Businesses throughout the United States have been recently confronted with an increase in malicious, negative, online reviews. This trend is nothing new, but it is taking on a more significant and negative tone. What is worrisome is that the reviews written by anonymous individuals are often written in response to real complaints. It appears that these complaints are either written by an angry ex-employee or a person attempting to smear a business. In both situations, the result is the same: a business may have a high level of customer service, but that service could be at risk because of an inflammatory complaint.
Businesses have a number of means for addressing these issues. While it is recommended that a business take its review policy seriously and have strong disciplinary measures in place for complaints involving inappropriate reviews, many small business companies do not. As a result, the online environment becomes a place where disgruntled employees and former customers can openly express their dissatisfaction with a business. In addition, because these dissatisfied employees and former customers can write reviews about their experiences almost anonymously, business owners must also be vigilant about monitoring any negative reviews that they come across.
One strategy that many business owners use to address the problem of poorly written reviews is to purchase a review template to use on their websites. The problem with this solution is that review templates are often poorly designed and difficult to use. They create a disjointed appearance which can make it nearly impossible for a user to effectively navigate. Further, poorly designed templates often require the user to type in each section of the review in order to create a well-designed review page. While it is possible to find a high-quality review template online, it is far more difficult to use.
The other option that many business owners find helpful is to hire someone to write the content for their review pages. Unfortunately, hiring a professional writer to do the writing is much more expensive than purchasing a review template. Furthermore, most writers who are willing to take on a freelance writing job will charge much less than a business owner would be required to pay for the same content. For this reason, it is very difficult for business owners to find someone who is willing to provide content on a freelance basis at a reasonable price. In addition, it is also nearly impossible to guarantee that the content will be unique or informative.
Despite the challenges that face businesses online, they can take measures that can help them combat the negative online reviews that are so common. First, business owners should invest in better training for their employees. They should not only be given a detailed training about how to read customer comments online, but should also be made aware of the types of behavior that might result in negatively written reviews.
As the number of businesses that are experiencing negative publicity continues to grow, it is clear that business owners need to work hard to fight back. This includes taking steps to address the issues that have resulted in the negative coverage. Businesses should hire an expert writer to write content that is completely honest and provides information that is relevant to their company’s products and services. Finally, businesses should make it easy for potential customers to tell if the information provided by a business online is factually accurate or embellished. By taking these steps, businesses can significantly reduce the amount of people who use negative online reviews as a way to harm their businesses.