getting rid of negative reviews on google - picture of jason parks

Notation: This article was updated on July 20th, 2020.

A scathing review about your business organization can be detrimental. If there is a negative review front and eye on your Google My Business page, this could turn a prospective client or client away from your business. 84% of people trust online reviews equally much as reviews from their friends .

Businesses call into our bureau frequently request if there's a way to get rid of negative reviews on Google. Below are common reasons they feel the review should exist taken down:

  • Inclination the review was from a competitor
  • The review came from a name that wasn't in their client database
  • The review was non an accurate depiction of what took place

Yous know the saying that the client is ever correct? This isn't always the case. When it comes to getting rid of negative reviews on Google, this is the mindset you must accept.

You can call into Google and fill up out a form to try and get your review removed. Nosotros outlined below in further detail on how to do this. We've seen a much better success charge per unit by following our proactive strategy.

REACHING OUT TO THE CUSTOMER

If you are lucky enough to know who really left the review, nosotros recommend reaching out to this customer directly. Don't blatantly ask them to remove the review as this will come off every bit inauthentic. Go into the conversation acknowledging their pain point while seeing if in that location'south a way to rectify the state of affairs. If the customer sees you are trying to meliorate, they naturally might remove the review.

For case, a customer of ours got a 1-star review because the prospective customer felt the salesperson gave them ii different prices over the phone. Information technology ended upwardly this was the salesperson'due south first call and clearly had more grooming to exercise. Subsequently the 1-star review was left online, the business organization possessor reached out to the prospective customer and apologized profusely for putting a sales rep on the telephone that clearly needed more training. That i-star review turned into a 5-star review. The business owner didn't even take to enquire for the review to be removed, information technology happened naturally. The customer respected the business owner's apology and pro-activeness. It was evident this business cared about its customers and wasn't shy to acknowledge a error was made.

Not all business owners are lucky enough where the review will naturally become taken downward subsequently a phone or electronic mail conversation where there seems to be a resolve to the state of affairs. You can kindly follow-up several days later asking them to remove the review by following a similar script to what'southward below if the one-star review is in place fifty-fifty subsequently you spoke with the customer:

"I'm so deplorable that yous had a bad first experience. I'm glad I was able to talk to you a couple of days ago to amend empathise your pain points. I know there's zilch I tin do to alter your first impression but I promise the 20% credit helped.  I tin clinch y'all the wait time you originally experience won't happen again. If you feel like nosotros still deserve a ane-star review, I completely understand. I'm hoping your overall feel changed after speaking with me. If you feel we are worthy of more than a 1-star review, we'd greatly capeesh it if you update your Google review. If not, we sympathize. Thanks and we hope we become the opportunity of serving you in the future."

NOTE: If you need help with your online reputation enhancement, our team tin help!

WHAT IF You lot CAN'T CONTACT THE CUSTOMER?

If y'all are unable to contact the customer, we recommend responding straight to the Google review within your Google My Business folio. Unfortunately, many reviews are left by fictitious names or competitors.

Don't panic if you get a negative review past someone you don't know. People actually don't trust 5-star reviews [ larn more ]. If y'all have enough reviews, customers even trust companies with either a 4.viii or 4.9 rating over that perfect five-star rating.

If you can't contact the customer directly, replying to the review volition send this "customer" a notification on the Google account where they left the review from, which could entice them to remove the review if you respond in a cordial way. The response to the review will also be public-facing, which will evidence your business cares.
Permit's say your hair salon got a 1-star review from a proper noun that's not in your customer database. They complained about a rude staff member and you're suspicious it's coming from a competitor. How should y'all answer? Below is an instance:

"Hi Kimberly, nosotros are then pitiful you had a bad experience. Our client service is of the utmost importance. I tried looking y'all upwards in our customer database and then I could reach out to you straight and I'm not seeing your name as a client. That beingness said, after reading your review, I spoke with our entire staff reiterating our cadre principles. We feel we deliver on A+ client service 99% of the time only clearly, the brawl was dropped when you were at our salon. If there'south anything else yous'd like to discuss, feel free to call into our salon at any time."

HOW TO CONTACT GOOGLE TO GET THE REVIEW REMOVED

If y'all feel a review is spam left by a competitor or someone who isn't a customer, you lot tin always call into Google and inquire them to review an unsatisfactory rating. Google Support will guide you through next steps of removing an illegitimate review. There are two ways to contact them:

  • The Google My Business support number is (866) 246-6453
  • Fill out their online grade

That existence said, we've merely had a couple of reviews get removed past Google. One instance was when a painting visitor got a bad review for ane of their drivers running through a red lite. This obviously had zippo to do with their business practices and Google was able to see this. Generally, you'll want to work with the customer to solve their issue and potentially turn their frown upside down. Very few reviews are removed past Google, but if y'all have a good case to present, it'due south worth taking a stab at erasing the review from your Google My Business listing.

