INTRODUCTION TO

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT The famous entrepreneur, Warren Buffett once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

He may not have been talking about responding to customer reviews online, but his advice is still relevant. That’s because it’s not whether a customer leaves a 5-star review or a 1-star review about your business somewhere like Google, Facebook, Yelp, or another online directory, but your response that counts.

Today’s consumers are spending more and more time online, and online customer reviews have overtaken good old-fashioned word-of mouth referrals, so how you respondto these reviews counts.

90% of consumers read

online reviews.

94% of consumers would

use a business with

a four-star rating.

95% of consumers suspect

censorship or faked

reviews when they

don't see bad scores.

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

This guide will provide examples of 5 possible review responses for 5 different reviewer personas.

The review responses were sourced directly from our team of account managers who coordinate

and oversee the marketing campaigns of each of our small business partners.

With over 14,000 small business clients across the country, we're no stranger to the world of online

reviews. As a team, we've responded to thousands of reviews, and each account manager regularly

coaches their clients on how to respond to reviews of all kinds. We've seen it all, and we've gained a

unique level of insight in the process. The review responses in this guide come straight from that

experience and insight.

THE KEV COMPONENTS of a GREAT REVIEW RESPONSE:

No two reviews are exactly the same, so consider the review responses below as a little

inspiration to point you in the right direction. What each review response should have in common,

however, are the following key components:

• Always acknowledge & thank (yes, thank!) the customer

• Provide an offline contact for resolution, or invite further contact

• Squeeze in some marketing, keywords & shameless self promotion when possible

• For positive reviews, include your business name. For negative reviews, leave it out.

• Vary your responses, and be authentic!

WHEN TO KEEP QUIET

There are some statements should not be dignified with a response. Some reviewers are

trolls, some use obscenities, and some are looking to start a flame war that will make both

parties look bad. If responding to a review will do more harm than good, sometimes silence is gold.

• Trolls get a kick out of escalating your emotions. Don't give them what they want.

• Some reviewers are unhappy with their life, and get revenge on the world via reviews.

• If a review legitimately upset you, take some time to collect your wits before a response.

MEET YOUR

REVIEWERS

Without further ado, let's meet

our reviewers. These are some

of the most common reviewer

archetypes and scenarios that

our clients are faced with each

day, along with five examples

of a response we might leave

for each of them.

Keep in mind, each reviewer is

unique, and generalizations

can be dangerous. There are

reviews that don't fall into any

of our categories, and others

that might fall into more than

one. Think of this resource as

a field guide for the wilderness

of online reviews.

There is no formulaic way to

respond to every reviewer in

the world, and you will have to

use your best judgment at

times. Remember, the Internet

changes every day, and we,

too, must be dynamic.

Bizl smart local marketing

HOW TO RESPOND TO FURIOUS FRANK:

YOU KNOW HOW YOU USED TO FEEL ABOUT THE MIDDLE SCHOOL BULLY WHO USED TO MAKE FUN OF YOU AND BEAT YOU UP? THAT’S

HOW I FEEL ABOUT GREEN GROCER. I’VE BEEN FLEECED, EXPLOITED, RIPPED-OFF AND MANIPULATED, AND THERE’S NOTHING

I CAN DO ABOUT IT. GREEN GROCER HAS LITERALLY RUINED MY LIFE WITH THEIR SCAM SALES ON FRESH PRODUCE.

“”

Furious Frank is fond of the CapsLock key, and is not happy about your business. He’s also not happy about the way his life is going. He is overflowing with rage, and is lashing out at your business to vent frustrations. This type of reviewer is often obscene, and uses personal attacks to get a rise out of business owners. This may be deeply unhappy with the service he’s received, he may have a long and personal vendetta against your business, or he may even be a disgruntled ex-employee. Formulate your responses carefully when dealing with Furious Frank.

Furious Frank’s review can obviously leave you feeling, well, furious. It’s understandable, but it’s important to take a step back and take a few deep breaths before responding. Ask yourself whether Frank’s review has any merit. Is there a real issue here that needs to be resolved? If there is, respond accordingly. If the review is baseless, it is still important to respond. Remember, you’re not responding for Furious Frank’s benefit. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to shift their perception of your business. You’re responding for the benefit of anyone else who might happen upon this review. You want to show your customers that you are willing to address their concerns.

To protect your brand’s online presence, you’ll want to acknowledge the customer’s concerns, and thank them for taking the time to share them. Draw attention to the great experience you strive to provide, provide direct contact information, and ask the customer to follow up with you offline to get to the bottom of what might have happened. You also want to avoid mentioning your business name when responding in order to avoid this negative review popping up when someone searches for your business on Google.

