 16, 2014). Image of negative reviews: A quick guide to handling negative feedback on social media. Retrieved from http://simplymeasured.com/blog/a-quick-guide-to-handling-negative-feedback-on-social-media/#sm.00004phbvmhzud21xgg1w3uqbikpd
Reviewcaces1. (Posted: January 23, 2017). Image of encouraging: How to encourage positive reviews for your business. Retrieved from http://caces.org/2017/01/23/encourage-positive-reviews-business/
Trika, J. (Posted: Oct 11th, 2016). Featured image: Reputation management. Retrieved from https://www.crowdreviews.com/blog/internet-marketing/reputation-management/