Easy Guide on How to Respond to Your Reviews

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Why Should I Reply to Reviews?

 

According to consumers, businesses that respond to reviews are seen as 1.7X more trustworthy than businesses that don’t. 

 

It’s 76% vs. 46%!

 

No matter the industry, not only does responding to reviews support trust-building, but it also gives you an opportunity to humanize your business; it shows customers you care, and demonstrates professionalism. 

 

Join us as we dive into the best practices for responding to reviews and access our curated examples to help craft your perfect message (even for those tricky negative reviews).

 

Jump in:

Best Practices  

When responding, keep in mind that your responses are public for everyone to read. 

Remember to follow these three key guidelines:

  1. Thoughtful and Courteous Goes a Long Way:
  • Acknowledge their experience: Start by thanking them for taking the time to leave a review, good or bad.
  • Validate their feelings: Even in a negative review, show empathy for their situation. 
  • Focus on solutions: Instead of getting defensive, explain what you’re doing to address their concerns.
  1. Avoid Being Salesy:
  • Focus on customer service: The goal is to show you care about their experience, not push a sale.
  • Offer genuine help: Let them know you’re available to assist them further with no hard feeling attached.
  1. Never Share Personal Details:
  • Protect privacy: This includes your own contact information, as well as the reviewer’s.
  • Use official channels: Direct them to established contact methods like a customer service email or phone line.
  • Maintain professionalism: Keep the communication platform professional, even if the review is informal.

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POSITIVE REVIEWS REPLY

General

Customer reviews are gold for businesses. They offer valuable insights and help potential customers make informed decisions. But crafting the perfect response can be tricky. Here are two customizable templates to get you started, along with tips on how business leaders can leverage them:

The 5 star glowing review reply, great for service businesses, restaurants, brick and mortar stores.

Hello [insert name of reviewer] Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to share your opinion with other community members. We are constantly hard at work doing everything we can to deliver high quality experiences to every one of our customers. We are so glad we were able to help you out. Helping our customers is what we love best. Customers just like you make doing what we do a true pleasure. Our brand promise is all about delivering seamless experiences that exceed customer expectations! We sincerely look forward to serving you time after time.

Warm Regards,

The 5 star glowing review reply, great for small businesses, membership businesses for great customer service.

[insert name of reviewer], We really appreciate that you took the time to share details about your recent visit to our location. Thank you so much for taking a few moments to let us know how we are doing. Reading your review was of great encouragement to me personally reminding me why we do what we do. We will be sharing your review with the team as a way to encourage them to continue to strive for excellence in customer service. We look forward to your next visit. It was truly a pleasure to serve you. Respectfully,

Staff

Owners and managers love to hear when members of their staff have provided exceptional service. But often never get to if their schedule has them behind the scenes making sure everything’s runs smoothly.

Even more so, team members seldom get to hear the impact they’ve had on the customer. 

That’s why we recommend the following templates to express gratitude to your customer and make sure their words are heard loud and clear.

Hello [insert name of reviewer] We wanted to take a moment to thank you for telling us more about your experience with [Business Name]. From the start we made it our goal to hire individuals who are passionate about service and willing to go the extra mile. It is good to know that our team exceeded your expectations and made your experience memorable. We will be sure to share your review with our team at our next staff meeting. Do allow us the opportunity to serve you again. We will do everything in our power to deliver an even better customer experience. With Gratitude,

We are incredibly grateful for your feedback, [insert name of reviewer]! Business is all about people, and there’s nothing that means more to us than hearing how our staff went above and beyond to deliver exceptional service. We believe in empowering our team with a culture of kindness and quality, and we want everyone to feel equipped to treat you like family.

Your comments will definitely be passed along to the team – it’s words like these that keep us motivated!  We invite you to visit us again soon. 

Positive First Time

Many businesses thrive on repeat buyers. Especially local businesses like a sandwich shop, hair salon, and your kids’ swimming lessons provider. 

And in many of those, you become very familiar with your customers. Their reviews are extra special because when you and your team read them, you know it’s them and it can serve as a strong motivational tool for you and your team.

This offers a unique opportunity to thank them for becoming a first time customer and sharing their experience on a public platform where potential future customers will read it and get a better sense of their type of business you’re running. 

