The Importance of Local Citation for your Business
April 20, 2016
A Snapshot of a Search Engine Result Page
May 4, 2016
Getting a negative review is a common occurrence for all types of business, whether it is an online selling or a real physical store. There are reviews that cannot affect your online marketing but there are also reviews that can be damaging to your image and destroy your reputation. The effects of these negative reviews can last for many years if it is not handled correctly. Sometimes, the only solution is to remove the negative reviews.
Why Reviews Have a Huge Impact on Business
Reviews can really make or break an online business. According to one study, more than 70% of consumers they surveyed believe online reviews. If the reviews are positive, it can contribute to huge growth in sales. There are websites fully dedicated to online reviews visited by millions of consumers every month. This huge trust in online reviews makes it a very powerful tool that will definitely have a huge impact on a business.
Ways to Prevent or Remove Damaging Reviews
- Make every effort to prevent the customer from writing any negative review – Most customers contact the business owner or the manager to voice out their complaints before they turn to writing negative online reviews. When a customer vents out their frustration by phone or email, you have to think of it as your opportunity to empathize with the customer and make them realize that you are doing everything to help them. Reassuring the customer and providing positive response is a big step towards resolving the issue and prevent any negative reviews in the future.
- Respond in a professional manner – It is a bad idea to respond to customer complaints with lengthy and emotional messages. Remember that consumers always take the side of the reviewer and responding in a derogatory manner will only make matters worse. It is better to discuss the issue in a professional manner and offer ways to remedy the situation.
- Legal action – If the negative review is false and damaging to the business, the last resort is to take legal action. Winning a court decision can have the review removed from the internet. However, this action may reflect negatively on the business in the long run.
Removal of Defamatory Review in Google Review
Google does not allow reviews that represent personal attack on others. If you have been a victim of defamatory reviews, you can either reply directly to the review through Google My Business account or you can seek judgment from a judicial court declaring the statements to be false. You can present the court order to Google to remove the review.
Google can also flag a review as inappropriate and remove it completely. However, a simple flagging may not elicit a complete removal of the review due to the number of reviews that Google receives daily.
Removal of negative reviews is not easy and it usually involves getting a court order to have it deleted. In this case, the best solution is to always provide the best service for your customers to prevent them from writing bad reviews against your business.