FURIOUS FRANK

5 RESPONSES TO FURIOUS FRANK:

Mr. Frank, we’re sorry you’re not happy. Thank you for alerting us. We believe every customer should be heard and we work hard to ensure our produce is in peak condition and our customers are satisfied. We would like the opportunity to speak to you more about your experience. Please call us at XXX-XXX-XXXX.

We’re sorry you weren’t satisfied with your produce purchase, Mr. Frank. Thank you for sharing your concerns with us. We regularly inspect our fruits and vegetables and cull any that don’t meet our standards of freshness and appearance. Feel free to contact us so we can address your issue and make things right. You can reach us at XXX-XXX-XXXX.

We appreciate you sharing your concerns with us, Frank. We are saddened to hear that you felt you were treated unfairly when you came to see us. We always strive to provide our customers with fresh produce at fair prices and always want our customers to feel that they have received excellent customer service. We apologize that your visit seemed to have fallen short of this. We would love the opportunity to speak with you about your experience and see if we can do anything to help. Please give us a call at XXX.XXX.XXXX and ask to speak with our owner, Mr. Green. We hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you for your feedback, Mr. Frank. We use this feedback to make sure that our services are nothing less than the best for all our clients. I am sorry to hear that you have had a not so good experience recently. We also strive to make any wrongs right and would like to get more detail from you so we can work out a proper solution. Please feel free to contact us so we can make it right!

Thank you so much for your feedback, Mr. Frank. We’re really sorry you had a bad experience. We strive to give all our customers top quality produce and caring customer service. We’d love to have the opportunity to address your concerns. Please call us at XXX-XXX-XXXX so we can discuss this further.

HOW TO RESPOND TO BEWILDERED BETTY:

I’m giving Okie-Dokie Transmission repair a one-star review for there top-notch tire service. The workers were very nice young fellows and were kind enouh to give me directions to the libary. casserole recipe tuna casserole recipe why is the google not working computer fixer

computer technician internet technician

“”

Bewildered Betty doesn’t seem to understand your business, the Internet, or how reviews work. But she’s trying her best. This reviewer may be unhappy with your business out of utter confusion and misunderstanding. The numerical rating Betty leaves may reflect the opposite of her written content, and what she writes illustrates her lack of understanding of what your services entail. Bewildered Betty is a timid, frightened lamb that must be handled with patience and care.

Bewildered Betty’s review is clearly well-intentioned, although jumbled, and deserves a response. Your response to this review should highlight the positive whenever possible, and provide guidance on how to update the star rating to something more in line with the great experience she had. Remember, leaving a review isn’t always easy, especially for the not-so-tech-savvy. With a little patience and perseverance, chances are you can turn this one-star review into a five-star review.

BEWILDERED BETTY

5 RESPONSES TO BEWILDERED BETTY

Thank you so much for sharing your positive experience with our technicians when you visited us last, Ms. Betty. We were happy to help you find your way. We believe in providing our transmission customers with the best service possible, including clearing up any confusion. According to your feedback, you were more than satisfied with your experience, but you only rated us 1 star. We’re wondering if this was a mistake and you intended to give us 5 stars instead. We would be happy to walk you through the process of adjusting your review. You can reach us at XXX-XXX-XXXX. Thanks so much again for your feedback!

Thank you, Betty, for your kind words about our business and your experience. Google’s reviews are rated from 1 star for terrible service to 5 stars for excellent service. It sounds like we gave you a 5-star experience, but you rated us 1 star. If something else happened that concerned you or you’d like help navigating Google reviews, please contact us at XXX-XXX-XXXX so we can address any issues.

Hi, Betty, thank you for your feedback. We're glad to hear that our technicians seemed to have taken good care of you when you came in for service. Google allows you the opportunity to rate your experience on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, with 1 meaning you had a poor experience to 5 meaning your experience was excellent. Because it seems that you had a great experience with us, we would be happy to show you how you can edit your response to reflect a corresponding star rating if you give us a call at XXX.XXX.XXXX. We are so happy that you came in to see us and hope to see you again when it is time for your next round of service

Thank you, Betty, for your kind feedback! I am glad that we were able to offer top notch service, and that our technicians were able to give you directions to the library. Your tuna casserole seems like it would be super tasty! I would like to elaborate on the 1-star review. We do try to provide the best in service to all our customers and given your review, it seems the one star could possibly be a mistake. If it is not, please do let me know of any issues you have had and we will be glad to make them right! We may even be able to pitch in some ideas about your tuna casserole. Thank you again!

Thank you for taking the time to share your positive experience, Betty. It appears the star-rating associated with the review does not match. Instead of one star, based on your feedback, you intended to rate your experience a five-star. Since Google uses stars to determine our rating, would you mind taking a moment to adjust your review? I would be glad to walk you through how to do this. Please call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX when you have time.

