Let’s face it. Every business has to go through this because, in the world of customer reviews, everyone has an opinion about the product or service that you provide. It’s a blessing because of the free marketing you get from satisfied customers. However, once in a while, you’ll get that one or two negative reviews that could make or break you.
Don’t sweat it! A negative review can be surprising and sometimes disappointing. But it’s not the end of the world. That could be easier said than done when you have put all of your blood, sweat, and tears into your lash extension business. It’s important to remember that people leave negative reviews and comments for all kinds of reasons. Your responsibility is to figure out what it is. Whether that’s an apology from the lash artist, wanting to save other customers from bad experience, or wanting a refund or a salon credit, unhappy clients are much more likely to leave a review than happy ones.
Next time you get a negative review from a client who had just had a bad experience, take a deep breath, and consider the following before you respond:
- Understand that reviews and comments can be altered
One of the simplest ways to diffuse a negative review is to open up communication with the client who left the review in the first place. Sometimes it could be the quality of the lash extensions, the attitude of a staff member, the environment in your salon, or pricing. If you remain focused on seeking to understand why the bad review was written and communicate with the client, you may be able to win them back enough to have them edit or even delete the bad review.
- Not all negative reviews are bad
Negative reviews can appear anywhere on sites such as Google, Yelp, or your Facebook business page. Reviews are easy to access when you look up a lash extension business, but you need not fret. According to many analyses of local business reviews, negative reviews can be useful for your business. When someone looks up lash extension services, the top results are influenced by the quantity as well as the quality of the reviews. Customers tend to interact more with pages with adverse effects and trust the reviews more.
- Clients leave higher ratings for businesses that respond to reviews, whether positive or negative
The next time you see a negative review, see it as an opportunity to have it work in your favor. It’s a chance for you to gain a new customer by responding and being communicative with your client base.
Here are some tips on what you can do:
- If possible, respond to every review, good and bad. A simple acknowledgment for good reviews and a ‘thank you’ goes a long way. As for bad reviews, thank the review publicly and let them know that you will be investigating the situation. That way, you show that you are listening and that you care about their experience.
- Take the conversation offline via a phone call or via email to get more details on what had caused the bad review in the first place. It may be a daunting call, but it’ll be worth your while to take the courage to problem solve.
- Sometimes it could be a simple miscommunication, but do the actual investigation of the situation so that you can figure out what you need to repair and improve. If it was some misunderstanding, communicate with your client to try to resolve the issue. If it was something more significant, do the right thing to repair the situation.
- In cases where a negative review is completely false, make sure that your services had the proper paperwork and consultation documented from start to finish. You can always contact the review website to launch an investigation and potentially remove a false review if you have sufficient evidence.
- Treat all online interactions on review sites and social media as you would if the reviewer was interacting with you in person. Sometimes a client needs to vent or complain about something that they did not like. Please take it as an opportunity to grow and get better.
- Take comments seriously, respond in an appropriate manner that shows your clients that you value their feedback. All businesses get bad reviews, even if they are near perfect. It’s how you respond that will help your eyelash business flourish.