Reputation Management on Yelp
As a free online urban city guide, Yelp is a great resource for consumers. Need a new dentist? Looking for the best pizza in town? Yelp is often the first place many people search. But for business owners, reputation management on Yelp can be both a blessing and a curse. Good reviews act as free, positive marketing for a company, while negative and false reviews can be a detriment to future sales.
When people publicly complain about your company, how do you fight back?
The answer is, you fight back with politeness and fantastic customer service.
Despite countless solicitation calls you likely get from online reputation management companies claiming they can help, no one can truly remove a bad review from Yelp except for Yelp’s internal Support Team—and they only do so if it violates their Terms of Service or Content Guidelines. You can’t pay them to remove a review either; they separate the revenue and content sides of Yelp as a built-in checks and balances system.
Responding to Negative Reviews
Short of having the bad review removed, you need to deal with it head on. If you haven’t claimed your business yet on Yelp, that’s the first step. Claiming your business allows you to respond to reviews as the business owner, and also provides you with other valuable tools for marketing your company on Yelp.
Personally Contact the Reviewer When Possible
Once you’ve done claimed your business listing, it’s time to personally respond to the reviewer. Yelp recommends trying to resolve issues through their private messaging system first. We take that one step further and suggest you first try to respond directly with the reviewer—off line.
If you have their phone number or e-mail (through permission based marketing or because they’ve done business with you) then, by all means, reach out to them personally first. Consumers often turn to Yelp when they feel like the brand didn’t actually hear or care about their concerns (issues, complaints, etc.) or manage them as they would have liked.
Consider this a learning opportunity for you as a business owner. Ask questions about what you could have done differently, what expectations are realistic, and find a way to make things right with them—no matter what that takes. Remember, this isn’t just about one lost sale, or one unhappy customer. This is about your reputation as a brand, and it’s being spoken badly about on one of the largest urban guides there is!
Our experience has been that if you can indeed make things right with the Yelp reviewer, often they will update and/or remove their bad review of their own initiative. Do NOT, however, ask them for that unless you’re absolutely certain—after resolving things—that there’s no chance this will backfire. The last thing you want is a post that says something like “…and after all that, they even had the gall to ask me to change/remove my review!…”
Respond Privately or Publicly on Yelp
If you are unable to make direct contact with the reviewer, then it’s time to respond privately through Yelp’s messaging system. Or publicly. Or both, depending on your unique business, the individual situation, and the review in question.
Think very hard about what you’d like to say. Even though negative reviews can feel like a personal jab (especially for small business owners and solopreneurs), this is your chance to show the world your true customer service, and potentially turn that Yelper’s negative experience into a positive one.
It’s imperative to bear in mind that reviewers are humans with feelings and sensitivities, they are vocal and opinionated, and most importantly, they are your paying customers. That being said, keep your response simple—thank the reviewer for the business and feedback (!), apologize genuinely, and mention any changes you’ve made as a result. Being polite to someone who had an awful experience at your place of business can completely reverse their attitude and earn back their trust.
Although private messaging is your best bet in making up with a truly angry or vengeful customer, you can also leave a public comment on a negative review. Go with the same strategy as above. Present your case simply and politely—but whatever you do, don’t refute their opinion or attack the reviewer. If you present your version of the situation, stick to the facts! It’s also a good idea to tell the community what you’ve done to address the reviewer’s concerns.
Keep in mind that public comments can be seen by everyone, including potential customers, so you want to leave them with a positive impression of your business. Craft your responses with care. Read it out loud. If your tone sounds defensive, then you need to step back and re-write your response before posting. Defending your position will almost certainly make someone who already has a grievance dig in his or her heels and respond with even more volatility.
Fake or False Reviews
Occasionally you may receive a review that is fake or just plain false. Even in this case, Yelp will not remove the review unless it violates their rules. The best thing to do in this situation is to publicly respond to it by politely, but firmly, explaining why the review is false. Be professional and avoid excuses—you don’t want to seem put out or desperate. Unfortunately, false reviews can remain on your Yelp page and affect your overall star rating. The way to overcome this is by having loads of great reviews to balance out the negative reviews and discredit the false ones.
Yelp users are reasonable people. If they see a few negative reviews mixed in with lots of positive reviews, they’ll most likely conclude that some angry Yelper’s experience was a fluke. And believe it or not, actually having a few bad reviews tends to lend credibility to your Yelp profile!
Responding to Positive Reviews
Reputation management on Yelp is not all about quelling angry customers though. As a business owner, it’s also a thoughtful touch to respond to positive reviews. Keep these responses simple as well—thank them and let them know you appreciate the time they took to write a review. Do NOT try to reward the reviewer or ask anything further from them: no gift certificates, mailing lists, event invites, asking them to tell their friends about you, or reactions to the minor complaint in their review. The customer already likes your business; offering anything more than gratitude can come across as bribery.
Above all, remember that the point of reputation management on Yelp is to establish your company as a brand that people trust and publicly recommend to others. So don’t be afraid to utilize Yelp for your business! And when you get a bad review (which undoubtedly you eventually will), respond appropriately, learn from their feedback, then shake it off and get back to business.
Need help shaking it off? This might help you put your own bad reviews into perspective: 10 one-star Yelp reviews of monumental historical landmarks.
PS: We love Yelp and getting reviews from our clients there.
Here's a link to our Yelp page if you'd like to
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