NEGATIVE ONLINE REVIEWS – WHAT TO DO?
Consumer opinions. Good ones? You love them. Bad but balanced? Hate to see them, but try to listen and learn, right? But, when they’re both bad AND unfair? They make you boiling mad and defensive! Why? Because you know you did all you could to help solve their issue. Your people went above and beyond the call of duty and handled the customer with respect, care and kindness. You bent your normal store policies for them.
And, yet, they are still unhappy! Why? They didn’t get what they wanted.
In the past, you knew this customer was one that, unfortunately (but not for lack of trying) might be one of the few that was going to be (at least for a while) unhappy with your store. What could they do to REALLY hurt your business? They could talk about their unhappiness with their friends over a meal, they could write the Better Business Bureau, they could go on TV.
In my 20 years of retail, no matter how unhappy a customer was with a store where I worked, I never saw one of them – even after much threatening to do so – go to the BBB or to the local TV station. I even saw that, when they calmed down over time, they came back and bought again!
