The Cost of Bad Reviews for Businesses
If you are a business owner, there are many unique aspects to your business. But regardless if you are a big corporation, a small business or a start-up, one thing is the same. Bad reviews can cost your business real money.
Technology has connected the world in a way that nobody expected. With a single click, a single person can address the world through social media.
As a business, when it comes to your customers, you do not want to see a bad review from them online. The reality is that every business will inevitably have a customer complaint filed against them. Without immediate attention, bad reviews can gain momentum on search engines and online review sites.
A bad review costs you time and money and here’s why:
Social Media
The power of the consumer has greatly increased in the internet age. Anyone can go on social media and instantly destroy a company’s reputation even if it was a single occurrence where it wasn’t handled properly. Therefore, every brand should have a social media plan and stick to it.
Considering the fact that the average user on social media has more than 300 friends, a negative review can easily escalate resulting in a wipe out of a significant chunk of potential business.
Search Engines
Consumer and editorial reviews have become a very popular search query for users. Good reviews on search engines like Google are an easy way to get that edge over your competition. Likewise, a negative review will stay online forever.
Google has a very strict policy on what they will remove, and reviews aren’t eligible for removal unless they are in violation of Google’s policies. So, with a conservative assumption that a bad review might be seen once a day for 5 years and a simple product selling for $20, that’s $35,000 in potential business lost from a single bad review that ranks highly in Google.
Review Websites
Consumer behaviour nowadays includes searching for reviews online before making a purchase decision. That’s why third-party review sites have become so popular, and you need to be aware of what is being shared about your business.
Often, with a proactive approach you can manage third-party reviews to reduce or even eliminate the number of negative reviews shared about your business online.
So what’s a bad review worth to you?
Companies should not panic with every single customer complaint, but an organization that has a policy of ignoring bad reviews is positioned to lose customers to competitors.
