How to respond to reviews, good and bad

Reply to every review, briefly, in public, and write for the person reading it next rather than the person who wrote it. A negative review with a calm, specific reply persuades better than no negative review at all.

The reply is permanent and it is read by people deciding whether to contact you. That is the whole strategic point.

Acknowledge the specific thing. Take responsibility for the part that is yours. Say what changed or what you would do. Offer to continue off the platform. Four sentences, no defensiveness, no marketing.

What makes it work is specificity. “Sorry you had a poor experience, please contact us” reads as a template and is worth nothing. “You waited forty minutes on a Saturday because we were two staff down — we have changed the rota” reads as a business that knows what happened.

Do not dispute the facts in public, even when you are right. Do not mention the customer’s history with you. Do not explain your side at length; a long reply reads as defensive regardless of content. Do not offer compensation publicly, which invites more of the same.

And never imply the reviewer is lying unless you can prove it and are prepared for the thread that follows.

Briefly and not identically. Twenty reviews each answered with “Thanks for your kind words!” reads as automated and slightly deflates the reviews themselves. Name the thing they mentioned; two sentences is plenty.

Treating the reply as a conversation with the reviewer. It is not — that conversation is over, and they are unlikely to return. The reply is a signal to the next hundred people who read the profile, which is why the calmest reply wins even when the review is unfair.