Dear [insert name of reviewer], Thank you for giving us a try! We know that you have options and we are tremendously happy you picked us. It is good to hear that we were all you expected and more. Everyone here is working hard to create experiences and deliver first class products that inspire you to continue visiting us. We hope you make us part of your traditions and we have the privilege to serve you for many years to come. Know that we are here to serve you and will always try our best. At your service,

WOW! [insert name of reviewer] Reviews like this fuel our hearts and make us try better every single day. Thank you for your kind words and for giving us a high five for all that we do. It is truly nice to know that our efforts are paying off. It is indeed our corporate goal to be the best in the market and through our hard work earn the loyalty and love of every single customer. We are hard at work to make our business the business of choice for those who appreciate superior quality and a passion for excellence. We invite you to join us again. You can count on us to pour our hearts out and try our best to make your experience one worth bragging about. Thank you for your friendship and patronage. Can’t wait to wait to serve you again,

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NEGATIVE REVIEWS REPLY

On the other side of the coin, you can’t please everyone and the fault can be on all sides. 

Unfortunately, unhappy customers are 3x as likely to leave a negative review, so the odds are against you. 

But we’ve got you back.

Best Practices

The key to replying to negative reviews is to remember these key tips:

  • Don’t play the blame game
      1. Especially if you weren’t personally involved. At this point you are no longer addressing your customer, you’re addressing the potential customer reading this. Don’t point fingers. 
  • Apologize for the experience not the details
      1. Apologize for the circumstances by acknowledging what the customer has shared as a valid account of their experience. Even if you feel their account grossly misrepresents reality, it’s more important that the business response is able to empathize with the customer and acknowledge the impact of their experience.
  • Share how you will work towards preventing future occurrences going forward
    1. Not every situation has a happy ending and it is very likely that, no matter what you offer, the customer will never reach out. So use this opportunity to showcase what steps you, as an operator in the business, will take to prevent future occurrences to potential customers reading your response. 
Negative General

Responding to negative reviews is an act of humility. 

Take the following templates and make them your own. Use them to speak directly to your audience and showcase your brand’s dedication to customer service. 

Option1

Hi [insert name of reviewer], Thank you for reaching out to us and letting us know we dropped the ball. Our goal is customer satisfaction and we clearly failed to deliver. Please know that your situation was an exception and we won’t allow for repeats. It is thanks to feedback like yours that we can tackle issues that may impact our most valuable asset; our customers. Please allow an opportunity to make amends and receive our most sincere apologies. You can contact me directly at [insert manager’s email here] or by calling us on our main telephone. I look forward to chatting with you and finding a way to resolve your issue.

Option 2

[insert name of reviewer] Thank you for letting us know about this. Feedback helps us tackle issues and become a better business. Our leadership is trying to identify why this happened and we will resolve in a way that ensures superior customer experiences now and in the future. We are so sorry we did not resolve the issue on the spot. That is our policy and we failed to stick to it. In the future please don’t hesitate to ask for our manager on duty. He will take care of you right away. We want your business and will do whatever it takes to earn it back. You have our promise. Would you reach out to me via email [insert manager’s email here]? I want to make sure we take care of you. Kindly,

Negative Staff

Every failure is an opportunity to succeed again.

When a negative review shines a light on a team member’s failure to deliver a great customer experience, you have an opportunity to offer better training, more staff resources, and explore creative solutions with your staff.

And for helping you realize this, your customer deserves your gratitude. 

Hi [insert name of reviewer], Everything that we do is designed to deliver superior customer satisfaction and it appears we have failed you. Lack of focus, carelessness and indifference is not what we are known for. We are sorry your experience was not reflective of our reputation. We have addressed the issue internally and have rolled out training to ensure it does not happen again. Would you please allow me a few minutes of your time via phone? I would like a chance to secure more details and the opportunity to make amends. I can be reached via email at [insert manager’s email] or by phone using our main phone number. Thank you for reaching out and letting us know about this. We remain committed to excellence and will do

what it takes to fix it. At your service,

Thank you for taking the time to point out personnel issues affecting our business. We can only address problems if we are aware of how our interactions are affecting the customer experience. What you experienced is not acceptable and we are working to correct it ASAP. Every customer deserves seamless customer service delivered with enthusiasm, accuracy and kindness. We can’t fix the past but you have my personal commitment to find ways to improve the way our staff services each and every customer. Please contact me personally via email at [insert manager’s email address here] I would love to talk to you and find a way to remedy the situation. Sincerely yours,

Conclusion:

While templates can be a helpful starting point, avoid simply copying and pasting a generic response. 

Take the time to personalize your message to each reviewer. This shows that you genuinely care about their feedback and are committed to providing excellent customer service.

Add your human touch to send the right message. 

For bonus templates, download the EASY GUIDE FOR REVIEW REPLES for free Now!