Best Practices in Responding to Yelp Reviews

As a business owner, you don’t have much control over what customers say about your product or service, but you can control how you respond to reviews. Answering feedback entails great care, particularly when dealing with negative reviews, which can put off 82% of consumers.  

Yelp is one of the most widely known online review platforms, with around 68 million unique web visitors. By the second quarter of 2020, the site has garnered 214 million reviews. By observing best practices in responding to Yelp reviews, you can keep customers happy, pacify irate ones, and foster a base of loyal patrons.  

How to Respond to a Yelp Review 

Every review, whether good or bad, should be acknowledged and be given a response. Yelp offers two methods for responding to reviews. You can post a public comment or send a direct message. You can also respond to reviews via the Yelp for Business app. 

Here are some tips in dealing with positive and negative feedback.  

Positive Reviews 

Responding to positive reviews on Yelp can help propel customer engagement. This seemingly simple act is a great way to build brand loyalty, interacting with your customers can make them feel like their insights are acknowledged.  

It’s also an organic way of attracting new customers. Taking time to respond to positive reviews can show potential customers that you appreciate patronage given to your business and the effort buyers or clients put into sharing positive feedback. 

• Understand the entire review 

Even when customers leave good reviews, they might also share suggestions for areas of improvement, which can easily be missed when you only skim over customer posts. 

• Create a unique, sincere response 

Copying and pasting responses is a big no-no. While using a template as a guide is fine, exert a bit of effort in coming up with a personal response for each reviewer.  This can help make your customers feel valued. 

Negative Reviews 

Even when you do your best to please every customer that comes your way, you’ll still likely come across a negative review. Responding to negative feedback from a dissatisfied customer isn’t an easy task, but with tact and empathy, you can turn a customer’s negative experience into a positive one. 

• Respond in a timely manner 

Replying quickly can show that you prioritize customer service and pay particular attention to what your customers are saying. It also increases the chance of the reviewer upgrading their review.  

• Don’t be defensive 

Losing your cool or responding with an equally negative comment can damage your business’s reputation.  

• Accept the complaint, apologize  

Acknowledge and avoid invalidating your customer’s unsatisfactory experience. Give them a sincere apology for not being able to meet their expectations.  

• Offer a resolution 

Reach out privately to unhappy customers and explain the next steps you’ll be taking to resolve the issue. If possible, offer a consolation, like sending product replacements or free vouchers. 

Responding to reviews can help protect and improve your business’s reputation. It’s also an inexpensive way to be transparent with your customers and to gain their trust.  

While responding to every single review can be overwhelming, an online feedback management platform like Reviews911 can help you generate, monitor, and quickly respond to all feedback. It notifies you every time someone leaves a review on Yelp or on other review platforms, enabling you to respond to each customer quickly.