Manage Negative Online Reviews?

There are mainly two sources of information about any business on the web space that create public opinion, they are either the business itself or online reviews posted by its users. It is obvious that the information that a business shares about itself is purely positive and intended to boost its online image; but the reviews posted by varied users depend on their personal experience with the business and can be either positive or negative.

Negative online reviews can hamper your reputation drastically, they even have the potential to overpower positive reviews and appear upfront. The damage that a bad word can cause is far more than the benefit that a good word can do. The situation can get even worse if it goes viral. Thus, it is important for every business to stay aware about what is being spoken about them on the web verticals.

Once the negative review has been posted, all you can do is damage control. Every review cannot cause the same intensity of damage, but ignoring it, is not recommended, because you never know when people start taking it seriously. Exterminating negative reviews may take a long time and the results may not appear instantly. It is safe to stay prepared to handle such uncalled of situations in advance. Following are some tried and tested negative online review management solutions that can help your business in curbing the negative wave rising against you.

1. Hire an online reputation management company
If you wish to maintain a positive online reputation, but do not have the time, resources and expertise to do so, then it is better to hire an online reputation management expert or agency. They will polish your online reputation and extinguish any existing negative communication with their thorough experience and skills of reputation management.

2. Respond quickly to negative feedback
The online space never shuts down, it operates 24X7. It is important to respond promptly to negative reviews and customer complaints. It shows your dedication towards customer satisfaction and helps in building goodwill and trustworthiness.

3. Keep your tone pleasant and friendly
Whenever you reply to an online complaint make sure to create a connection with the user, you should sound polite, understanding and professional. Do not use bad language or blame the customer or your staff openly. You should stay calm even when you are not at fault and you know it.

4. Settle it offline
It is good to be transparent, but not all the time. It can be really difficult to manage everything online, because you cannot communicate with complete liberty. You can get offline and manage the issue on a personal level with the dissatisfied customer. Try to resolve their issue as soon as possible and humbly request them to remove the negative communication.

5. Increase positive reviews
Promote customers to post positive reviews about your business by improving the services offered and making it easy for happy customers to provide reviews online. In the lack of quality positive reviews the negative reviews will lead to opinion formation, whereas mixed communication can restrain visitors from drawing any conclusions.

6. Monitor reviews
Always keep track of online communications about your business. Stay updated about what is being said about your company whether good or bad. Analyze sources of reviews and user ratings, to outsmart negative communication. You can use a review monitoring tool to do this job for you.

Looking at the quality and quantity of conversions the digital space can generate, it is mandatory to look for ways to manage online communications. To become people's favorite, you need plenty of satisfied customers talking good about you on various review sites. A negative online review is a stain on your online image, just like one cannot wear a stained fabric, similarly, a revenue-generating business cannot withhold a negative image. A good online reputation management t can do more than just removing all the bad communication about you. It includes building positive public opinion, addressing grievances, setting examples, getting an edge over the competition, earning loyal & happy customers, increasing customer base and amplifying popularity & goodwill. So, getting a good reputation is not an option, rather it is a compulsion.