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What to do about a bad google review.

We’ve discussed previously how important getting good Google Reviews are ... However what happens if you get a negative or a fake review.

Regardless if the review is negative or fake – it’s critical to respond in a calm and professional manner. If you cannot to do this, it is better to not respond at all.

If it’s a genuine negative review:

Respond promptly
Try to constructively address the issues raised, but whatever you don’t get into a “slanging” match.
Try to defuse the situation by acknowledging there was a problem, and offering direct contact details for the customer to discuss / resolve.

Remember it’s not about “getting the last word in”, rather it’s about how potential customers (who may read this negative review), see how your company deals with criticism and complaints.

You should also be proactive about regularly getting positive Google reviews... if you have 1 bad review out of 30 great reviews – it shouldn’t impact on your business. Potential customers / clients always realise that as a business you cannot “satisfy everyone”.

Fake Reviews

If the review is completely fake, you should respond to the review with something like

Hi, *insert reviewer’s name,*

We take these matters very seriously, unfortunately we have no record of doing any work for you - nor can we verify anything about your identity from your review. If you were a client of ours , we would like to investigate this issue further, please contact *person’s name* on *insert phone number* or send an email to *email address*.

Flag the review

If the review violates Google review policy (e.g if the post contains bad or offensive language or threatens harm against someone) you can flag the review and Google may remove it. From Google:

Only flag reviews that violate Google policies. Don't flag a review just because you disagree with it or don't like it. Google doesn't get involved when merchants and customers disagree about facts, since there's no reliable way to discern who's right about a particular customer experience. Read the policy before flagging a review.