It’s an experience no business owner looks forward to: finding a negative review from an unhappy customer on your Yelp page. Managing a business account on Yelp can be challenging due to issues like fake reviews and high advertising costs, which often favor larger businesses over small business owners.
But while negative reviews can sting, responding to them is critical. After all, research shows that more than a third of consumers are “highly likely” to use businesses that reply to all reviews. When businesses only respond to positive reviews, that number drops to 15%.
While the benefits of responding are clear, knowing how to respond isn’t always so straightforward. That’s why we created this step by step guide to dealing with negative feedback on Yelp.
We’ll teach you how to respond to negative reviews and ratings, answer some of your most frequently asked questions, and show you seven great examples of real review responses from local businesses like yours. We’ll also explain how to create a strategy for replying to customer complaints, empowering your business to approach every bad review with confidence and professionalism. publicly respo
Whenever you respond to a negative rating or review, you need to empathize with the customer’s experience and offer an apology.
Business owners have a responsibility to manage customer relations effectively, as Yelp reviews can significantly impact their reputation. Apologizing shows not just the original reviewer but also other customers that your business cares about providing great customer service, and not just getting more positive reviews.
Below, you’ll find seven examples of real business responses to 1-star and 2-star Yelp reviews, which provides a great starting point for different ways of addressing negative feedback.
We’ll break down why each example works, then go over seven best practices for responding to poor reviews on Yelp.
Type of business: Home services, plumbing, heating
Customer issues: Poor customer service, lack of professionalism
Why this response works:
Type of business: Auto dealership
Customer issue: Slow service
Why this response works:
Type of business: Restaurant
Customer issue: Dissatisfaction with product quality
Why this response works:
Type of business: Restaurant
Customer issue: Dissatisfaction with product quality and pricing
Why this response works:
Type of business: Fast food franchise
Customer issue: Receiving incorrect orders when placing orders online
Why this response works:
Type of business: Car dealership
Customer issues: Product cost and pricing transparency, trustworthiness of the business
Why this response works:
Type of business: Home service, electrician, HVAC
Customer issues: Dissatisfaction with product quality, scheduling issues, lack of clear communication
Why this response works:
Dealing with critical feedback is certainly more challenging than responding to positive reviews. Poor business reviews, especially on platforms like Yelp, significantly impact the reputation, so managing customer relations and negative feedback is crucial to maintaining a positive image.
Here are seven tips to remember when you’re responding to bad Yelp reviews:
Let’s take a closer look at each of these best review response practices.
When it comes to responding to online reviews, time is of the essence – especially if the customer needs help or has a complaint; prioritize negative reviews since they are time-sensitive.
The faster you can respond to reviews on Yelp, the better. Always aim to respond in under 24 hours – ideally, within a few hours of the review first being published.
Never use a generic form of address, like “Dear Customer” or “Valued Customer,” when you’re responding to an online review.
You should always use the reviewer’s name or username (and double-check the spelling), unless they have chosen to remain anonymous or their username contains inappropriate language.
According to a report by Twilio, “Over half (56%) of consumers say they will become repeat buyers after a personalized experience, a 7% increase year-over-year.”
The same report also revealed that “69% of business leaders are increasing their investment in personalization.”
Embrace this trend in your review response strategy. Avoid copy-pasting the same generic reply to each comment, and provide each customer with a unique response to their review.
Personalizing your replies shows that a real person from your business is listening to customer feedback.
This helps inspire trust in potential customers, who want to feel confident they can contact your support team in case they have a problem or question.
It’s essential to thank the reviewer for their feedback – even if it isn't a positive review.
However, since you need to thank every reviewer, there’s a risk of becoming too repetitive in your responses.
You can avoid this by varying the phrases you use, like “Thank you for your feedback, [Reviewer]” vs. “We appreciate your detailed review.” Another option is to use an AI review response generator; when you run out of ideas, AI can come up with loads of different responses fast.
Whenever your business receives a low rating or negative comment on a review site like Yelp, it’s crucial to offer a short but earnest apology to the reviewer – even if you don’t quite agree with their feedback.
The simple act of apologizing can help defuse an emotionally charged situation, paving the way forward for a smoother resolution to the issue – and potentially, even retaining the customer.
Remember to avoid repetition and vary the language you use in each apology, like the examples in the screenshots above. Using AI in hospitality industry can also help you create better experiences for customer at scale.
You can leverage negative reviews to show potential customers what’s positive about your brand.
Here are a few examples of what we mean:
Even if you're not responding to a positive review, you can still end your response on a positive note that encourages customer engagement.
It’s important to respond to each review in a public comment – especially if it's a less-than-glowing review – because it shows that your brand values transparency.
However, your company's public comments should not be too detailed or complex. For example, if you try to explain your company's policies or protocols in your response, it could be interpreted as defensive by potential customers and other Yelp users.
Instead of trying to resolve the conversation on Yelp, use your public response to open the door to a private conversation.
For instance, you can invite the customer to send you a direct message, email your customer support team, or call your corporate office.
If you want to win happy customers – and score positive Yelp reviews – it's vital to implement a solid review management strategy.
Whether you're dealing with negative, neutral, or positive reviews, there are two basic approaches when it comes to review response management:
There are a few important steps to follow if you decide to take the manual approach:
Following these steps makes it faster and easier to manage your reviews manually, if that’s the approach you decide to take.
However, to optimize your speed and cost-efficiency, you should consider an end-to-end solution that automates every task for you.
Responding to reviews on Yelp requires time and effort – but not when you use ResponseScribe to effortlessly generate customized, on-brand responses to your customers.
Our review response service saves time spent on scouring review sites, keeping your business page updated, or struggling with writer’s block.
We monitor Yelp and over 50 other review sites for positive and negative reviews of your business, eliminating the need for you to track dozens of platforms manually.
Whenever you receive a rating or comment, our team engages your reviewers with professional, on-brand replies. You’ll always maintain full control over response approvals and revisions.
ResponseScribe provides a personalized response to every Yelp review in under 24 hours by leveraging cutting-edge AI, our expert team of trained writers, or a combination of both approaches. With our flexible pricing, the choice is up to you.
Need to scale up as your business grows? Change your plan any time for total freedom, headache-free.
Control damage from one star reviews, drive brand loyalty and visibility, and turn unhappy customers into vocal fans through a personalized review response campaign.
Start your free trial of ResponseScribe and start leveling up your local business today.
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