Responding to online reviews

Here we are again. Still, far too many businesses see review management as a chore, rather than the great opportunity it can be if approached with a positive mindset. A survey of 100 professional businesses, from wealth managers to medical practices to estate agents to solicitors, found that over 80 per cent of positive and 65 per cent of negative Google reviews lacked any response whatsoever, not even a 'Thank you'. 

Here we will look at some real-life examples, broken down into three basic categories, and show you how the businesses concerned could have done better.

1.  The business that doesn't see the point of responding

On what basis does this review not deserve a response? It never fails to surprise us that businesses would reply to an email or a text within the hour, but a review? 

So many businesses come under this heading. Given that the person posting the review, be it 5* or 1*, falls almost certainly into one of two categories: either an existing or a potential customer, surely two minutes invested in responding must be time well spent?  Add to that the readers of said reviews: who do we think they are? Are we right in surmising that they might also fall into those categories?

2.  The business that responds with a 'contact us @' invitation

At first glance, maybe a reasonable response? Even if every single one of many hundreds of 1* reviews receives the same, word for word, irrespective of the content of the review (almost certainly AI-generated, although we know of AI that would do a far better job*). But this is to misunderstand the business's review readership - either those about to write a review of their own or those looking for confirmation that the business is the right choice for them: responding to reviews is a major shop window for businesses these days. How much better to use this as an opportunity to stress to readers a) how rare it is for customers to have such a complaint and b) to address all the non-specific complaints made in the review ('non-specific' meaning complaints unrelated to the individual reviewer's circumstances but possibly of interest to a reader of the review)?

We know. You would like to take the conversation offline. But the review is not going anywhere. By all means, make an offer to deal with whatever the customer has raised in private, especially if it involves private information about, for instance, the reviewer's personal finances, but again: what about those reading the review? The issues that can be addressed in a response should be dealt with in that response, for the benefit of other readers.

3.  The business that only responds to negative reviews

Again: besides basic courtesy, an opportunity missed to stress all the great aspects of the business. "Thank you so much for your kind review; we are so glad [employee name] was able to help you with [issue or requirement mentioned in review]; we do pride ourselves on [any other point that may be relevant for readers of the review]."

It is, hopefully, a natural reaction to leap into action in response to a review that has the potential to harm one's business. But put yourself in the position of a customer who has taken the trouble to post a glowing 5-star review; most importantly, put yourself in the position of a potential customer who might read that review. How much more impressive to see a response to each and every one? How much more impressive to see the business using its ability (free, by the way) to respond and reinforce everything great about the business?

*Using AI to respond to customer reviews

We don't recommend using AI without any 'human intervention', or, at the very least, oversight, but as an aid it saves time (and AI tends not to make spelling or grammatical errors). Take this Google review:

And then let's ask Google Gemini to formulate a response (if you are working in Chrome, you don't even need to C&P the review into Gemini; just open 'Ask Gemini' - top right of your screen - and tell it where to find the review and who wrote it):

Job done? We think so (maybe remove the '!' after 'Rebecca'). Better by far than no response at all. Time taken? Under a minute.

Where does HelpHound feature in all of this?

Firstly, almost all of our clients' reviews that you see on Google were initiated by them using our software, where the review would have first been posted to their website and moderated by us. So the review will be 'clean' in the sense that it won't contain any errors of fact or misleading statements (in many cases we will also help the reviewer by correcting grammatical errors or spelling mistakes). 

The writer will then have copied the review to Google (again, we will supply a direct link, so it's easy for them). If - and it does happen - a customer writes a review directly to Google and our member is in any doubt as to just how to respond, we will give them the benefit of well over a decade's worth of experience in formulating these. It's all part and parcel of the service.