317: What to Do with a Negative Review: Fan Favorite Replay

Hi there. You’re listening to the Leading Lady Podcast. I’m your host, Alison Loftus, and I’m a Certified Professional Coach specializing in leadership and work-life balance. I work with clients to shift their limiting beliefs, insecurities, and self-doubt. This podcast is filled with tools and strategies to help high-achieving women like you feel connected, empowered, and in the lead of your life, both personally and professionally. Let’s transform your life, starting now. Lead yourself. The rest will follow.

Hi there, Leading Ladies, and welcome to today’s episode.

I’m going to be talking to you about something that is kind of taboo. I don’t hear this talked about a lot in business settings or on business podcasts. Certainly, I’ve never talked about it, but I think it’s something that we need to address.

We all know that, as businesses, we are open to some pretty serious negative feedback. Sometimes it’s warranted. Sometimes we miss the mark with a customer or a client. We can take that feedback, especially if it’s public feedback. Maybe we didn’t know, but someone leaves us a negative review. We can do things with that negative feedback that are actually really helpful in our business. It’s an opportunity to learn from our mistakes, to reach out to that client, and try to make things right.

I think that all feedback is good feedback, and there’s a reason why we ask people to review our businesses.

When Negative Reviews Become Personal

The hope is that it’s always positive reviews. We always want to get positive reviews and positive feedback about our business. But sometimes we do miss the mark. If someone leaves a negative review on our business, I’d say we probably know how to handle that. We either reach out to that person, ask if we can correct it, thank them for the feedback, and ask for the opportunity to rectify or reconcile.

There are so many great, professional ways to deal with negative feedback. But something we don’t talk about is when we get a negative review from someone who may be acting a little bit like a bully. I don’t use the word bully lightly, so I want to be careful in using it in that context.

I hope this has never happened to you, but chances are, if you’ve been in business a long time, someone has probably left you a negative review that hits hard. It can be damaging to your reputation. Maybe some of the things they’ve said are false. Sometimes it’s even a disgruntled employee who leaves your business a negative review.

Something recently happened in one of my businesses where we really tried to accommodate this client, and they just were not happy. They left a very negative review that was completely false. Yet, it happens.

Unfortunately, as businesses, we can’t always share our side of the story, but it can be really emotional and create a lot of turmoil in your day, especially when it’s so public and you know there’s absolutely nothing you can do to take it down. You could report it, but the chances of it being deleted are pretty slim.

You also know there’s no rectifying the situation because they’re truly posting that review to hurt you and your business. It’s not constructive feedback. It’s not constructive criticism. They’re not doing it as a public service announcement. They’re truly doing it to hurt you, and you know that with your whole soul. It’s retaliation.

How to Respond to a Malicious Review

So how do you handle that?

Number one: stay calm and professional. Do not respond out of anger or frustration. Take a deep breath. Consider the source of where this is coming from. Consider why they’re posting it. Again, they’re not trying to do a public service announcement. They’re not giving you constructive feedback on how to improve your business. Really think carefully, process what you’re feeling, and decide how you want to respond.

Number two: evaluate the review objectively. Is the review genuine, or is it unfairly exaggerated? If it contains legitimate feedback, you can absolutely take it as an opportunity to improve. But if it is unfairly exaggerated, again, consider the source and the main objective behind why that person is leaving that review.

Number three: I definitely encourage you to respond publicly and politely. Acknowledge the review, thank the reviewer for their feedback, and offer a calm, professional response.

You can say something like:

“We are sorry that you had a negative experience. We take all feedback seriously, and we would love to learn more about what happened so we can improve.”

That obviously is a little scripted. You probably know what transpired and why that person is behaving the way they’re behaving. But avoid getting into a heated argument or calling out the reviewer as a bully. That’s why I want to be careful with this language. You don’t want to go on the attack because it could escalate the situation.

If necessary, report the review. If it violates the platform’s terms, such as harassment or abusive language, report it to the site administrators for removal.

Google is not great about that. Yelp isn’t great about it either. In fact, my experience is that Yelp tends to filter out positive reviews rather than negative reviews. I don’t know. Maybe that’s how they make their money. Don’t quote me. But it is very hard to get reviews taken down.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. You should absolutely report it if it includes harassment or abusive language.

Encourage Positive Reviews

Number four: follow up with positive actions.

Encourage your happy customers to leave reviews to help balance out the negative one. A string of positive feedback helps outweigh one person’s negativity.

I know Yelp specifically doesn’t like when you solicit reviews. For my preschool business, I think there are maybe a dozen reviews Yelp won’t publish because they believe I asked customers to leave them.

I think that’s horrible. We, as businesses, should absolutely ask our clients to leave reviews, whether they’re positive or negative. We should always ask people to leave reviews.

