How Negative Reviews Actually Build Authenticity for Your Product
Has your business ever received a bad review online? You probably remember it like it was yesterday. You may have even lost sleep over it. The truth is, bad reviews happen, even to good businesses.
We know it’s a terrible feeling to see a negative public review of your product. But believe it or not, these critical responses can actually be helpful, How you may ask, read more to find out.
Buyers are Looking for Balance
We know that buyers these days are savvy, and don’t believe every claim made by a vendor. They find more value in experiences like trials, referrals, and user reviews than they do in the claims of a seller. Most people realize that nothing is perfect. They actually expect to see at least some critical feedback.
If your site’s user generated content is 100% positive, buyers might actually become suspicious. They may wonder if this deal is too good to be true. Based on an analysis of 2.5 million reviews, it was found that 68% of consumers put more trust in a mix of good and bad reviews.
So, the “cons” help lend authenticity to the “pros”.
Negative Information is Useful to Buyer Decision Making
Buyers actually use negative information as part of their research process. Here are just some of the ways consumers make use of the negative points of a review:
- Learn which questions to the vendor
- To gain realistic expectations of the product or service
- They narrow down their options
- And the number one reason by far — reported by just under 65% of buyers – was to gauge the authenticity of positive feedback
Your Business Can Also Learn from Customer Critiques
According to Lee Resource Int’l, for every customer who complains, there are 26 others who remain silent. They just never come back. When you think of it that way, the person who just left you a negative review has actually helped you out immensely.
First, they’ve given you valuable data to work with that can help you improve your product or service. Second, they’ve given you an opportunity to win them back through service recovery.
How to Handle Negative Reviews Like a Pro
While receiving negative feedback may still be cringe-worthy, there are ways to make sure it doesn’t ruin your day, or your business.
- Ask for more positive reviews from happy customers
People tend to seek out products with more reviews rather than fewer. 50 or more online reviews translate to a 5% increase in click-through conversions, and an 18% boost in sales.
A higher proportion of positive reviews also helps water down the negative. For example, if 1 review of 10 is negative, a customer might hesitate, but with 10 negative and 100 positive reviews, it’s likely that the customer will still buy.
- Respond to (legitimate) negative reviews.
Show off your excellent customer service by responding publicly (and politely) to a negative review. Offer a solution when possible, and always acknowledge the customer’s specific complaints. If it was user error, you may point them towards training and resources about using your product. With this kind of reaction, you build a stronger relationship with the customer, turning them into an advocate for your customer service.
If reviews are non-constructive, slanderous, or contain offensive language, you should ignore. Everyone knows there are some people out there who just can’t be pleased, or simply like to complain.
Aim for balance when showcasing critical feedback.
While it’s tempting to use quotes that make audacious claims like “this product changed my life”, they don’t provide much substance.
Multi Media Widgets from Tellofy
With Tellofy, you can reply to each and every critical review and these responses are also sent to respondents and published on the brand pages. This creates trust & shows brand engagement.
Businesses can show case the same using the smart multi-media enabled widgets on the conversion pages to increase conversions.
Don’t be afraid to feature a positive review that may include some specific critique points.
We can’t win them all, but publishing reviews of all levels shows that you’re an honest company.
What features do you have in place to engage and respond to critical reviews from customers in real time ?
Customer Insights is key to customer success which defines customer delight and more sales, retention and word of mouth referrers.
The Tellofy platform captures customer opinions across the customer journey, critical and negative comments trigger predefined alerts to the business as actionable in real time. Read more on how Tellofy cab help you convert those critics to ravings fans.
Tellofy is a complete platform for omnichannel review acquisition in text, audio & video modes, powered by customized surveys, NPS, Engagement tools for real time responses, and Review marketing tools with in-depth customer insights & analytics.
Start a Free trial with Tellofy today.
Finally we welcome your comments, suggestions or criticism on this article. Please click here to share your thoughts via the tellofy feedback system or please feel free to enter your comments below.
