How Should I Respond to Negative Reviews?

Self-Improvement through Customer Service

We like to bring up the topic of customer reviews. Why? Because you guys get so many glowing ones! Approaching 50,000 verified reviews across the HireAHelper system and the great majority are 5-Stars. We are happy and proud of this.

Interestingly, there are a couple of reasons we don’t mind the occasional less-than-sparkling feedback from our customers. One, when customers tell us about something that wasn’t right we have an opportunity to improve. And two, if all we got were 5-Star reviews that would look pretty fishy to anyone on the outside.

A recent, true example of what could end up happening even if we don’t break a single item:

So, how should I respond to negative reviews?

Bad reviews happen – because we aren’t perfect. But part of being the best movers on the planet means addressing our customers’ concerns and complaints when things don’t go perfectly. Our friends at MyMovingReviews.com would agree.

Reply to your customers’ reviews. Reach out to them. Speak with them directly. See what you can do to make things right. Your customer will appreciate it. And…they may want to speak more highly of you.

If you are able to fix whatever was broken (so to speak) consider asking your customer to amend their review to reflect your efforts to make them happy with your services. This can mean editing their review or simply adding an update explaining your good faith efforts. Either way, your reputation goes up both online and in that customer’s mind.

We should add that it is good practice to respond to all customer reviews. This shows our appreciation for their recognition and further helps to build our good name. A friendly ‘Thank you’ or a ‘Pleasure to serve you and your three dogs!’ turns your business relationship into something a bit more personal – and attractive.

But back to those tougher times.

Simply put, we are human. Moves don’t always go as planned. But responding to those tough times makes our customers happier. And makes us better movers.