How You Can Learn From Negative Online Reviews

If both positive and negative online reviews have one thing in common, it's emotion. People who are firmly in the "middle of the road" about something are rarely the ones who are motivated to post online about their experiences. This makes sense: after all, if you completely and totally met a customer's expectations, why should this be considered "special" in any way? It's the EXTREMELY happy and EXTREMELY unhappy people that are the ones likely to pen an online review.

Online reviews may hurt, but far too many business owners overlook the fact that they're also incredible learning opportunities for you to use to improve your organization moving forward. Look at all of the negative reviews you're receiving, regardless of how many, and compare them. Is there a common thread that runs between them? Is there one point that multiple people keep bringing up again and again? If so, congratulations: you just discovered a true point in your business model that you NEED to work on in order to strengthen your connection with those customers in the future. Most businesses would kill to have that type of insight into their process and it didn't cost you a cent.

In addition to being a wonderful learning opportunity, embracing negative online reviews is also a terrific way to put your best foot forward with regards to customer service. If a customer posts a review online with a legitimate negative complaint, don't try to run away from it. Don't try to hide from it. Address it head-on and in front of the eyes of your entire target audience. Let everyone know that you understand these concerns and outline the plan that you will use to address them and to do things better in the future. Showing that you encourage constructive criticism and that you're always looking for new and innovative ways to improve your business will ultimately be much more important than an entire legion of positive reviews.

This post was written by Melody Gee, Content Director of http://www.onlinefaxes.com/.