As business owners, I hope you understand how important it is to leave reviews for other businesses. Be honest about them. Really think about the feedback you want to give and how much you’re helping those businesses by leaving honest reviews.

I don’t agree with Yelp’s policy. Google isn’t really like that. I think Google likes reviews, so never shy away from asking your clients to leave you honest reviews.

Reflect and Learn

Number five, and I think this is the biggest one, is that we have to reflect and learn.

Even if the review feels unfair, take a moment to evaluate whether there’s any aspect of your business that you can improve. Spoiler alert: there’s always room for improvement.

I always say we’re either winning or learning. When we experience something like this, it is absolutely a learning opportunity.

When you respond thoughtfully and professionally, you’re showing other customers that you care about feedback. I think that’s so important.

I’ve learned this from my young adult children. They actually read business reviews, and they pay attention to how the business responded to negative ones.

By responding professionally, you’re showing future customers that you care about what is said about your business. That builds trust and credibility.

It isn’t fair when a disgruntled employee or a customer who probably wasn’t the right customer anyway retaliates by using a public platform to hurt your business.

Sometimes, though, negative reviews really are warranted. Maybe it really isn’t a great business, or it isn’t safe or clean.

As someone who reads reviews, you also have to ask yourself, “What’s the point of this review?” Sometimes it sounds like the person has something else going on and simply wants to hurt the business.

As business owners, it’s really easy to take that personally. It’s such a public blemish on our reputation.

I encourage you to ask yourself, “What’s the objective of this review? Are they trying to help my business improve, or are they trying to hurt me?”

In my recent situation, I did respond publicly. I was polite…ish.

I said:

“This is the perfect example of how someone leaves a review to hurt a business. It is unfortunate that businesses can’t tell their side of the story, and I hope that individual finds a business that can better accommodate her needs.”

I backed it up by pointing to the many positive reviews that show we are a trusted and respected business and program. My hope is that people will read those reviews and recognize this one for what it is.

How to Handle Constructive Negative Reviews

Now let’s talk about negative reviews that really are trying to help our business.

While a negative review can be potentially damaging, it’s also a chance to improve your business and demonstrate your professionalism.

Always acknowledge the review promptly. Thank the reviewer for their feedback and acknowledge their concerns. This shows you’re listening and that you value your customers’ opinions, even when they’re negative.

Apologize if necessary. If the issue is valid, offer a sincere apology without making excuses. Take responsibility for mistakes.

You can say something like:

“We apologize that we didn’t meet your expectations. It’s important to us that our customers leave happy, and we regret that we didn’t achieve that in this case.”

Even with the unfair review I recently received, I said it was unfortunate because it is never our goal to have a customer leave dissatisfied.

Address the issue constructively. Provide a solution or explain what steps you’re taking to resolve the issue. That could mean a replacement, a refund, or simply investigating the problem.

Invite them to continue the conversation privately. Often, people leave a negative review without ever talking to you first.

You can say:

“We’d love to make this right. Please reach out to us, and we’d be happy to discuss how we can help.”

Stay positive and professional. Even if the review feels unfair, keep your tone friendly and professional. Your response is visible to everyone else, so it’s crucial that you present yourself and your business in the best possible light.

Learn from the feedback. Even if the tone was negative, there’s probably useful insight in there.

I believe most people leave reviews because they genuinely hope a business will improve. Sure, there are the occasional rage posters, but I’d like to believe most people have good intentions.

Follow up with satisfied customers and continue asking for reviews to keep things balanced.

By responding thoughtfully and constructively, you’re demonstrating your commitment to customer satisfaction. That ultimately builds trust with both the reviewer and future customers.

So I know this was kind of a short and sweet podcast. It’s a tough topic to talk about. Obviously, none of us want to receive negative reviews.

By putting yourself and your business out into the world, you’re opening yourself up to feedback. You’re making yourself vulnerable, which is not something most high-achieving women enjoy feeling.

Not everyone is your ideal client. Not everyone is going to see value in what you do. Unfortunately, people have plenty of platforms where they can share what they think about you and your business.

I encourage you to take both positive and negative feedback as a learning experience. If someone is acting out of malice, I hope the steps I shared today help.

It doesn’t feel good. It’s time-consuming. It kind of stinks. But it is something that happens in business.

Because this recently happened to me, I wanted to talk about it. I wanted to share this with other business owners who might be feeling defeated or stressed by negative reviews.

I hope this episode gives you insight, hope, and reassurance that you’re not alone. I also hope it inspires you to go leave some positive reviews for the businesses you love most.

So until next time, take the lead.

Thanks for tuning in for another episode of the Leading Lady Podcast. You can find all of the links and information mentioned in this episode at LeadingLadyCoaching.com.

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