Customer reviews play two contrasting roles: they can either create a buzz around your brand or kill everyone else’s interest in your products.

We all prefer the former, but it’s impossible to avoid receiving negative feedback. You can channel all your efforts into pleasing customers, but there will always be a couple of people who still won’t be satisfied.

Often, it’s not because of your performance, but because their interests and yours simply don’t match.

Such situations may put an extra strain on how you deal with bad reviews. But what makes reputation management even more challenging is the existence of social media. It’s a platform that allows customers to speak up, but there’s no one to censor what they have to say. Even more alarming is the speed by which any piece of information can go viral over the web. When combined, these can easily lead to a reputation-harming publicity disaster.

While you can’t control the constant chatter of online consumers, you can always control how you react to what they say. And oftentimes, that’s enough to turn the tables.

Online Reputation Management Can Be Tricky

The challenge with reputation management starts from the fact that it isn’t an exact science. Especially now that technology is involved, there’s no rule specifying how publicity management should be done over social networking sites. This means that every situation demands a unique strategy. You may incorporate what you’ve learned from similar situations in the past, but your actions should always match the unique details of a reputation-related issue.

Always remember that every single thing you say online can be used against you, especially with the presence of trolls. This will remind you to take an added precaution about what you post online, including the tone of your voice, the terms you use, and the promises you make to customers.

Even though there’s no perfect strategy for online reputation management, there are highly effective ways to handle and recover from negative customer reviews.

Should You Respond to Bad Reviews?

Receiving negative feedback from your customers can already be extremely damaging to your reputation. Ignoring complaints, however, can put you in an even worse situation: it would imply that you don’t truly care for your customers. So, avoid this at all costs.

When you encounter a bad review, make it a point to reply as soon as you can to mitigate the damage that may result from it. This is your chance to straighten out any possible misunderstandings. You may even convince the customer to give you another shot, but everything depends on how you tackle the issue.

Your response should be based on these questions:

• Is it really caused by our own performance lapses?
• Are there inaccuracies with the customer’s story?
• How can we make it up to the client?

Coming up with the best possible response will help you build customer loyalty, as this shows customers that you’re willing to admit your shortcomings and remedy the situation as soon as possible.

Use Online Reviews to Improve Customer Experiences.

Customer reviews provide useful insights to help enhance your products and services. If you want to make it up to your customers who have had negative experiences with your brand, or gain new customers by demonstrating your dedication, use the information you have to make the necessary changes. It may not seem like much, but these little things can go a long way.

Receiving negative feedback is not ideal, but you can see it as an opportunity to improve your services and create a better customer experience for your consumers.

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