How to Respond to Negative Yelp Reviews
Once you start getting new reviews on your Yelp profile, it’s time to start responding to them so that you can better manage your reputation. And this habit is never more important than when you’ve received a negative review!
Responding to a negative review on Yelp takes tact, but it’s exceptionally important. Here is our guide to how you should best respond to negative reviews.
How to Best Respond to Negative Reviews on Yelp
- Find the Review Soon After it is Posted
- Consider Their Points
- Create a Response
- Post
Let’s take a look at the specifics of each step:
1. Find the Review Soon After it is Posted
One of the most important aspects of responding to review is making sure that you response is timely. Just like you wouldn’t leave an upset customer waiting in your office for 8 hours, make sure you’re responding to reviews as quickly as possible.
Yelp even recommends responding within 24 hours or less to give your customers the best service.
2. Consider Their Points
Just because a review is negative doesn’t mean that it’s the end of the world. Instead, you should take a moment to consider all of the points that your customer is making in their review.
They may have overreacted, but they could have also given you key insight into a problem with your customer experience. Remember that you can always do more to improve your customer’s experience.
So think about all of the points they are making and use that information to improve your response and your business’s processes.
3. Create a Response
Make sure that you are responding from a place of positivity. Even if you feel angry after reading a review, don’t allow your emotions to dictate the type of response you post. These replies can be public, so word your response carefully.
We recommend restating that you are dedicated to providing your customers with a great experience. You can also request more information and invite them to talk to you privately to discuss their comments.
Yelp also allows you to direct message a reviewer. While we always recommend posting a public response, it could be helpful to also send the reviewer a private message asking them how you can make the situation right.
4. Post Your Response
Once you’ve finished crafting your response, go ahead and click “Preview.”
If everything looks good, you can go ahead and click “Post Comment”
And, with that, you will have created a great response to a negative review on your Yelp profile!
