All companies welcome good reviews, but what happens when you receive a bad one? It is not an understatement to say that most business owners panic when they see a negative review. And no, a business owner cannot remove a negative review. Only the reviewer can remove or modify a review. Although no business owner welcomes a negative review, there is an opportunity for a business owner to build good faith and improve customer satisfaction when this happens. Several steps can be taken to mitigate a negative review:

What To Do with a Bad Review

• You can contact the reviewer (if they are not anonymous).
  • Ask the reviewer about their experience.
  • Thank them for bringing the negative experience to your attention.
  • Apologize for the experience, assuming it is not false.*
  • Let them know you will investigate and reply with your findings.
• Apologize to the customer by logging into your Google Business Profile and clicking “Repy” below the review. This will allow you to provide context for the
  review.
  • Thank the reviewer for their feedback, acknowledging you always want to improve the
    customer experience.
  • Answer with a personalized response, not a boilerplate response. Your willingness to
    accept responsibility for any errors builds good faith and shows you are always looking
    to improve operational processes.
• If the review contains falsehoods and you cannot resolve the issue by contacting the reviewer,
  you should reply to the customer’s review.
  • Politely provide the framework for the situation without disclosing confidential
    information.
  • Indicate that every effort was made to remedy the situation.
  • Invite the reviewer to speak offline to resolve the issue.

Whether your negative review is removed, odified, or acknowledged and responded to, continue to promote your positive reviews and testimonials on your website. Remember to ask your satisfied customers to leave reviews. Positive reviews will put the bad ones in perspective and ultimately drive the negative review further down the list.