So You Got Reviewed On Google: Here's How To Respond
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Google is one of the most popular peer review sites out on the internet today. As a business owner, it's important to look at any and all reviews you may get. Responding to reviews is a delicate game that not many know how to play. Today, we're going to tell you some of our tips and tricks for responding to reviews on Google!
What Do You Need Before You Start?
If you want to respond to Google Reviews, you will first need claimed ownership of the business's Google My Business (GMB) account. GMB is the hub for companies and their marketing agencies to keep an eye on their search presence, update information as needed, and read/respond to reviews. Claiming or creating this account yourself are the only ways to get access to the backend of the account where reviews can be managed. It's commonplace for all businesses to have an account these days, but there are still some that do not. Keep in mind that Google will "auto-generate" a GMB profile for you and will pull information from websites and other mentions of your company. Whether you own this account or not, consumers can and will leave reviews. Without ownership, you can't respond in any way, so the reviews will pile up and go unanswered. Creating a Google My Business account is very simple, and Google walks you through the whole process along the way. If the listing already exists, you can use several methods to claim it and gain ownership/managerial editing rights.
Why Are Responses To Google Reviews So Important?
Responding to reviews is one of the best things you can do as a business owner to keep up your reputation. Unless you can prove that it is a bot and/or a scam, you cannot get Google Reviews removed from your page. However, you can respond to reviews and allow everyone else checking out your business to see how you deal with customers. Peer reviews are trusted far more than claims on websites, so a large majority of the population looks at reviews before trying a new business or product. While negative reviews never look great, you can save face by responding to them professionally. When potential customers see a business responding to criticism, it shows that that company wants to improve. Customer complaints and suggestions are not falling on deaf ears, and you are owning up for mistakes made in your establishment. Think of it as watching an argument with strangers. You don't know these people, but you're hearing Person A call out Person B for something that was said. You don't know the context behind the argument or what's happened behind the scenes in other situations, you only have the information available to you now. If Person A tells you that Person B called them a name or bailed on plans, what would you expect to happen? Most people would expect Person B to explain themselves and apologize. If they instead remain silent and seemingly don't care, you'll intuitively side with Person A. Going back to our Google Review example, you're a potential customer reading reviews. You see that Person A leaves a negative review with seemingly justifiable reasons. Would you rather see Person B (the business) respond and own up to their mistakes and attempt to make it right, or would you want the review to be ignored? Just about every client we present this question to say that they want to see a response. When businesses choose to ignore complaints, they are sending the message that they do not care for or about customer input and do not see anything they do as wrong or in need of attention. For new customers, this can put a bad taste in their mouth, and they'll take on the negative perception that Person A discussed in their review. You just lost yourself a potential customer because you didn't respond to criticism! Of course, you should also respond to positive reviews to thank the person for their patronage and for sharing their feedback. This shows that you are grateful for your customers and enjoy making them happy.
How To Respond To Positive Google Reviews
You can get away with not responding to positive reviews, but it's great practice to respond to anything that comes your way. Let's go through a few examples of reviews and appropriate responses to them.
- Review: "5/5 stars! The food was delicious and the staff was very friendly. I can't wait to go back!"
- Response: "Thank you, {name here}! We are so glad to hear that you had a great experience with us. Thank you for your feedback! We look forward to seeing you soon"
- Review: "This product does EXACTLY what it says it will. I've tried other things like this and they all broke within a week. This is the real deal and I've already told all my friends about it"
- Response: "Thank you so much for the great review, {name here}! We take great pride in our products and we go above and beyond to make sure the quality is up to snuff. We're so glad you enjoy it and we hope your friends will give us a try as well!"
- Review: "This app is absolutely addicting. There aren't too many ads so gameplay isn't interrupted every two minutes. The levels are challenging but fun and the characters are so cute! If I could offer any suggestion it would be to let you play with friends and see their progress!"
- Response: "Hi, {name here}! We're so glad you're enjoying our game. Our designers are always trying to make content that users will enjoy so it's nice to hear we're succeeding! That is a wonderful suggestion and we've already submitted it to the applicable department to discuss implementing it. New updates are coming soon so keep on playing!"
