How to Deal with a Bad Yelp Review

If a customer rant has you Googling how to deal with a bad Yelp review, you’re in the right place. Save face with our tips!

5 Tips for Dealing with a Bad Yelp Review

1. Acknowledge it: Your business is not perfect and your customer caught you serving up less than stellar service. Now of course you don’t want this to become your reputation, but that doesn’t mean you can’t own it and move on with a sense of pride and responsibility. Acknowledging your faults and where your business underperformed will help you understand why you were dealt a bad Yelp review in the first place.

2. Respond- You should always reply to every bad Yelp review. Ignoring it simply implies you don’t care enough, or that you’re too angry or otherwise embarrassed to deal with it (which you are, and that’s also why you’re here). Reach out to the customer and listen to their experience. In any way possible you should try to remedy their concerns, and if necessary- offer them to come back to your business and give it another try.

3. Request a Positive Review- If you’ve reached out to your customer and they’re happy with your response, you’re in a much better position to ask if they’d be willing to write a positive follow-up review based on their new experience. If you’ve handled the situation promptly and professionally they’ll be much more inclined to share their experience with Yelp readers.

4. Establish Customer Loyalty– Now it’s time to move on and keep the customers you have happy. This means you need to establish some sort of customer loyalty strategy. Besides offering quality service and products, your business should also focus on encouraging repeat business. Mobile apps, emails and maintaining an activesocial media presence, are all tools your business can use to encourage loyal customers.

5. Don’t Repeat Mistakes- Last but not least don’t repeat the same mistakes. If you’re constantly reading reviews about your slow or poor service, perhaps it’s time for a meeting and a new game plan? Once you know what you’re doing wrong you can work hard to make things right. Strive to understand your customer and their needs so that you can focus on their expectations (and then exceed them).

You’re Not Alone

Despite what your bad business review discloses, it helps to know you’re not alone. Many businesses have had to deal with the often “unexpected” blow of negative feedback. Since you’re likely already aware that bad feedback spreads like wildfire, you can also make a point to publically share the situation. Social media is a great place to thank your customer for their feedback, and then go ahead and tell the world what the heck you did wrong. People are much more forgiving of people and businesses who make efforts to improve after being blasted.

While it takes time for businesses to get over the sting of a bad business review, patience, acknowledgment, and an unwavering commitment to service will eventually pull you out of the wreckage. (All in one piece.)