HOW TO RESPOND TO SPAMBOT_06413:

Hello darling! [AMAZING!]tired of seeing 90 reasons CLICK NOW I noticed yo video world wid clieck th e link to see more you Won’t believe cops hate him! I cant believe I see you now bit.ly3ad54hpo

“”

SPAMBOT_06413 is not a human being, but a clunky piece of coding unleashed on the Internet. This reviewer writes in a baffling word salad, which is either the result of amateur programming, or bad Malaysian-to-English translation. SPAMBOT_06413 is fond of sketchy short links, comments completely unrelated to the content, and leaving dozens of reviews for business around the world in the same minute. This reviewer is (successfully) flagged for removal most of the time.

Most online directories have anti-spam policies, and many have algorithms and bots of their own to help prevent spam. Still, even the best spam filters don’t prevent every post from bots and the companies and hackers who make them change their bots almost as quickly as the directories and search engines change their anti-spam measures so sometimes a spambot review slips through.

When faced with a review from a bot and not a real human, you’re going to want to get it removed if you can. Every directory has different procedures for getting reviews removed and some are quicker to remove these types of reviews than fake reviews from competitors written by actual humans and not spambots. Be patient. It can sometimes take several days for a review to be removed. There aren’t really 5 review response examples, but we have 5 tips, including a couple responses you could post if it’s not removed within 10 days.

SPAMBOT_06413

5 RESPONSES TO SPAMBOT_06413

Hi Mr. spambot_06413, we can’t find any record of your account in our system and your review violates the terms of service. We’ve flagged your review for removal. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to call us at XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Hi Mr. spambot_06413. It appears your account may have been hacked. Please reach out to us for help removing the review once you’ve recovered your account. You can reach us at XXX-XXX-XXXX. We’re happy to walk you through the process.

Flag/Report the review and ask your friends to do the same so it will be removed. Remember to be patient.

Whatever you do, don’t click on any links or call any phone numbers in the review, because you could either open yourself up to viruses and malware, or get unwanted robocalls.

If the review is tied to the account of a real customer, it’s possible their email or online profile was hacked and hijacked. Instead of making an angry phone call to your customer, call them and alert them that someone is posting spam under their account. It’s possible they don’t know they were hacked. Once they recover their account, they can remove the spam review.

HOW TO RESPOND TO MR. TOTALLY-NOT-A-COMPETITOR:

What a rip-off! I think this service is bad, and their waterbeds are bad, especially compared to King Waterbeds in Kenosha! I hear King

Waterbeds is great and they’ve got a huge blowout sale on Labor Day weekend, with select models marked down to 15% off! Forget about

Waterbed Warehouse, and take your business to King Waterbeds in Kenosha!

“”

Mr. Totally-Not-A-Competitor is a sly, Machievellian mastermind. He creates an insidious network of shill accounts to promote his business, and slander his competition. This reviewer’s reviews are often flagged for removal, following a flurry of 1-star reviews. Mr. Totally-Not-A-Competitor is never as clever or subtle as he thinks, but can occasionally swing clients from your business to his. He can also damage your brand’s online reputation if he is not dealt with properly.

When dealing with a review from Mr. Totally-Not-A-Competitor, your first course of action should always be to try to have it removed. Depending on where the review was left, you can either flag it or report it, and have your friends do the same. This does not automatically guarantee that it will be removed, as each platform’s policies are different, and some tend to side with the reviewer. If the review was not able to be removed, a response is called for in most cases. You’ll want to wait at least 10 days before responding, especially if the review is on Yelp as their algorithm will sometimes push these reviews down and hide them if they have not been responded to.

When responding, remember that you’re responding for the benefit of future customers, not the reviewer. You want to show them that you’re listening, and willing to resolve conflict reasonably. Try to take on a detached tone rather than an indignant “how dare you?!” approach. In the end, most legitimate consumers can see right through these kinds of reviews, and your best course of action is always to cultivate a great reputation so Mr. Totally-Not-A-Competitor’s review is buried in positive feedback from real customers.

MR. TOTALLY-NOT-A-COMPETITOR

Hello Mr. Competitor, we can’t find any record of you in our files and it looks like your review violates Google’s review policies. As a result we’ve had to flag it for removal, and report it to Google. If you’d like to further discuss removing this review voluntarily, please call us at XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Hi Mr. Competitor. It looks like you’ve left similar reviews on all of the competitors of the company you mentioned by name in your review. As this is indicative of a false review and an account that was created for the purpose of disparaging competitors, we’ve notified the administrators of this site that your review is in violation of their Terms of Service, and will be contacting the Better Business Bureau as well. Please consider reaching out to us at XXX-XXX-XXXX to discuss or promptly removing this review.

