Responding to Google reviews is vital for your business's success in local search results. By responding to both negative and positive feedback, you show customers that yous're committed to listening to their concerns and exceeding their expectations.

One in five customers expect to hear back from you when they leave a review. You don't want customers who leave a positive review to feel unappreciated, and customers who leave a negative review experience unheard.

In this post, discover the importance of responding to Google reviews, and learn how to respond to the ones you receive from customers.

Download Now: 20 Review Response Templates

Responding to Google reviews is incredibly important, given that Google is the world's about popular search engine.

When your potential customers use this huge source of information to commencement researching products and services, business listings appear — along with recent customer reviews with starred ratings and comments.

Co-ordinate to BrightLocal, 79% of consumers trust online reviews equally much equally personal recommendations. The reviews on your Google My Business concern contour can have a large touch on you finding new customers. Google itself has disclosed that responding to reviews — expert or bad — increases your ratings.

It's of import to practice information technology rapidly, too. If y'all expect weeks and months before responding, at that place's a practiced gamble your client will accept forgotten they left that review in the first place.

Responding to reviews tin be time-consuming, difficult, and flat-out bad-mannered, only luckily, you don't have to beginning from scratch. You tin can utilize the templates below to respond to Google reviews rapidly and effectively.

Featured Resource: twenty Gratis Review Response Templates

Response template for positive and negative Google Reviews

Before starting, it would exist wise to set up Google My Business notifications, so anytime a new customer review is posted, you receive a notification. Below we'll outline the steps to responding to Google Reviews on both mobile and desktop.

How to Answer to Google Reviews from a Desktop

  1. Sign in to Google My Business organization by going to business.google.com.
  2. On the left sidebar, click "Reviews."
  3. A list of your recent reviews will come up upwardly. Find the review you desire to reply to.
  4. Click "Reply."
  5. A bulletin box will open for you to write your response.
  6. Click "Post answer."

how to respond to google my business reviews: reply

How to Respond to Google Reviews From a Mobile Device:

  1. On your mobile device, open the Google My Concern app.
  2. On the bottom navigation bar, click "Customers."
  3. A list of your recent reviews will come upwards. Tap the review y'all want to reply to.
  4. A message box will open for you to write your response.
  5. Click the "Send" icon on the upper right-hand corner.

Manage Google Reviews

Depending on your individual concern needs, the style you lot choose to manage your Google Reviews may be different. For example, some businesses may make information technology a priority to reply to every single review they get, while others focus on reviews that comprise specific elements, like a complaint or asking.

Regardless of your strategy, consistent management of your Google Reviews looks as follows:

  • Creating a concern-specific plan for when to respond to reviews based on your individual business concern needs.
  • Constant monitoring of your Google My Business business relationship.
  • Reading all reviews as they come in, both positive and negative.
  • Deleting false reviews when you come up upon them.
  • Responding to reviews when they come up in.

When you really brainstorm responding, y'all'll likely find that you lot receive both positive and negative reviews from customers. Each type of review requires a specific type of response in order to ensure customer satisfaction and to prevent potential churn.

In the next sections we'll discuss how yous should respond to negative and positive Google Reviews, and provide examples of responses to each blazon.

Many companies and business owners fearfulness responding to negative reviews because it is a digital confrontation. Notwithstanding, bad reviews should not cause anxiety. Instead, they should be a moment to amend your brand and customer service. After all, inquiry shows that customers are i.7x more likely to visit your business concern if your company responds to negative reviews.

So, how should you respond to them?

1. Appraise and evaluate the feedback internally first.

Y'all're better off assessing the situation instead of immediately responding to a bad review. Customers have a lot of ability online, and if you react to a negative review without thinking it through, y'all volition fuel your aroused customer.

A negative response to a negative review will price yous customers. Every bit 73% of consumers simply look at the reviews from the last month, it is vital to answer in a positive way. Do non become emotional when it's your turn to answer to a bad review — have a logical process in place before clicking "respond." Take the residuum of the twenty-four hour period to contemplate your response, but don't take besides long. BrightLocal claims that 20% of those who go out negative reviews expect an answer within 24 hours.

two. Work off of a review response template.

It's like shooting fish in a barrel to respond to a negative review with frustration and defensiveness. This solution can easily backfire, frustrate customers, and tarnish your reputation online. It's best to work off of a negative review response template to help mellow out whatever animosity you might exist feeling and answer kindly and accordingly.

3. Publicly respond to the review.

This means, don't hide and privately achieve out to your client, but respond to them on the platform that they posted the review (privately responding alongside a public response is adept likewise). Whether they left you a bad review on Capterra or Google, exercise non avoid digital conversation. Responding publicly to bad reviews shows your customers and potential customers that y'all intendance and are attentive.

