When should I respond to a negative review?

I don’t have a definitive answer for this as every case is a bit different. In fact, just this week, I offered two opposite pieces of advice to businesses trying determine their next move after seeing a negative published review. In one instance, a comment was made on this company’s Facebook page. It was some constructive feedback on the wait time between patients. This is a great opportunity for the business to respond and try to improve their overall service. Studies have shown that the overall opinion of a business can actually improve when they see how a negative review was handled. By taking ownership and showing authenticity, the business actually came out looking better than if the incident never happened.

The other situation was quite different. This was a review on a site that prides itself on negative reviews. The more controversy, the more traffic this site seems to get. The review was a few years old and only occasionally gets mentioned to the business. When I spoke to the owner, she said the review is completely false and, of course, the reviewer put anonymous as their name. In this case, I see no benefit in responding and potentially opening this conversation back up. As time goes on, it will get pushed down further and further into the internet abyss. A better use of the owner’s time is to proactively look for ways to get more of their own content ranking on Google. By adding social media profiles, blog articles or other content, they can begin to drive that review down the search engine ladder.

Two reviews, two different approaches. The most important point to remember is to take the emotion out of the equation and be very strategic in your approach. Often times, it’s better to be smart than to be right.