What is the best way to respond to negative Google reviews?

Why even respond to (negative) reviews?

Of course, the question is why you should even bother responding to negative reviews. The background here is simple: With an answer, you give the customer review context and show potential new customers that you can be reached even if there is a problem or complaint. If you offer the dissatisfied customer help or a solution in the answer, this radiates competence and willingness to help new customers. In short: With your answer, you usually reduce the damage caused by a negative review.

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What should you consider when writing an answer?

Of course, this damage minimization effect described above will only be achieved if your answer is well chosen. A researched or ill-considered answer usually leads in the opposite direction. But what exactly should you consider when writing a response to negative Google reviews? Read the essentials in the following five points:

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1. Don't take it personally

Not you personally, but your company was rated by the customer. When writing a response to a negative Google review, you should definitely make sure that it doesn't look like you feel personally criticized. If a customer review references a specific employee, it also makes sense to keep them away from any response. This ensures that reference is made to the customer's problem objectively and neutrally.

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2. Apologize

Even if you suspect at first glance that it wasn't you but the customer who actually did something wrong, you should apologize to them. It makes no sense to risk a dispute in Google review comments. The actual problem cannot be specifically defined in this way anyway. Even if it later turns out that the customer was actually in the wrong, the appearance was professional and solution-oriented.

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3. Time counts

Studies have shown that the majority of people and customers who complain via social media channels expect a response within 1 hour of submitting their complaint. After receiving negative Google reviews, you should therefore pay particular attention to quickly defining the customer's problem and responding to it quickly.

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4. Answer briefly first

Since the first response to a negative Google review in particular is publicly visible, you should keep it brief and not go into too much detail. Under no circumstances should you reveal customer or order data here. In order to actually solve the customer's problem, it is a good idea to contact them by phone or email. This means that the customer no longer has to write on Google with a faceless company, but has a personal contact person.

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5. Be personal

When writing a response to a negative Google review, it's a good idea to be as personal as possible. Address the customer by name and actually write individual answers. A copy & paste complaint response will sooner or later be noticed by your customers and especially potential new customers and leave a very bad impression.

Reading tip: Tired of negative reviews? In further articles, we will explain how to make your Improve Google ranking easily Can and have further tips for Responding to negative reviews summarized.

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It's easy to get better Google ratings with hellomateo

With hellomateo companies collect on average 2-3 times as many positive Google reviews one. How does that work? They send targeted review requests to satisfied customers via WhatsApp. In addition, the hellomateo solution enables you to communicate with customers via WhatsApp in accordance with GDPR, to process all message channels from a central inbox and to reactivate existing customers via a WhatsApp newsletter.

• ‍Central user interface: hellomateo combines WhatsApp Business Platform, email, Instagram, SMS and Facebook Messenger in one central inbox. The intuitive user interface includes various tools for efficient customer communication and saves you valuable working time.
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• integrations: With hellomateo, you can use WhatsApp in integrate over 6,000 software programs and fully automated Customer trips create with invitations, order confirmations, shipping information, invoices, and reminders.
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• Newsletter marketing: Send GDPR-compliant Newsletter via WhatsApp or SMS and benefit from opening rates of over 95%.‍
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• Assessment management: hellomateo can Automatically request online reviews from your customers, which boosts your Google ranking and trust in your company.
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• ‍Data protection: hellomateo meets all German and European Data protection requirements and offers end-to-end encryption for secure customer communication.
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• scalability: Our software is suitable for Businesses of all sizes and can be extended indefinitely depending on the package.‍
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• ‍Diverse AI features: Our AI agent can automatically answer customer inquiries in chat, answer calls, help with the formulation of messages and much more.

Interested? Book a free, non-binding demo appointment and find out more about hellomateo. Book here.