The Summary of Discussion 2: If You Got a One-Star Review Among Five-Star Reviews The Rest on GMB, Report the Shit to Google! Dean I've had a random 1 star review posted to my Google My Biz (GMB) from somebody I've never had any dealings with. I did report it but Google are still allowing it. This has happened previously too, but it eventually disappeared, but this one hasn't – any way I can get it deleted please? Thanks. 6 👍🏽2 😢1 😤9 52 💬🗨📰👈
Daniel » Dean If the reviews is against the guidelines which you need to read though it and look for anything that is possibly against it or the person that left it has left other spam reviews in the past then call them and explain to them it is against their guideline or what ever you find and you need the person on the phone help to get it removed, that works if you can find something wrong with the review. I have personally had the same issue, come to find out it was associated with competitor trying to get my listing below his, lol, and Unfortunately I couldn't find anything wrong with the person that left it, no spam and not against googles guidelines, which by the way whatever I'm busier now that he left the bad review than I was before he didn't, lol, it backfired on him, so the last option is respond to it anyway stating was never a client and the whole speel, then go to bright local and run a review campaign for where you import a list of your clients emails and that campaign will run a blast email reach and get you some new reviews and that one gets pushed down the list, but the worst thing to do is not respond to it at all. P.S. real people like to see bad reviews as it shows you are human and the reviews aren't all fake..
Hahn » Daniel What's bright local? Daniel » Hahn It's a platform that offers several things free. https://www.brightlocal.com/reputation-manager/get-reviews/ Review Generation Tool | Software to Grow Online Reviews BRIGHTLOCAL.COM Review Generation Tool | Software to Grow Online Reviews Review Generation Tool | Software to Grow Online Reviews Cheryl » Daniel I had one reviewer call me a "crazy old bat" and that didn't go against Googles guidelines. How much more bullying does it take to get hateful reviews taken down???? Daniel » Cheryl I would just respond to that in the most ethical way you can. Be polite and offer any assistance to help resolve any issue they are having. Other people read those and you want to show your not a bully in your response and your a professional business and will do what ever you can to help your customers. Cheryl » Daniel I had a friend who found out more about the guy. Called him out on his b.s. and he removed his review because it made him look like the idiot he was. He got mad because I couldn't get him right at that minute he wanted and decided to write a bad review about me. It backfired on him. Thanks for the advice but my point was that Google guidelines are a bunch b.s. Not worth the digital paper they are written on. It clearly states about bullying and they ignored what that guy did. After 20 yrs in business I know how to handle these type of people. Stating the facts of what transpired is not bullying. The prospective clients can decide for themselves. I will not cower down to bullies and liars. Daniel » Cheryl Nothing to do with cowering down don't take it the wrong way, we are playing a game that we have to play by googles rules and I am only explaining what they do if a review is left Un-responded too. That's all, I was a victim of the same type of bs myself, I tried to have removed and had several friends of mine high up and they couldn't even get it, so I just put that the person wasn't a client and was professional and polite and just went on about my business, which crazy enough had picked up, not sure if it was because of me responding to that negative review which I knew was fake and trying to devalue my work because a competitor was getting pushed below me after my work, which is part of the online game, I kinda of took it as a challenge. Cheryl » Daniel That's how I look at it, challenge them, but by simply stating facts and not apologizing for something I didn't do. Prospective clients will see it for what it is, fake review or someone being stupid!! Especially, clients you want, not types like them!! Daniel » Cheryl I agree no need to apologize if you had nothing to do with the guy at all, however if a customer leaves a bad review then the first thing I would do is call them and try to resolve the issue and once you get the issue resolved then ask them to change their review which they can do, I have found that I have had my clients use this with outstanding results and the client actually updated the review and left an awesome review. Cheryl » Daniel Hard to call someone you've never provided a service to. All my bad reviews are from people who didn't get to walk in and get a service immediately. Some can't even read the big red letter sign on my door that says "by appt only". They get mad cause they don't get what they want immediately and then post a negative review. I will not apologize to them because I'm busy. And in all situations they lied about what transpired. Interaction with the public is not so black and white. There is a lot of gray areas in between. Again, I don't need your advice on how to handle my business. Been doing this for 20yrs, so must be doing something right. Have a nice rest of your weekend! Daniel » Cheryl Question is that listed on you GMB for "by appointment only"? If it's not then that's what's happening, if it is I would use this a way to get Google to maybe remove the bad review Cheryl » Daniel Google doesn't have the option to show "by appt only"!!! From what I can see it only has option to show store hours. Which I have brought up to Google to no avail. And what makes you think people will read that on my Google My Biz (GMB), if they cant read what's posted on my door when they walk in? LMAO!!! Again, I don't need your help so I'm asking you to please stop!! Daniel » Cheryl Wow, ok, have a good day. Cheryl » Daniel I do, thanks! You, too Rick » Daniel You said "call them" Who is them? if it is Google, do you have the phone #? Thanks Daniel I was referring to the person that left you a bad review to try deal with it on a personal level. It works in some situations. Dean ✍️ » Daniel That's the problem – it's from someone I do not know and have never had any dealings with…🤷♂️ Daniel » Dean Look up there name and see if they have left any other spammy reviews, report it spam have a few of your friends report it spam and wait to see what happens give it 72 hours if it's still there try to reach out to them and explain it wasn't a customer, find the guidelines on reviews and see if there is anything that is against the guidelines for when you reach out to them. Go from there that's about the best approach I can tell you to take.