Hello Mr. Competitor, we can’t find any record of you in our files and it looks like your review violates Google’s review policies. As a result, we’ve had to flag it for removal and report it to Google. If you’d like to further discuss removing this review voluntarily, please call us at XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Thank you for your feedback, Mr. Competitor. We take our customer’s concerns very seriously, however, we’re unable to locate any record of having done business with you. We’d like to get to the bottom of this to make sure we can resolve any issues you might have had, so please reach out to us at XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Mr. Competitor, I am unable to locate you in our customer database and it appears you may have confused our business with another that provides a similar product. I would like to work with you to resolve your issue. Please contact me at your earliest convenience at XXX-XXX-XXXX.

5 RESPONSES MR. TOTALLY-NOT-A-COMPETITOR:

HOW TO RESPOND TO YOUR BIGGEST FAN:

I was skeptical at first, but I couldn’t believe how AMAZING of a job Murray House Painting did on our home!!! I thought the price is so good, their work has to suck but NOPE! So good! The inside of the house is like right out of a dream, I’m so glad we decided to go with

Murray House Painting!

“”

Your Biggest Fan is very happy and enthusiastic with your business. This overjoyed reviewer likes, comments, and shares everything your business does on social media, writes glowing reviews longer than some novels, and may or may not explode from sheer enthusiasm. This reviewer is your brand evangelist, your unpaid guerilla marketer, and the unofficial company mascot. Needless to say, every business could benefit from a few of these reviewers!

Everyone could use a few #1 fans, don’t you think? While it can be easy to smile and move on when you read a review from Your Biggest Fan, these are the customers that can turn into true ambassadors for your brand. They definitely deserve a response, and they also give you a great opportunity to draw even more positive attention to your business.

You’ll want to, of course, thank the customer for leaving feedback, throw in a bit of shameless self-promotion and something personalized if possible. Be sure to mention your business name to boost the chances of the positive review showing up in search results. You also want to be sure to include some kind of invitation for future action, if appropriate.

Your BIGGEST FAN

Hello Ms. Fan. We really appreciate the time you took to leave such a thoughtful review of our service! We’re happy you had a great experience with us here at Murray House Painting and are enjoying your freshly painted home. Don’t forget to tell your friends about our free estimates and multiple room discount. Also, don’t forget that we’ll give you 20% off your next paint service when your friend books one of our whole house painting packages. Thanks again!

Thank you so much, Ms. Fan for taking the time to share your wonderful experience with us here at Murray House Painting. We take pride in knowing our customers are happy with our service. We hope your daughter is enjoying her first week at college. Remember, if you decide to paint another room or more in your house within the next 30 days, we’ll give you 20% off. We hope you’ll give us a call the next time you need any type of residential painting service.

Hi, Ms. Fan. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a great review for Murray House Painting. Our crew loved working on your home’s interior painting (and those cookies you provided were fantastic, too!) Remember, we offer a complimentary color consultation before every job, so when you’re ready to paint your other rooms, give us a call. Thanks again!

Hi, Ms. Number One Fan! We’ve definitely heard the too-good-to-be-true thing about our pricing before, and we pride ourselves on the quality of work here at Murray House Painting. We’re glad you agree, and thanks so much for leaving us a great review. We hope you’ll give us a call the next time you’re looking for any kind of residential painting service.

Hi, Ms. Your Biggest Fan. We’re so happy to hear you’ve had a great experience with Murray House Painting. We always try to offer the best prices and the highest quality work in the Anytown, USA area! Thanks so much for your kind feedback. Did you know we do exterior painting too? When you’re ready to paint the outside of your home, we hope you’ll give us a call!

5 RESPONSES TO YOUR BIGGEST FAN:

TAKE IT FURTHER

A FEW THINGS TO CONSIDER:

Responding to reviews goes beyond making your business look reputable online. Business owners must

recognize the importance of cultivating a great reputation, and take action when action is needed. If you

receive frequent negative reviews with similar complaints, you're probably not the innocent victim of a

random smear campaign or personal vendetta. When your reviews frequently cite poor service, or a rude

employee, it's time to address the issue, not fight it or cover it up. Your online reviews are not going away,

but that snarky employee or confusing policy might need to.

IN SUMMATION:

Like it or not, online reviews are crucial to your online storefront. Reviews, responses, and interaction

can be an ideal place to establish trust in your brand, as well as a modern avenue for customer service.

Interactions on your review section gave opportunities to show the public who you really are, what your

business's priorities are, and can be a vehicle for further delighting your customer base.

You wouldn't believe what a couple 5-star reviews can do for your business!

YOUR BUSINESS'S REPUTATION IS AT STAKE.

CALL US TODAY AT 480 685-9433 FOR A FREE EVALUATION!

•

IZ smart local marketing