As you can see in each example, the best responses include the reviewer's name if they left it for a personal touch. You should also try to address something they said directly, and always make sure to thank them for their time. Good reviews can be hard to come by, so let them know it's appreciated. Reputation management doesn't stop at negative reviews because we are always hoping to get more good reviews to flow in to see how the company will respond. Consumers like to be noticed by brands they admire, so if you make it obvious that you respond to as many reviews as possible, customers might be more willing to leave them with the hopes of hearing back from you.
How To Respond To Negative Google Reviews
As you would image, it's more important to respond to negative reviews. You want to let the person (and everyone reading the reviews) know that you take customer service very seriously. It's okay to admit mistakes, so long as you apologize and put processes in place to prevent them from happening again. Keep in mind that you can't please everyone, but it's beneficial to reach out whenever possible to try to soothe any tensions. Here are some examples of how our digital marketing team would handle various negative reviews:
- Review: "1 Star"
- Response: "Hello, {name here}. We are sorry that you were not satisfied with your experience. Please reach out to us to further discuss your experience. We take customer service seriously and we'd like to know specific feedback so we can make any necessary changes."
- Review: "Shipping took FOREVER. When it came in, it didn't fit right at all, and the colors were nothing like they were on the website. I'm so disappointed because I really had high hopes for this brand."
- Response: "We are so sorry to hear about these issues, {name here}. It's very hard to showcase our products true-to-life online, but we never want customers to be disappointed with their purchase. Feel free to reach out to us about resolving your issues. We would like to offer you free returns or exchanges for your items."
- Review: "Our waiter was extremely rude. He was hovering around us constantly and he kept forgetting parts of the order. We came here for dinner, not to babysit an ignorant teenager"
- Response: "We are sorry to hear that you did not enjoy your most recent visit. We understand your frustrations completely. While we are not disregarding your feedback, we would like to mention that we recently hired a large number of new wait staff. They are still in training and are learning the ropes as best as they can. We will make sure to increase the number of trained supervisors on shifts in the future to prevent situations like yours from occurring. We hope you'll come back soon to see the new procedures at work."
Responding to negative Google Reviews is much trickier than responding to positive comments. There's a delicate balance between taking ownership/apologizing and appearing fake. People don't want to hear empty apologies or read cookie-cutter responses. They want to know that they are being heard and that your business is going to take their criticisms and do something to fix the problems. It can be very hard to not get defensive when someone calls out your business, but remember that you are responding to the reviewer and all potential customers looking at your Google My Business profile. Yelling at a client or accusing them of lying is not a good first impression. If things get out of hand and the reviews become slanderous, get in touch with Google to talk about removing the reviews. Some people leave bad reviews for businesses they know nothing about for fun or as a way to make money. As scary as it sounds, competitors might be paying people to write fake negative reviews to make you look bad online! Respond professionally and be sure you actually listen to their feedback. It's likely a genuine problem that you can easily fix to avoid future negative reviews.
Responding to Google Reviews is one of the biggest parts of reputation management. Make sure you are keeping up to date with reviews, or that you're working with a digital marketing agency who will for you. We are often asked how reputation management works when we aren't part of the business, and the process is simple. Every member of our team is trained on different ways to respond to reviews. If it's the typical good or bad review, we'll reply on your behalf and then send over the feedback for you to look at. If it's a particularly bad review, or very specific, we will send you the review and ask how you would like us to proceed. You can let us know what to say, or respond back yourself. 9 times out of 10 we can handle the reviews without asking for input, but we never want to respond if we don't have the information we need. We will respond in ways that reflect your business's beliefs and personality so that no one will know its your digital marketing agency rather than you, the owner. If you're ready to let a team of experts take over your reputation management, call BusySeed at (888) 353-1484. We handle Google Reviews, Yelp accounts, Facebook and social media comments and reviews, YouTube comments, and more. Let us handle the work so that you can work on providing the best possible service to customers. We look forward to speaking with you about your personalized services package.
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