Suppose you get a healthy amount of monthly roofing reviews; congratulations. You have overcome a hurdle that many small businesses struggle to get over. However, getting reliable reviews for your roofing company isn’t enough.
The next step is to respond to those reviews. Not only do people like it when a company responds to their reviews, they expect it. So the bottom line is that it’s imperative to respond to your roofing company’s reviews – whether they be good or bad.
It’s more important to respond to the negative ones. But how do you begin to respond to an angry customer who blasts your service and gives you a 1-star rating? It’s a tricky turf to traverse, so in the following guide, we will explain the correct way to respond to negative roofing reviews.
1) Respond to Reviews Quickly
How long should you wait to respond to a negative review? The answer: you shouldn’t! You should respond to a negative review as soon as possible. A swift response to a negative roofing review will show the customer that you value their time and are concerned about the service they received.
Set up email alerts for all the review platforms (as many as possible) so they send notifications as soon as a new review is posted. If your company gets a high volume of reviews every week, you may want to assign the task of checking for and responding to reviews to a specific staff member or divvying them up by Google reviews, Facebook reviews, etc.
2) Thank Customers for Their Business
No matter the nature of the complaint, opening your reply to all negative roofing reviews should include the same thing: an expression of gratitude. Remember that this person took time out of their schedule to write a review of your business – even if it was a bad one.
Start your replies with something like, “Thank you very much for utilizing our business and leaving a review…” An initial showing of gratitude can help to soothe the inflamed perception that the reviewer may have of your company. Thank them for hiring your roofing company in the first place and taking the time to leave a review.
3) Acknowledge The Customer’s Problem
Customers who are unsatisfied with your business want to know that their complaints have been heard. That’s why you can’t use a template for negative review responses. Instead, you must acknowledge their specific issue in your reply. As the owner, you need to take responsibility for whatever the customer perceives as the problem.
Acknowledge the specific issue by thanking them for bringing it to your attention. Remember, the customer is always right – even when they’re wrong.
4) Apologize For Inconviennce
After thanking the reviewer and acknowledging their complaint, apologize to them for their experience. For whatever reason, they weren’t satisfied with your service. Regardless of the issue or who’s at fault, be mindful that their experience with your company wasn’t to their liking.
A brief and straightforward apology, citing the specific issue or incident, can diffuse the situation and even spur the customer to amend their review.
5) Offer an Explanation or Solution
Sometimes a customer may be accurate in their negative assessment of your company – as far as they know. They might not have the whole story, though. For example, maybe one or more of your critical staff members called in sick on the same day. Perhaps a supplier was late in delivering materials. Unfortunately, customers aren’t always privy to this information and may sound off without knowing the whole story.
When it’s necessary, explain the circumstances that led to their unpleasant experience with your company. Also, explain (briefly) that such a situation is not typical. You don’t want to sound like you are making excuses, but simultaneously, you want to assure other customers that the negative reviewer’s experience isn’t the norm.
6) Invite The Customer to Talk Privately
If possible, move the conversation offline in your reply. At the end of your response, tell the reviewer that you would be happy to discuss the matter further over the phone or in person. Privatizing the conversation will limit harmful exposure online and give you a chance to win the customer back.
In addition, you may find a solution that leads to them updating their review and speaking on your attentive response. If you view each negative review as an opportunity, you can mitigate harm and boost your reputation.
Prepare for Reputation Management
The fact is that negative reviews will happen. No one bats .1000. The important thing is to be prepared when negative reviews do come in. We can help you handle negative reviews with our professional reputation management services. Using our reputation management tool, DataPins, you can get more reviews and effectively manage existing ones with the help of Roofing Webmasters.
