Your business should always be getting a steady stream of new reviews. At the same rate, you should also be responding to these new reviews. Whether they’re positive or negative, reviews say something about your business. By responding to all of your reviews, you’re able to get a word in to exemplify how much you care about customer experience.
Once you respond to a review, the reviewer will get a notification to read your response. People who are researching your business online will also get to see the great interaction between the reviewer and your business. It’s a win/win situation – but only if you have solid practices in place to make sure that you’re responding quickly and appropriately.
Depending on the volume of reviews you get, you may want to check in on your most important profiles between 2 and 4 times a week. That way, you’re likely to maintain a quick response rate to all the reviews rolling in. Keeping a regular schedule will also allow you to locate a fake or especially bad review quickly. This will enable you to do damage control, report, and respond to a disturbing review promptly.
This all sounds good, but something tends to happen when someone sits down to respond to reviews: they get writer’s block.
Review responses are a direct representation of the business. Picking the right words can be stressful! While all review responses should be in the “voice” of your organization, they should be appropriate, as well.
In this guide, we’re going to walk you through some of the best responses to positive and negative reviews!
To make responding to reviews easy, take these templates, individualize them, and send them to your ORM as a list of approved responses to work with.
Responding to Positive Reviews
When you’re responding to positive reviews, you can keep things simple or get a little more personal. Depending on the industry you’re in, you may feel more comfortable sharing particular details. Check out some of our top responses to positive reviews:
- “Hi (NAME), thank you for leaving such a kind review! It’s always a pleasure to have you in (THE OFFICE, OUR RESTAURANT).”
- “Hi (NAME), thank you for the great review. We always prioritize listening to our (CUSTOMERS, PATIENTS) to provide a great experience. It’s a pleasure to have you at (THE OFFICE, OUR RESTAURANT), and we’re glad to see that you’re doing well.”
- “Thank you for the great review about your experience, (NAME)”
Responding to a Rating Only
There are some cases where someone will only submit a rating to your profile. These appear as star ratings without a comment listed with it. In these cases, you can keep things simple and straightforward. Try one of the following responses:
- “Hi (NAME), thank you for the great rating!”
- “Thanks for the five-star rating, (NAME)”
- “Thanks for leaving us a five-star rating, (NAME). We appreciate your business and hope to see you again soon.”
Responding to Negative Reviews
Responding to negative reviews is a stressful experience. First, it’s always surprising to read something bad being said about a business you pour so much energy into. Second, you’ll have to do some detective work to find out if the review is real. And then you need to respond to it.
Here are some ideas to help make responding to a negative review easier:
- “We appreciate your feedback, (NAME), but we do not have a record of you visiting the (OFFICE, RESTAURANT). Please call us at (NUMBER) to discuss your issues directly, so that we can understand why you feel this way.”
- “Hello (NAME), I strive to provide compassionate, thorough care, with an emphasis on positive outcomes. Could you please call me at (NUMBER) at your earliest convenience so that we may discuss this matter?”
- “Hi (NAME), we appreciate your honesty in leaving this feedback. Would you please contact me directly at (NUMBER) to discuss the situation and learn about what we can improve?”
Sticking to responses like these can help you manage your online reviews successfully. Pick and choose from the ones that work best for you, tweak them, and post it! Your reviewers and potential customers will appreciate your efforts.