How to respond to reviews: tips and strategies

You've started collecting customer reviews and you finally have a direct line to how your customers feel about your business. But the work isn't finished once the reviews start rolling in.

How to respond to reviews? How to respond to negative reviews? These are common questions for businesses and they're not as difficult as you might think.

1. First things first – respond to as many reviews as you're able to

This isn't just a quick tutorial on how to respond to negative, you should respond to positive reviews when you're able to as well.

By responding to your reviews, you can showcase your excellent customer service, reward your customers for leaving feedback, and encourage future interactions with your client base. Positive, personal interactions with customers can help increase brand loyalty.

And for potential customers that are browsing your reviews, they will see and notice that you're so responsive with your customers. This can give them the confidence they need to head to checkout because they know that if there's an issue with their purchase, you're going to try your best to help resolve it.

2. Wondering how to respond reviews or how to respond to negative reviews? Here are a few things to keep in mind:

You may leave exactly one response to every review. This is not a chat thread. If you want to continue the conversation with your consumer, let them know you will get in touch with them privately, or provide them with an email address or phone number to contact you.

Keep your response highly professional. It doesn’t matter if the review is anything but. If you use a rude or defensive, it’s going to reflect poorly on your brand image. You should also avoid sharing too much detail. Save that for the private correspondence. While the above examples are friendly and courteous, some businesses don't take this approach, and it couldn't look for their brand (see below).

Responding to positive reviews

If you're looking for responding to positive reviews examples, no need to overthink it. Responding to positive reviews is as simple as thanking them for both their business and for leaving the time to share their feedback with you.

Let them know you appreciate their feedback and encourage them to leave it in the future, as you're always interested in learning about how you can improve your business. It's really that simple.

View your response as an opportunity to acknowledge the reviewer and/or to save them as a customer. According to LinkedIn, “it costs between 4 and 10 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one.” Strategically and financially, it’s best for your company to actively work on the upkeep of your existing customer relationships.

By responding to reviews warmly and professionally, you can improve the buying experience, reaffirm relationships with your customers, and show the transparency of your brand – all to build trust the Trustpilot way.

Find out why responding to reviews is important, and why you shouldn't ignore negative feedback. Download your free copy of our 'Bad Reviews' report here.