How to Deal with Negative Yelp Reviews

Building a robust and up-to-date Yelp profile can be a great way to build credibility and expertise for your company, leading to a potential increase in sales and customers. However, the flipside of that is what could happen if you experience a negative or false evaluation on a user-review site.

There have been plenty of examples of nightmare situations in which a review on social media has severely damaged a business – particularly with restaurants. However, if your business’ Yelp page is tarnished by a customer’s scathing review, there are a few steps you can take to remedy the situation.

Be Professional

You’re the affronted party in this exchange, but that shouldn’t mean you should respond in kind. Explain the situation to the best of your ability, point out if/how the customer’s review was inaccurate, and the steps you and your employees have taken to remedy the situation. While this may not remove the review itself, it will demonstrate your timely response to customer concerns, your even-handed approach to solving problems, and help other customers better understand your business.

Be Proactive

If your business provides quality or exciting products and services, you should have a loyal customer base already established. Reach out to your best customers and show them where they can share their experience. If you have consistently happy customers, it may just be as easy as educating them on where to go to write a review and thanking them for their time. If they like you, they’ll probably want others to experience your business, too.

Be Alert

Yelp isn’t the only place your customers are talking about your business. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yellow Pages, and hundreds of industry-specific directories exist and people are talking. Checking in on your social media and online presence on a regular basis is the best way to respond to negative mentions in a timely and professional manner.

Overwhelmed? Frustrated? Completely confused? You’re not the only one. Marketeering Group helps small business owners who, like you, probably had to Google what a “Yelp” was. The Internet’s a big place, but a small, local team can help make it smaller. If you want to focus on your business and leave the digital world to the professionals, it might be time to have a conversation with one of our digital ambassadors. Drop us a line and schedule a free consultation about your company’s digital presence with some of our team members or learn more about our services.

Image source, modified and labelled for reuse