Google business profiles are great for many reasons. A huge benefit is the positive impact they have on your local SEO – after all, they are associated with Google Maps. They tell local customers everything they need to know about your business. This includes your range of services, your contact details and what areas you cover. As well as that, customers can also review your business. This contributes to an overall star rating out of five.
Google Business Profile Reviews
Of course, every business wants to get a five-star rating. Achieving this relies on your company getting several glowing reviews from customers.
People are more likely to leave a negative review than a positive one. It’s thought that this is because a bad experience will prompt an emotional response. We tend to dwell on negative experiences for longer, therefore it will stay in our minds for longer.
Unfortunately, the same is not usually true for a positive experience. Those are much easier to forget, meaning that unless customers are prompted, they might not remember to leave a glowing review.
Reviews You Can Report To Google
There are some occasions where a review isn’t considered as legitimate. In these rare cases, Google might remove them. Whether they do that or not is entirely at their discretion, so a removal is never guaranteed. The following are worth submitting:
- Fake reviews
- Spam
- Content that is considered to be harassment or hate speech
- Disagreements between businesses and clients will not be considered
Why Won’t Google Remove A Bad Review?
If the review is genuine and follows Google’s review guidelines, it’s very unlikely that it will be removed. You could try to contact the person who left the review and ask them to remove it. The best approach would be to acknowledge the issue and offer to make amends with the customer. However, if you don’t feel that reaching an amicable outcome is possible, it may not be worth contacting them.
What Should You Do When You Get A Bad Review?
If you’ve had a negative review, you might be feeling a bit upset. It’s hard not to take it personally, but you should try to view things rationally.
A bad review is usually left when a customer is not satisfied with the product or service they received. When this happens, it can be difficult to admit that you’re at fault. Although they can be tricky to address, complaints are a great opportunity for improvement.
A bad review could cause you a lot of stress. We would always recommend taking your time to craft your response. The longer you take, the less likely you are to be reactive. While it may be tempting to reply with an angry, emotion-fuelled response, this is rarely the best thing to do.
How To Reply To A Bad Review
Allowing yourself some time to calm down first will make a big difference. When you’re ready, re-read the review thoroughly. Make a note of the main points. If they’re complaining about several things, be sure to address each part of their complaint.
Keep in mind that while you are replying to one person’s complaint, your reply will be visible to a much larger audience. Make sure that you are respectful and polite. This will go a long way in building trust with potential customers. If it’s clear that you care and want to resolve an issue, this will look much better than if you threw a tantrum.
Remember that complaints are very personal. You shouldn’t dismiss someone’s feelings if they’ve shared them in their review. The best thing to do is to acknowledge how they felt about your service and make a genuine pledge to do better, should they return.
Should You Offer An Amend?
You might be wondering if it’s a good idea to extend the olive branch with a discount or offer of a free service. This can be an effective method of handling a bad review, as it gives your customer a reason to come back. However, be careful with this and consider reserving this for circumstances where an apology just doesn’t seem like enough. You wouldn’t want to give people an incentive to leave a bad review if the reward is too sweet!
