How To Fix Bad Reviews

Author: Rich Stivala  

3 Actionable Items to Save your Business from Disaster

If you have viewed an online review for a product or service you were interested in purchasing, you were not alone. It’s no secret that consumers use the Internet as a platform to rate and review businesses and products. Yet, many business owners lack a basic understanding of how these reviews impact their bottom line.

Why Reviews Matter

How Google Calculates Your Review Summary

When someone searches for your business in Google, Google displays what is termed a “review summary”.  A “review summary” is Google’s star system for summarizing consumer opinion about your company (5 Stars – Loved It to 1 Star – Hated It). However, most businesses don’t realize Google also uses various other signals in calculating “review summary” to ensure that the overall score best reflects the quality of the establishment.

For example, if your business has an inadequate number of reviews, Google will use an algorithm to calculate your business’s full review summary. This overall rating is based on both the scores you’ve received from reviewers and Google’s calculation of the scores you would likely receive if you had more reviews.

The Danger Your Business Faces

While Google uses this algorithm to make the best projections, the model can sometimes harm small businesses. This is because Google assumes that your business will receive a range of reviews in the future. When your business receives fewer comparative reviews, it is more impacted by Google’s projected deviations.

How it Works

Say, for example, your business has only received six reviews. Even if they have all been 5 stars, Google’s algorithm assumes that you will eventually receive lower scores. As a result, your overall rating could appear to be a 4.8. As previously mentioned, this assumption has a more severe impact on businesses with fewer established scores.

How 1 Bad Review Ruins Your Reputation

Now, take the example above and add 1 bad review (1 star – hated it). Using the above algorithm now with 7 reviews (6 – 5 stars and 1 – one star), Google will now predict that more bad reviews are in your future, and your score will drop from 4.8 to 2.8, essential killing your business’ reputation and revenues.

How to Save Your Business…

1. Talk to Google

Google does have a mechanism for removing bad reviews. However, the review must violate its terms of service. Unfortunately, most bad reviews do not. Read Google’s Review Removal Policy

2. Address Customer’s Concerns

If you receive a bad review, the best thing to do is reach out to the reviewer. By doing so, you will better understand the issue and be able to address it more effectively. You can even offer the reviewer an incentive to give your business another try. In the long-run, this could lead to them leaving a positive follow-up review.

3. The Solution: Be Proactive

The only way to truly avoid disaster striking is to increase the number of positive reviews before a bad review is posted.

Getting Positive Reviews

For small businesses that thrive off of local or in-town business, getting reviews can be a challenge. By providing top-notch products and services, you are already giving people a reason to rave about your company. If that’s not proving to be enough, encouraging customers to get online and post a review is critical.

It’s Your Business’s Reputation At Stake

Reputation management is the key to ensuring your business is getting positive hype. It consists of all efforts made to impact your business’s public image. With so many consumers relying on online reviews, you must take steps to manage what is being said.

3 More Benefits of Good Reviews…

• Positive reviews create a buzz and get people talking about your business
• Authentic reviews have a much higher ROI than paid advertising, plus consumers love customer-generated content
• Trust – consumers trust other consumers (if potential customers see others giving your positive business reviews, they’ll be more likely to try your service)

Invest Where The Customers Are

With the amount of time people spend on the Internet, it’s critical that your business is getting positive reviews and getting a lot of them. It’s time to invest time by talking to your customers and encouraging them to spread the word.