Besides Negative Feedback, Business Should Pay Attention to Neutral Reviews As Well
Replying to reviews is a vital part of any business’ marketing strategy. Most businesses already know that replying to negative reviews is vital to repair their relationship with the customer and show readers that they care about making things right for unhappy customers.
Responding to any kind of review helps your business grow in the eyes of consumers and it strengthens the brand’s online presence. Unfortunately, many businesses ignore neutral reviews altogether.
How to Respond to Neutral Reviews
Neutral reviews usually combine some positive comments with some negative feedback. As such, you will have to take what you can from both sides and choose the most appropriate review response technique most applicable to your situation.
Oftentimes, 3-star or neutral reviews are short and lack details. This kind of review happens because customers don’t feel strongly enough either way to describe their experience in great detail.
Whenever that is the case, here’s an appropriate way to go about crafting a response to neutral reviews.
Show Appreciation
Before you write out the rest of your neutral review response, start by showing appreciation for the time and effort the customer took to write the review.
Focus on the Positive
If the neutral review contains some positive aspects, make sure to highlight these by mentioning it in your response: “We’re glad to hear that you enjoyed __.”
Even if the review contains critical remarks, start by emphasizing the review’s positive aspects. Usually, people will pay more attention to the first two sentences.
Address the Negative
If the neutral review is overly negative, approach it like a negative review and acknowledge the issue the customer had. You may also issue an apology and provide a short explanation about the arisen situation.
Take it Offline
If you want to ask the customer for more details, try to take the interaction offline. You can delve into the details of the issue while preventing the spread of a possibly negative experience in the public domain.
Some things you can say:
“Your business means a lot to us, so if you ever have additional feedback, please don’t hesitate to reach out via [contact details].”
Neutral reviews are as important as any other review. Replying to neutral reviews is a great idea because it could be that little push the customer needed to give your business a second chance.