Why should yous care that y'all're attentive? Because information technology can lead to increased business. A study conducted past Cornell University revealed that responding to negative hotel reviews "appears positively related to the consumer's view of the hotel, as measured by increases in the TripAdvisor score."

4. Work towards a one:1 conversation.

Your first response to a negative review should e'er be fabricated on Google. Notwithstanding, Google Reviews isn't e'er the all-time place to host a customer service conversation. It'due south not a existent-time communication aqueduct nor is it a 1:1 interaction with the customer. Other people tin like their comments and write additional reviews supporting or adding context to the offset customer's experience.

If you know a negative review is going to take some time to reconcile, then you should work towards a i:1 conversation with the client. That doesn't hateful you're trying to hibernate the trouble or salvage face online, but rather, your priority is to meet client's needs and that means communicating with them on the all-time channels bachelor. Google Reviews did its job by highlighting the poor experience for your business. Now it'south time to rely on your trusted customer support channels like phone, live chat, and email, to solve the problem.

5. Be transparent about mistakes.

No business is perfect, and equally your client base grows, your squad is leap to brand mistakes. Afterwards all, customers often take alien needs that get in impossible to satisfy everyone. Information technology's how you respond to these mistakes, though, that determines how customers perceive your brand.

Being transparent is the best grade to have when responding to a negative review.In fact, inquiry shows that over xc% of Americans say make transparency is an important factor when making purchasing decisions.Customers know your team isn't going to be perfect, but they wait you to take responsibility for your mistakes when they occur. This builds customer rapport and leads to long-term, loyal advocates.

half-dozen. Ask questions when details aren't clear.

Customers don't get paid to write reviews and some will focus more on submitting a negative score and then explaining their problem with your visitor. You might run into a vague review like this ane where information technology's difficult to determine the client'due south problem.unclear google review with little information

Paradigm Source

With this review of a java shop, nosotros don't know what well-nigh the experience was dissatisfying. It's hard to tell whether it was an event with the coffee, service, or the actual shop.

If we desire to effectively respond to this review, we need to ask questions and go more information from the customer. This volition outset a salubrious dialogue that will assistance us diagnose the client's roadblock. In one case we know the trouble, nosotros can provide a solution.

7. Empathize and offer solutions.

If you lot just spend your time writing a fluffy response back to the customer apologizing for their feel and you've really taken the time to not be impulsive, simply did not provide some sort of solution or actionable items to mitigate the issue, then you haven't properly responded to a negative review. Make sure to offering to make information technology right by providing some sort of solution.

8. Provide an incentive if necessary.

Some customers just write negative reviews to accident off steam and have no intention of returning for your response. In these cases, you tin can recapture their attention past offering incentives that reinforce the sincerity of your response.

While you don't desire to do this with every bad review, you can use customer lifetime value to determine if someone should get an incentive or not. For example, if a client isn't spending much money with you lot, and is constantly writing poor reviews, so they may not be a "adept fit" for your business. If you continue offering them a discount every time they complain, you'll finish up losing money on this customer when you could take been using that discount to acquire or retain a customer with a college lifetime value.

ix. Sign your proper name at the end of your response.

This is a small detail that goes a long way. Signing your proper noun later each response shows the client that you're a real person. And, customers aren't only nicer when they're working with a human amanuensis, they're also happier because it shows your visitor is invested in their review.

x. Request an update for the review.

Information technology's of import to think that customer reviews are the start of a larger chat. The customer's perception of your brand isn't stagnant and tin modify as they proceed to collaborate with your company.

In one case you send your initial response, be prepared to have an in-depth conversation with the customer. Talk to them virtually their feel and endeavour to pinpoint exactly where your visitor cruel short of their expectations.

If y'all experience like the customer is satisfied with your team's response, ask them if they'd be willing to update their review. Since you've simply inverse their perspective, information technology's the perfect time to enquire them to edit their original feedback. Remember, that review is even so public and future leads may not read the whole thread and come across the positive event. Updating the original review is the all-time way to prevent you from gaining a negative reputation online.

Whether it'due south providing your contact information and post-obit up with the customer offline, you lot should display empathy and try into solving the complaint.

Examples of Negative Review Responses

Here are ideas for responding to negative reviews every bit a business concern owner.

1. Business/Agency Negative Review Response Example

If your company generates revenue from recurring, subscription or contract-based relationships, it's imperative that you respond to negative reviews. It tin can help y'all win dorsum unhappy customers, and it can prevent other potential customers from reading them online — and passing on you. If a electric current or former customer trashes you lot online, here'south an case of how you could reply.

Originally published Jan 10, 2022 7:15:00 AM, updated January 10 2022