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Currently, a business's reputation can make or break its success. Negative reputation and feedback spread quickly.
Social media and online review sites make that possible. One negative review causes significant losses to your bottom line. Those losses are as much as $3700 and 30 customers.
Negative reviews tend to linger for a longer time. Very often, negative reviews outrank your positive reviews. Even when not deserved, your business may struggle with a negative reputation.
it's important to get ahead of those issues. A business does this with proactive steps addressing the issue. Here are five steps to help turn things around.
Identify the Root Cause of Your Negative Reputation
Fixing a negative reputations is a process. The first step is identifying the root cause of the issue. Was it caused by a defined event? Perhaps, the cause is some behavior you repeat over time? Businesses often call for a complete review of their business's practices. A good practice is to survey your customers for feedback. This helps you pinpoint where things went wrong.
Begin to take action t targeted to address the issue. Your goal is to prevent it from happening again. This only happens after identifying the issue.
Take Responsibility and Apologize
Honesty is the best policy! Repairing a negative reputation requires taking responsibility once you make a mistake. Apologies are more effective if done publicly. Often, you do this through social media, website statements, or even in-person meetings.
It isn’t only your customer base that is evaluating customer relationships. It is, often, your prospects and potential customers that are evaluating your responses as well.
Consumers considering purchases search your reviews. They read your responses as well. It gets shared among family and friends. That information spreads rapidly. It does not take long for bad information to become worse.
Here's a link to one of our articles providing word-for-word responses to overcome a negative reviews.
Consumers notice businesses owning up to past mistakes. They especially notice businesses showing a willingness to make things right. Businesses are rebuilding trust with their customer base.
Implement Safeguards – Negative Reputation Protection
Fixing a negative reputation is more than apologizing for past mistakes,. Also, it's important to put safeguards in place. Safeguards make sure that your business does not face the same type of issues in the future. Set up guidelines to train employees on proper customer service treatment. Set up quality control measures. Consider hiring an outside consultant to review business practices.
This is a proactive approach to prevent future issues. Demonstrate your business's commitment to top-notch customer service. The business builds a positive reputation. Respond to all reviews. This means responding to both negative and positive reviews.
Take a Test Drive of our tool that helps you respond to all reviews. Click on Review Responder. Use this tool at our expense for 7 days. Using this tool saves you time. It helps with customer experience. It helps build customer relations.
For Positive Reviews Encourage Positive Feedback
Positive reviews and feedback from satisfied customers go a long way in overcoming negative feedback and building a positive reputation. Studies show consumers distrust perfect 5-star review ratings. Many consumers consider only ratings of 4.5 stars or better.
One smart trick to get positive reviews is to email customers right after their purchase. Then prompt customers having a positive experience to leave positive reviews on online review platforms.
The most respected review platform is Google. Social media is a good place because news spreads so fast. Comments on your website blog add juice to your rankings.
Your business displays a commitment to excellent customer service when seeking out positive feedback. Service above and beyond the customer’s expectations builds a positive reputation.
Build Positive Partnerships
Finally, partner with other organizations or community groups. Consumers look on charitable service with favor. Remember, you are building a positive image and reputation. You are making people forget the negatives.
Often, this opportunity involves sponsoring local events or charities. Another possibility is participating in community service projects. Create a positive network and partner with other businesses. Consumers remember such a network. Also, they take notice of your participation in the network. Many positive comments come from such service projects.
Businesses show they are more than just a profit-seeking entity. Showing a commitment to the community creates valuable good will. Building positive partnership networks leads to many goodwill opportunities. Your business becomes a valued member of the community.
Conclusion
A negative reputation is a significant hurdle for businesses to overcome. It's not an impossible hurdle. The right approach makes the impossible possible. Proactively get ahead of potential problems. Next, identify the root cause of issues. Apologize for past mistakes. Put in place safeguards. Prompt happy customers for positive feedback. Build positive partnerships. Then businesses begin to rebuild trust. With trust, you gain positive reviews. They build a valued, positive reputation becoming a market leader within their community.
Turn a negative reputation and a negative review into a Positive Review. Gains of as much as 35% in revenue are possible when responding to all reviews. Click this link, Review Response Tool, to find out how!
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