Business owners insist on responding to online reviews

Emily Washcovick, Yelp’s small business expert behind the Review host, shares this week’s podcast episode.

Courtesy of Yelp

Navigating the online review landscape can be tricky, but capitalizing on the potential is worth the effort. Emily Washcovick, her Small Business Expert on Yelp and host of the Behind the Review podcast, revisited interviews with several of her business owners from past podcasts, discussing their unique approaches to online reviews (affirmations). positive and negative) and how they turned into business benefits. Take a look at their review response playbook.

Use positive reviews as positive reinforcement

Positive reviews are a great way to reinforce what you’re doing right, but you can go one step further. Take them offline to inspire yourself and your team and use them to thank your customers while impressing them in the future.

Robert Meir, CALA

positive [reviews] I am very focused. I think a lot of owners just say “yes, go ahead” and move on. I try not to. I took it to the staff and said, ‘Hey, look! Someone said something great about you because it makes you feel better.

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We’ve put together a little book of good reviews. A day that doesn’t come. read this. ‘ [Positive reviews] Makes me really happy because I know most people don’t review it. I felt… And it just makes my day.

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If someone has taken the time to write a review for you, all you can do is acknowledge them. All you can do is say “thank you”. I always like to talk to them about their experience and how much we appreciate them. Also, if someone else is looking for our business, they will also see how we responded.

It’s all about how people treat and view your business. And if you leave it as it is without reacting, [as a customer,] I’m more likely to go to the business of recognizing me and saying “thank you for taking the time to write a review”. And it makes a lot of sense for them to do that.

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Turn negative reviews into positive results

Negative reviews don’t feel good right now, but how you respond to (and implement) them can help you improve customer service, identify new business opportunities, and strengthen your reputation.

If you have something to say, say it now. If not, take a deep breath. I personally reply to all negative reviews, but I don’t reply right away.I’ll put it aside for a day or two. Then, in Word, write your reply to a document that can’t be accidentally posted. And I read it. I may reread and edit. And finally, post.

If we are lucky enough to track this person to a specific order, we will personally email them to address their disappointment before contacting Yelp. Negative reviews are often not bad if they are followed up online with the solution and how to fix it.

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In my opinion, if there is a negative review, whatever it is, it is a good teaching moment so make sure we understand. Even without it, it’s a good teaching moment. We reply to all reviews with a ‘thank you. That’s important.

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There was one 1 star review. It was the best laugh I’ve ever had. He was annoyed that we were pre-order only. It was during a pandemic. I didn’t have an employee. It was literally me and my husband. So we could only take pre-orders and couldn’t afford to hire people. Everywhere it said they only pre-order online.

I replied to the review and told him that it was not fair that he was binding us to the standards he created instead of the standards he had ever set as a business model. It clearly stated that it was pre-order only. [started to offer] The walk up is due to this 1 star review.

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[Reviewers] I want people to listen. I listened to them and said, ‘I’m taking action on this. I’m going into my company. I’m going to build a better company. Thank you.This is how I grow.If you don’t bring these mistakes to my attention,I will never know they were happening.You help me build a better business. accountability layer for

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Listen to episodes below, hear directly from these businesses and more, then subscribe behind the review Get more information from new business owners and reviewers every Thursday.

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