One of the most visible features of local search results is the reviews, which are pulled into Google’s “place pages” and other search engines’ local listings from hundreds of national and local sources. In 2008, growth in the local search market grew 58%, more than double the rate overall search achieved. In Google and Bing, local search results even display above the organic search listings. Wow.
Local search is here, and it’s big. Very, very big. Clearly, businesses have every reason to be concerned about how those reviews can impact their reputation. Great reviews are, well, great! No worries there. But then you discover that the receptionist you fired seven months ago when she forgot to give you your phone messages one too many times has come back to haunt you as unhappy clients have complained that she was smacking her gum and talking loudly on her cellphone with her friends instead of paying attention to them, and you realize it happened to be the day your daughter broke her arm and the dog threw up all over the kitchen, which had put a serious damper on your normally cheerful demeanor – and that isolated bad day is now seared indelibly onto your business profile for all the search engines to distribute. What now? What can you do to fight such injustice?
1. Respond to the reviewer – in public.
Many review sites allow responses to reviews, and web savvy businesses are quick to take advantage of it. However, it’s important to choose your words carefully. Don’t blame someone else. Don’t make excuses. Say something along the lines of, “I’m sorry you had a bad experience. Please call us so we can work on a solution.”
I’ll put it like this: Let’s say that you’re a shoe store in Chicago and I am a potential customer researching shoe stores in Chicago. I come across your listing. It has a bad review on it. Ouch. But you were concerned enough to respond and try to make it right, and that is one of the hallmarks of good customer service. It certainly improves my perception of your business!
2. Recruit your satisfied customers to write positive reviews.
A single bad review may deter potential customers, but if it’s buried under a pile of glowing testimonials that extol your virtues, that one lonely bad review begins to look more and more like a fluke.
Caution: Make sure the good reviews are genuine. Fake reviews are known as astroturfing, and engaging in it can land you in some serious hot water with the authorities – just ask Lifestyle Lift, who had to pay $300,000 in fines for posting fake reviews.
3. Flag it as inappropriate.
The worst that can happen is that the moderator who handles the request does nothing about it. But – what if they do? Basically, it can’t hurt to ask.
Along the same lines, some review sites, such as Amazon, give users the ability to rate reviews as “helpful” or “not helpful”. You can always rate a bad review as “not helpful”.
With both flagging methods, it’s important to note that you should not try to recruit your friends and family and in-laws to all go overwhelm the site with requests. Remember that bit about astroturfing in #2?
Also, don’t start emailing webmasters to plead your case. No one will take that seriously unless you have something to back it up, like an order from a judge. If the option exists, just hit that “flag as inappropriate” link, one time and one time only, and then let the moderators do what they will with the request.
4. Participate in industry discussion forums.
A few months ago, we discovered a client’s competitor was blanketing a LASIK forum with answers to users’ questions. The answers were helpful and insightful. They also had the doctor’s name and website in the signature line on every single one of those posts. When you conducted a search for him, the most prominent results were those which demonstrated his involvement and showed that he was both extremely knowledgeable about his craft and 100% willing to answer questions for potential patients. There may be a bad review in the search results somewhere, but anyone doing real research is going to take note of that demonstration of accessibility and expertise.
5. Be accessible.
Part of the key to #4 was that the doctor came across as accessible and approachable. It’s important to keep in mind that many bad reviews are written as a last resort. Chances are pretty good that they tried to approach you for resolution and couldn’t get it, leaving them frustrated, fuming, and needing to vent. If you are available, accessible and willing to work out a solution, that bad review probably won’t ever hit the web in the first place.
6. Act as though you care.
This obviously goes hand in hand with #5, but I think it deserves its own line. It’s one thing if your clients can reach you easily. It’s another to be friendly and caring enough to make them want to call you in the first place. Picking up the phone to register a complaint can be intimidating since most people seek to avoid conflict. Don’t make it harder on them by being confrontational or intimidating. A little warmth goes a long way.
7. Follow up.
The first time I visited my chiropractor, he called me the next day to make sure I was doing well after my adjustments. I’d never had a doctor do that before. I was really impressed! And yet, what a simple thing you can do to make sure everything is okay. If it’s not, this is their opportunity to tell you before they had a chance to complain! Make phone calls. Send follow-up emails. Make sure you delivered the expected service, and jump on the opportunity to fix it if you did not. It’s a nice, proactive way of heading off that bad review at the pass.
8. Accept criticism.
Maybe it’s not one bad review. Maybe it’s three. Or seventeen. That’s not good. A string of bad reviews can put you out of business. I’m going to give you some tough love on this one. The solution here is to LISTEN. You may be in denial, but the truth is that people are not happy with you and it’s not an isolated case. There’s a reason for it! Pay close attention to what the reviews are saying, and take it to heart. Sometimes a review is bad because you’re just not doing a good job. Listen to the criticism, conduct an honest self-evaluation, and work on improving.
9. Take legal action.
Libel, and I mean real libel, is not something you should gloss over. However, lawsuits should be an absolute last resort. Do anything and everything you can by playing nice before going down this road, and consider this: Anything you do within legal channels is fair game for the media. Take the plight of Horizon Group Management as a cautionary tale. Horizon sued a former tenant over a libelous statement made on Twitter. They wanted to defend and preserve their professional reputation, but then the story hit the national media. The entire world saw a tweet that was probably only previously seen by fewer than twenty people, and Horizon was painted as a tyrannical, lawsuit-happy company. Consider any ideas about libel suits very, very carefully and ask yourself if the potential consequences are worthwhile. In most cases, I’m betting they’re not. But I do believe it’s important to know that this option does exist for those whose reputations and livelihoods are truly on the line.
10. Stay on top of 1 through 9.
Okay guys. Look. This is not a one-time fix it and forget it deal. Reputation management is an ongoing process, and you cannot let the ball drop. However you choose to tackle those bad reviews, keep it up. Also, notice that many of these suggestions boil down to providing excellent customer service and being proactive about fixing problems before they happen. That’s called “being awesome”. How do you fight bad reviews? Keep being awesome!
Create a reputation management strategy and put it on the to-do list. Be responsive, be nice, be approachable, be accessible, be willing to take criticism, and be willing to keep it all up. Keep being awesome, and your bad review woes will simply melt away.
