Can you remove negative or fake reviews?
Can you remove negative or fake reviews?
Can negative reviews or fake reviews damage your brand, can you remove them, let’s see!
Negative reviews can hurt you badly, especially if you run an online business and marketing site. Statistically, negative reviews chase away 22% of your potential customers. Did you know that 84% of customers rely much on online reviews than personal recommendations before making a purchase? Also, did you know that over 30% of customers are more likely to spend on services or products from businesses that have good reviews? All this information points out to the fact that online reviews popularity has grown significantly and they greatly assist people in making crucial purchasing decisions.
Below is a summary of the impact of negative reviews on various businesses;
- Negative reviews prevent a customer from making a purchase.
- A single negative review would cost you and your business an average of about 35 customers.
- Negative reviews greatly damage the trustworthiness, profitability, and prestige of a business.
So is it possible to remove fake or negative reviews? No, believe me, it’s not easy especially on sites such as BBB, Google, RipoffReport, and Facebook. But this does not mean that there is nothing you could do.
Ways to follow
The following are ways you should do to try and control the situation
1. Respond positively to the Review
If the review is fake and it’s not in a position to be solved. Try and make it clear to other potential customers that you are aware of the respective review and that the business is committed to remedying the situation. It’s important to note that the response you make reflects the overall image of the business.
2. Flagging of the Review
This is where you notify the Google team on matters regarding the violation of their review policy which has just been violated by a specific reviewer. Below are instructions you can follow in order to report this.
- Click on the flag icon on the review section.
- Upon clicking the Flag icon you will be directed to the Report’s policy violation page.
- Once there you will be required to enter your business! company’s email address and then you will go on and choose the violation category.
3. Reporting the negative review to the Google small business support
This measure is taken in the scenario where the flagging method has not worked, this is done through the following way.
- Go to my business dashboard.
- Log on to your Google my Business page.
- Proceed to the home menu and select support.
- Fill out your email or phone contact as a method of contact.
- Finally, fill out the contact parameters and then add a screenshot of the negative review and wait for the feedback which will be delivered within 24-48hrs
You can also tweet to the Small Business Support Team. Moreover, you can go on and ask the Google community for help.
4. Being Responsive
In case a customer experiences a poor service for your product and comments negatively, you can go on and refund the money or simply offer him/ her a coupon towards a future visit. This move will show to your customers that you have taken responsibility and you are willing to rectify the situation.
5. Try and ask the Reviewer questions.
Try and reason out with your negative reviewers. An example of questions belong.
Who served you? Who delivered the product to you? This will get you the attention of the Reviewer and even give him/her the solution.
6. Taking a Proactive approach.
This involves burying negative reviews with better ones. Come up with a plan that suggests customers post online reviews after every interaction, this will result in lots of positive reviews.
7. Taking note of the Complaints and solve them.
This case arises when a certain problem keeps on popping up. Such a scenario reflects that there is actually a problem with the service or good that you offer. Take note of the problem and try to solve it.
Conclusion
Bad Reviews are difficult to delete from many online sites and can only happen on a set of certain guidelines. However, this does not imply that you cannot manage them. Ensure that you respond to the negative reviews, and the response should not be defensive of any nature, as your response portrays the image of yourself as well as that of the business.
References:
https://signalfire.us/blog/can-you-remove-negative-reviews/
https://whitespark.ca/blog/remove-fake-google-reviews/