Turning a Negative Into a Positive

Let’s be honest about it, there aren’t many things that can send a shiver down the spines of business owners much like negative reviews. However, the fact of the matter is that negative reviews don’t have to be the disaster that many business owners imagine them to be. In fact, dealt with positively and proactively, negative reviews can be used to your advantage.

At LinkNow Media, we know that no business is going to be happy with a negative review. However, we also know that any business, no matter what industry they are in, is going to experience negative reviews from time to time. So, instead of worrying needlessly about how a negative review might affect your business, why not take the time to read through these useful tips about how a positive mindset and proactive approach can turn bad reviews on their head in no time at all.

Earn Trust With Negative Reviews

Recent research shows that 86% of consumers say reviews are an essential resource when making purchase decisions. The reason that so many purchasers turn to reviews is because of their authenticity. When a customer is considering purchasing a product, there’s no research quite like hearing how people who have previously used the product or service have fared.
With that in mind, it can make sense why the first reaction of many business owners is to immediately delete negative reviews—but trust us—this is a bad idea! A centennial shopper survey found that 44% of people under age 18 would not trust product reviews that contained no negative excerpts and 60% were found to read the negative reviews first. If you don’t try to hide negative reviews, then it is likely that you will be rewarded by consumers who know that your company has nothing to hide.

Negative Reviews Can Drive Innovation

You may be wondering how negative reviews drive improvement and innovation but if you think about it, it is easy to see how. By using the analytics and insights you receive from user-generated ratings and reviews, you can shed light on opportunities to better serve your customers.

So, for instance if you are a restauranteur and have noticed that you have a clutch of three-star reviews or less, and you find that the reason for these negative reviews is because people think the service is often unfriendly, then you could correct this issue by having an in-house training session with your team showing them the virtues of being friendlier to customers.
At LinkNow Media, we work closely with all our commercial clients to create an environment where they can face negative reviews with confidence and a sense of assuredness that will help them improve their business in the long-run.

So, rather than try and silence your customers bad online reviews, why not take our advice on board and embrace the criticism in a positive and proactive fashion. We promise, you won’t be disappointed!