BEING PROACTIVE

Dealing with an aggravated customer directly tin can help institute credibility on Google among other users and let them know yous worked to remedy the situation. By reaching out to them, y'all can achieve the following:

  • First and foremost, according to Chatmeter, 33% of customers who left a negative review ended upwardly leaving a positive one later the company responded to their feedback. An additional 34% concluded up deleting the bad review.
  • Google and potential customers can come across that yous've reached out to get more details near what acquired the user to exit a bad review.
  • After taking this step, it's clear that you lot're using proactive measures to resolve the problem and become feedback on how to improve customer satisfaction.
  • A lot of people look at responses from business owners on bad reviews. Customers realize that some people are stubborn and these responses portray your proactive efforts to the Internet.

Information technology'southward of import to have a proactive arroyo to generating and responding to reviews, because, let's face it, customers are more than likely to leave a negative review versus a positive one. A poll of one,000 Usa respondents by Street Fight institute that 19.1 percent of respondents are more likely to write a review after a poor experience, and 16.viii percentage after a pleasant ane. Another 42.v per centum said they're equally likely to write a review regardless of the experience, and 21.vi percent said they're not likely to write a review at all.

Let's dive into what you tin do, as a business organisation owner, to have a review strategy in place to generate more positive reviews. It'due south of import to accost negative ratings, but consistently generating positive reviews will reduce the furnishings of a poor rating on your overall business sentiment.

HOW TO GENERATE AND Increment POSITIVE REVIEWS

There are several questions to ask yourself when formulating a strategy to generate more positive reviews for Google.

  • Which customers will exit a positive review?
  • How exercise I know they won't leave a negative review?
  • Can I automate emails so my staff doesn't have to ship manual emails to every customer?

Having a solid review strategy in place tin can be the difference between having very few Google reviews. Nosotros apply several types of reputation enhancement software, including BirdEye and GatherUp to generate more reviews. These types of software automate emails with customized templates for past customers.

Once everything is gear up upwards, all you need to do is upload new customer data and emails with requests to exit reviews on Google will send automatically. To avert overwhelming your Google My Business concern profile, there'southward a setting to limit how many emails you can transport each solar day.

A question we get from a lot of clients is how to determine which clients can go out a positive review, if you send an email to all customers? They are nervous their detractors will leave a negative review and this volition outweigh the positive ones. That's the dazzler of a software like GatherUp, they take this into consideration by following the process beneath:

  • An e-mail is sent off to your customers asking them to grade your business organisation on a calibration of 1-x
  • A landing page is served. If your customer gives an viii or above, information technology will take them to your near popular review channels (case: Google and Facebook). If the review is below an eight, the customer will be prompted to get out feedback directly through our platform, so it won't be published publicly.
  • After submitting feedback, customers are served a page that includes links to selected 3rd-party review sites. Equally a outcome of the rating received, a positive or negative page version is served.

HOW Practice I KNOW THEY WON'T LEAVE A NEGATIVE REVIEW?

You lot don't. Using either of the above software volition assist prevent angry customers from unleashing their wrath on your public profile. Sending out emails like this one volition help your business settle customer issues while directly working with the customer offline .

Many don't realize their internal feedback, if their rating is below an 8, isn't viewed publicly or accessed past anyone merely you. It allows them to communicate with yous direct and turn their frown into a smile, without the public seeing their disdain on your GMB listing.

At that place's also no way to prevent users from going directly to your profile and leaving a review, so this is something to go along in mind when coming upwards with a strategy to increase reviews. While preventing negative reviews from being shown on your profile is a tall club, at that place are several things you tin do to abound the number of positive ratings, so the bad ones won't tarnish your online reputation.

IMPORTANCE OF ONLINE REVIEWS

According to Constant Contact, xc% of consumer'due south online reviews do have an influence. This statistic proves the point that your online reputation does make a divergence! Nevertheless so many concern owners and marketers ignore this crucial component of digital marketing. Additionally, reviews play a big part in local SEO.

Benjamin Franklin had i of the most famous quotes near reputation, "It takes many skilful deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad ane to lose it."

Don't let one negative review ruin your online reputation. Be proactive with your outreach strategy so you stand out within your industry with all of the positive feedback about your visitor.