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A five step plan for dealing with negative reviews
Bad online product reviews or
public complaints on social media
can seriously affect your business.
Here are some tips for minimising
the damage and perhaps even
turning negative feedback to
your advantage.
The way that social media and online
commerce have made it so easy for
customers to provide feedback is
something of a double-edged sword for
businesses. Great testimonials can do more
for your reputation than any number of
advertisements, while word-of-mouth
recommendations can spread much faster
thanks to social media. But negative
feedback can be hugely expensive, and you
don’t have to be ‘on’ social media or selling
things online to be affected.
Two of the key problem areas are:
Bad reviews
– Amazon, Google+,
TripAdvisor and many other platforms allow
customers to give detailed reviews of all
kinds of products and services. These are
increasingly important; reviews are a major
factor for potential customers when making
a purchase decision. A series of ‘one-star’ or
highly critical reports is guaranteed to put
some people off buying.
Social media complaints
and Facebook enable users to ‘tag’ you
when saying something critical about your
business, which means that anyone else
looking for you on those platforms could
potentially see it.
However, a sensible approach can minimise
the damage to your reputation and even
work to your advantage.
A five step plan
1
Act quickly.
Keep track of your
reviews on key websites and mentions
on social media and when a complaint
comes up, act quickly. If it’s a specific gripe
from a dissatisfied customer, thank them
and tell them you’re working on it even
if you haven’t yet decided on the best
solution. Provide a realistic timescale for
when you’ll come back to them – and avoid
conveying the sense that their views aren’t
important to you.
2
Assess the value of the feedback.
Resist the temptation to object to
bad reviews or argue back. Instead, try to
honestly evaluate the feedback. Even in the
most intemperate review a valid problem
may have been highlighted, and you can use
that to improve your service.
3
Be upfront, admit mistakes and
respond personally.
On social
media, a straightforward personal message
promising to resolve the issue will disarm
most unhappy customers.
4
Fix the problem.
Don’t just respond
to complaints with an apology; try to
resolve problems as quickly as possible. Ask
for their details and contact them personally.
5
Be generous with recompense.
Sometimes, a customer just needs
to let off steam and there’s nothing you
can actually do to resolve their problem
– in which case it’s usually best just to
be courteous and offer some sort of
recompense. If you’re surprisingly generous
with this you’ll often turn the complainer
into a happy, repeat customer and even an
advocate for your business.
Prevention is better
than cure
Occasional bad reviews are virtually
inevitable, however good you are at
your business, but there are some simple
preventative things you can do. Make
sure you have transparent procedures and
visible contact details for people to make
complaints directly to you. You could also
make it a habit to ask happy customers to
give you online reviews soon after their
transaction: a large number of positive
reviews will minimise the damage of a few
bad ones.
The best methods of dealing with
bad feedback – valuing the customer
and responding quickly – are the
same as they’ve ever been. Along
with the risks come opportunities
to enhance your reputation: exceed
expectations and the word will
quickly spread far and wide.
Help to Buy: the ISA for first-time buyers
With the housing market booming, many first-time buyers need a helping hand to get them onto the property
ladder. The Government’s new Help to Buy ISA, which launches on 1 December 2015, aims to meet this need
by offering first-time buyers unique incentives when saving for their first home.
The Help to Buy ISA will enable first-time buyers to
save up to £200 per month, with an opportunity to
deposit an additional £1,000 when the account is
first opened.
The Government will then provide a 25% bonus on
the total amount saved, including interest, capped at
a maximum of £3,000 on savings of £12,000, which
is tax-free. The bonus can only be put towards a first
home located in the UK with a purchase value of
£250,000 or less, or up to £450,000 in London.
It is intended that opening a Help to Buy ISA will be as
simple as opening a regular ISA, with interest rates set
by the bank or building society an individual decides to
save with. They will also be free to apply their normal
ISA withdrawal and transfer rules, thus ensuring that
savers can move between providers to get the best deal.
However, care needs to be taken as an individual may
only subscribe to one Cash ISA per year, so an account
holder cannot subscribe to a Help to Buy ISA and a Cash
ISA in the same tax year. Additionally a first-time buyer
can only have one Help to Buy ISA.
Savers will be able to apply for and open a Help to Buy ISA up to
four years after the scheme is officially launched. Once an account
is opened there is no limit on how long an individual can save into
it and no time limit on when they can claim their bonus.
To get the most out of the Help to Buy ISA,
individuals should:
• Contribute the monthly maximum saving of £200
• Deposit an additional £1,000 when opening the account
• Remember that the account can remain open for as long
as it takes to find a qualifying home.
Those saving with a partner to buy their first home together
should ensure they both have a Help to Buy ISA, thus doubling
both the amount they can save and the bonus available.
Note that savings from the Help to Buy ISA can only be used
towards the purchase of a first home, so would not be available for
buy-to-let properties. A scheme administrator will enforce this rule.
We can advise on a range of property taxation matters –
please contact us for assistance.