How to handle a negative (less than 4 stars) review on Yelp

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The Low Down:

Before we go into the “why” let’s get one thing straight.  Anything lower than a 4 on Yelp is NOT a good review.  A recent 2016 Harvard University study found that a one star improvement in Yelp score equated to a 5-9% increase in revenue.  So, turning a 3 star Yelp rating into a 5 (2 star delta) could possible equate to an 18% improvement in revenue!  This is what is at stake here!

People make conclusions based on reviews, if a company does not respond or responds poorly to a negative review it can be a red flag for a prospect.

We are amazed at the number of negative comments we see on Facebook feeds that companies fail to respond to.

If you look at Bodify’s social media accounts, each and every comment is responded to.

It’s done professionally and with respect and this makes a big difference in how people perceive our company!

Our Secret Sauce:

Reviews will help tremendously as people often buy based on peer reviews and opinions.

Typically, those who take the time to write reviews either had an incredible experience or a really bad experience.

Studies show a bad experience will be shared far more often than a positive one, so it is critical your business is set up in a way to offer the very best experience to every prospect and client you have!

It’s inevitable that at some point you’ll get an unhappy client who opts to share their frustration on a review platform.

Bad reviews are not the end of the world, but how they are handled can make a big impact.  In fact, sometimes we need to hear the “bad” news.  How else can we fix the problems?  Think of bad reviews as gifts.  BUT… at the same time, vow that you will never have that same review/problem ever again.  AND, WIN THAT CLIENT BACK!!

Illustration:

Check out our Yelp page HERE

I’m going to paste a review we received from Dallin below.

This gentleman did NOT get a wonderful result from CoolSculpting and he also experienced late onset pain, however his review of our office, staff and customer service is phenomenal.

So many prospects have specifically mentioned this review when they came in saying, reading that you stood by your promise and did everything you could to make a situation right was attractive and encouraged me to come to Bodify versus another CoolSculpting provider.

YELP REVIEW FROM DALLIN:

This experience has been so amazing! The staff is extremely professional but also very kind and welcoming. My initial consultation went very smoothly. All my options were presented in a way that I could understand and there was zero pressure! All questions were answered without making me feel ignorant. The way they speak about the product shows how much they believe in it. Although I had an (extremely extremely rare, like 1 in 3000, non-serious) side effect, the staff did everything to accommodate me. The Man Cave is really awesome and having the choice of wine or beer during my treatments was cool.

In terms of pain/discomfort:
The first 15 minutes were really uncomfortable for me, but once the nerves go numb the procedure is painless; until the session is over and they have to massage the area for a few minutes. Not gonna lie, it was really painful but I am a really rare exception because I have Hypersensitive-nerve syndrome which causes the nerve endings to “go haywire” after some sort of trauma (in this case getting frozen). It effects 1 in 3,000 (at least that is what my doctor told me). About 6 days after my procedure, when the nerve endings started to wake back up, my pain was incredible. Not only was my skin hyper sensitive (couldn’t even have a shirt on without pain), I had these intense stabbing pains. I literally could not sleep for three days. Again, this was due to my hypersensitivity syndrome. Luckily I was able to get medication for this exact issue and within a few days the pain was gone! Plus Bodify paid for my doctor’s visit, without me even having to ask them to.

I am in month three of four but my results haven’t been as promised. I was worried that I may have to pay for another round of Cool Sculpting to get me where I wanted to be. I was shocked when I was told that if I am still not showing the promised results in another month that I would be re-treated, 100% free!! I didn’t even need to ask! I was told that if I was re-treated I would be, out of over 7,000 treatments, only the 4th person to be re-treated. This shows how much they believe in this system. I have never heard of this kind of promise before in this industry.

So despite the bad pain that I experienced after the procedure and the fact that I may need to be re-treated, I am still giving a 5 star rating because my experience was that amazing.

Key factors for 5 star rating:
1. Staff is professional, warm and welcoming
2. The staff truly believe in Cool Sculpting
3. The Beautiful Results Promise is real
4. The accommodations that were made before, during and after my treatment were beyond anything I could have hoped for.

Action:

Determine who will be responsible for creating and maintaining the Yelp profile.

Set a timeline (no more than 30 days) to fill out the profile, add photos and develop a plan to get reviews.

Place a “to-do” on your calendar each month to spend 1-2 hours on Yelp adding new photos, videos, content, etc. If you don’t set time aside you won’t do it.

Don’t  freak out about a poor review, address it professionally. Never get into a heated battle with words on Yelp.

If a poor review comes in, simply acknowledge it and ask the individual to call or email you personally so a resolution can be found. Those who look at the negative review will judge how the company deals with it, be professional, kind and make every attempt possible to take it off-line and resolved outside of the Yelp platform.

A good statement to use if you happen to get a review of less than 4 stars is below:

“Name, we are so sorry to hear you had a bad experience, this in never our  intention and we want to rectify it immediately.

 It is a top priority for us that each client has an outstanding experience.

Please reach out to me personally at the office so we can find a resolution.

Again, we are deeply sorry and look forward to your call. “

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