John Can't see the negative review from here (checking from Spain). Might have been taken down
John » Dean Strange. Now I see it. If Google doesn't remove which they often won't, if time has passed and if you've answered, then answering the way you have is best (in my opinion). State you have no records of who they are. Happens a lot.
Dean ✍️ » Jesani Yep 😔 😢 Cheryl » Dean The response was very professional, called them out on their b.s. and prospective customers will disregard the review. Morgan » Dean I am a local guide 7 on my way to 8 and I just reported it as spam so lets see if that works! Jesani » Dean What I have been hearing it's not to replay those fake reviews and report them as a spam. Specially when the Google local guide report them it gets removed. So may be remove your reply and keep reporting them as spam.
Cheryl When I've gotten a bad review, especially when I haven't even performed a service for them, I simply state what happened, what was said, etc. Prospective clients have told me those reviews were idiotic and they disregarded them. If no comment is made, stating that you have no record of them being a client tells others to disregard the review. And the fact they made no comments speaks highly, also! 💟👍🏽2
Daniel » Cheryl Something to keep in mind is, the only issue with not responding at all is that it shows Google you do not respond to reviews which is a negative towards your company in googles eyes. Respond professionally and respectfully and move on.. Just work on more reviews. That should be a major part of any campaigns you run nowadays. 🤭👍🏽2 Cheryl » Daniel Who said to not respond? And to be honest, I don't think anyone really knows what Google thinks or does! Daniel » Cheryl Very true. No one really knows. We have noticed that right now reviews are a very important role in maps rankings.
Ammon Johns 🎓 They happen. The age-old maxim goes: "You can't please everyone". At some point, you yourself have thought "Man, that sucked" about some movie, service, experience, restaurant, attraction, and whatever else that other people gave rave reviews about. Should every movie director that had a hit movie that you thought sucked be able to persecute you for not agreeing? There are only 2 smart options. Either accept and ignore it, understanding that people are different, have different tastes and expectations, and may just have had a bad experience, even if because they brought a bad mood or the wrong expectations. Or flat-out apologize that they were not satisfied (you genuinely ARE sorry they didn't give you a five-star rating), and ask them to give the service another try, or get in touch with details of what spoiled their experience so your customer service team can make it right. Give it that wonderful personal touch by giving them a specific customer service person's name (only needs to be a first name) and say they'll be waiting for this call specifically (and brief them so they are). We all know that given enough customers, any business is going to have some unhappy ones. And we also know that people are much more likely to tell people about a negative experience than an okay one. The saying goes that "when you love something you tell your friends, when you hate something you tell EVERYONE". We expect to see some negative comments and reviews. What stands out is how the company respond to them. Looking like you take any criticism personally, and 'attack' any customer that dares give negative feedback or has a bad experience is not what you want to do. Even if you are justified, the future readers can't know that, and it will be a red flag to them. If you want to be super-smart about countering negative reviews, do that second method I mentioned, inviting them to get in touch, briefing your customer services team on the case, and document the whole procedure. Show future customers how dedicated you are to great customer service and handling any complaints of failing to meet your own high standards. Create a whole page about your excellent customer service policies, and how you fix any issues where customers felt you fell short. That way when anyone leaves a negative review, you can ask them to get in touch, and drop the link to your page that shows how this is handled and just how caring you are. 💟6
Bagani 🏆 Daniel » Ammon Johns But when you have 70+ 5 stars reviews from real clients,but are coming 2 people that are not your clients and gave you 1 star review…that its not nice… Allen » Daniel That's when you politely and subtly respond but directed at the public that you are sorry they are dissatisfied but you can't seem to find them ever using your service, i.e. implying professionally they are fake reviews. They happen to almost everyone, and people get that
Chris It depends if you have them in your database or not. If not then I'd say we tried to contact you but couldn't find you in our database. Please contact us and we'll make it right. If so then reach out and if you can't connect say you tried to reach out to make it right and ask them to connect. If you can connect and make it right ask them to change the review. Often these can turn into raving positive testimonials. If they don't change it just say you followed up and made it right and thank them for the feedback.
Ammon Johns 🎓 » Chris The problem here is that it assumes the database will be perfect. That nobody ever bought a product for someone else (thus they were the buyer, but not the recipient and user) etc. I have seen first hand companies get all self righteous on social media that a complaint came from a troll, only to have the matter unravel and make that company look like the most incompetent excuse makers, and make the matter 10 times worse, and 100 times more visible, than the initial bad review. Databases are not 100% foolproof. People buy for others. Chris » Ammon Johns If it doesn't show in database I'm not saying to dismiss, I'm saying to mention it and ask them to contact directly so you can make it right. It's just a way of saying we would have contacted you directly but we can't find your contact info. Does that make sense? Ammon Johns 🎓 » Chris Yup. It just needed mentioning because I've seen people assume that if they can't find this customer in their database then it's a troll and go in guns blazing calling them such. Never ends well. 🤔 Chris » Ammon Johns Oh I agree! I think a good rule of thumb is to always side with the reviewer (publicly at least). It doesn't matter how offside they are, it's for everyone else looking to see how you handle it. Negative reviews are worth their weight in gold when handled right.
Isaac "I'm sorry you did not have a great experience with us. We would love to understand how we can do better. Please contact us at business@email.com so we can make it up to you." 💟
