People Don’t Read Positive Reviews

Written by: Jeannie Steinbuch, Digital Sorceress

Eek!  An irrational customer just left you a 1-star review.  Hey, it happens to the best of us.  But now you have to get 100s of 5-star reviews to even it out, right?  Yes and No.  Bad reviews can work to your benefit, and even turn into sales, if you handle them well.

Think about how you behave and shop online.  It’s probably similar to how your future customer will act. Imagine you are looking for a house cleaning service for your home.  You google what companies are available in your local area and find three companies near your neighborhood.

“Eastside Cleaners” has eleven 5-star reviews

“Westside Cleaning Company” has 25 reviews with an overall 3-star rating

“Northside Home Cleaning” has 50 reviews with an overall 4.6-star rating. You will click on this company.  Because, well, most people would.

Risk Vs. Reward

But Northside only has 4.6-stars, so you dig deeper.  You don’t want to spend all day reading reviews, and what you really want to know is “what is wrong with Northside?”.   You click on the 1-star reviews to read them. Why?  Because you are a human and are forming a risk vs. reward projection in your mind.  What risk are you taking using this company?  What does this company do poorly?  You want to know these things before you hire them.

It turns out Northside Home Cleaning tends to run late.  The first 1-star review is an angry customer who stated that Northside’s staff came two hours late.  You also read that Northside’s management responded to the angry customer and offered a free follow up cleaning.  Northside didn’t get upset or defensive but instead made it right.  You read a few 2-star reviews, and they end the same way.  Northside is not perfect, but you can see that they always fix their mistakes.  This is acceptable to you.  You might even find yourself thinking, “hey, if they want to show up late and give me a free cleaning the next time, that’s fine by me!”.  Northside gets the sale.

Turn Negative to Positive

This concept works across the board. If you address your negative reviews with a positive solution while staying polished and professional, those reviews can earn future customers for your business.  Remember, people don’t read positive reviews.