©2016 iddba, reputation management matters (iddba.org)

©2016 IDDBA, Reputation Management Matters (iddba.org) 1

http://www.iddba.org/


Source: Mintel

01. INTRODUCTION

Socrates once said, “The way to gain good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” This shiny pearl of wisdom

from ancient Greece can be applied to many facets of life, but it also specifically helps us understand how and why, in today’s Digital

Age, the art of online reputation management is becoming increasingly important.

Established in 2004, Yelp has become such a powerful force it has completely altered the landscape of small business. Ninety percent

of Yelp users say positive reviews affect their buying choices, and a 2011 Harvard Business School study by Michael Luca found

businesses that manage to boost their online reputation by one star increase revenues by 5%–9%. There are currently over 100 million

reviews on Yelp, and, believe it or not, people post more positive reviews than negative ones.

Unfortunately for business owners, it’s natural to focus more attention on complaints, and it’s difficult not to take those unfavorable

comments personally. It’s an even greater challenge to respond to unsavory reviews in a compassionate and non-defensive tone. One

of the primary goals of this white paper is to teach you how to address your online reviews in a constructive way that will be most

beneficial to your business.

The best course of action is replying to all reviews, whether they’re glowing, scathing, or somewhere in between. Not responding to

customer complaints creates a perception of guilt and consequently decreases customer advocacy while thanking people for their

sincere praise only reinforces the all-around positivity. Because the power of online reviews is growing exponentially, it’s more vital

than ever for small business owners to respond to every review they receive in an appropriate, polite, empathetic, and diplomatic

manner.



Shama Kabani, author of The Zen of Social Media Marketing and CEO of The Marketing Zen Group, says, “Even if you do get

negative feedback, you can turn it into a positive by engaging in a constructive way and showing that you’re a genuine business.”

Making it clear there’s a real person reading every comment and taking shoppers’ words to heart shows you care about your business

and that customer satisfaction is a top priority. Kabani continues, “People are not looking for perfection online. What they’re really

looking for is humanity and a genuine response, so a negative review can be a great opportunity to respond in a positive and

transparent manner. And that has a good impact on all your customers.”

In IDDBA in particular, there are some chain retailers with anywhere from ten locations to several hundred. It’s important to keep in

mind you should probably treat each location as a separate entity. Supermarket retail members cannot expect to manage online

reputation from the corporate office; therefore, it’s recommended that you incorporate a system of soliciting notes, gathering feedback,

composing reviews, and having regional or district managers approve responses prior to online posting. That way, corporate is

involved but each store is still individually responsible for their own review responses.

Read on to learn exactly how to manage your online reputation efficaciously.

02. CLAIMING AND AUDITING ONLINE LISTINGS

The first task you must complete when beginning your journey toward reputation management success is seemingly the most obvious.

You can’t respond to reviews until you gain access to your online presence, which means you must claim and clean up all of your

online listings. Claiming can be a rather lengthy and intimidating undertaking if you feel obliged to obtain ownership of every single

listing. A good place to start are these three relevant review sites: Yelp, Google, and Facebook.

Instead of walking you through the step-by-step claiming process for each website, please use the following resources for each:

1. Yelp - https://biz.yelp.com/support/claiming

2. Google - https://support.google.com/business/answer/2911778?hl=en

3. Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/help/168172433243582


https://biz.yelp.com/support/claiming

https://support.google.com/business/answer/2911778?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/help/168172433243582


As soon as you’ve claimed your listings, begin to clean them up as much as possible. You want to present your brand in the best light,

and, in the online world, a picture is worth more than a thousand words, so good photos are critical. Look through all the photographs

already posted and, whenever it’s an option, try flagging the less flattering shots for removal. Flagged photos may not actually end up

being removed by the site’s webmaster, but it never hurts to ask!

Yelp is the site on which you’ll experience the highest success rate when flagging/reporting photographs, and there are four initial

options when selecting your reason for reporting the photo. Either you uploaded the photo and wish to delete it, it’s not a picture of

your business, it doesn’t depict a typical experience at the business, or it includes explicit content. You will then be given the

opportunity to provide specific details pleading your case.

Take advantage of this moment as neither Facebook nor Google grant you this luxury, and be as long winded or concise as you feel

necessary. You won’t receive any notification from Yelp regarding whether or not they agreed to remove the photo you’ve flagged, so

check back a few days later to see if your plea worked. Every bad photo you get taken down is a victory within itself.

Next, upload your own more professional, high quality photos ensuring they’re not overly touched up or misleading. Look at this

process as selecting photos that tell your story. You want to provide prospective customers with an accurate idea of what their

experience will be like when they visit your establishment, but you also don’t want to give them false expectations. Most negative

reviews stem from customers having inaccurate expectations when visiting a business. The more honest and transparent you can be,

the better your chances of being reviewed favorably. Feel free to show off a little bit (as long as you’re being honest) but don’t

exaggerate either.

Once your photographs are in order, double check to ensure all business information listed is 100% error-free. Verify your business

address is consistent across all platforms, and complete a full contact information audit. It’d be a shame to lose a new customer due to

something as simple as your address, business hours, phone number, or website showing up incorrectly online. Carefully scrutinize the

items on your menu, your pricing, and any weekly specials you might offer to avoid potential confusion or misrepresentation.

You should also share your mission statement and details about who you are and when/why you opened your store. Make the most of

all “About” sections by sharing a compelling paragraph describing your business. Try to fill in every field available as each piece of

additional information increases your odds of being discovered by future shoppers. Continue telling your story, and draw people in.

Now it’s time for the (not so) fun part. You need to go back through all those old reviews and start answering them. No matter how

outlandish or completely fabricated a review might be, if it goes unanswered, it gives future customers the impression you’re guilty of

whatever is being claimed. If a future customer sees you’ve acknowledged every negative review, it shows you concern yourself with

what your shoppers have to say, and you’re open to constructive criticism.

See the following two sections for helpful tips regarding how to best respond to both negative and positive reviews.



03. COMPOSING RESPONSES TO POSITIVE REVIEWS

Crafting responses to positive reviews may not seem necessary but, whether you like it or not, you need to develop a strategy for

responding to both positive and negative reviews alike. Luckily, the positive reviews are far more enjoyable to answer, and they help

balance out the sadness, disappointment, and/or self-pity you might feel after getting hit with a few particularly hurtful remarks. First

and foremost, remember you’re writing your response for your future customers. These are the people who use your review responses

to help them determine if they want to patronize your establishment, so write with intention. Use this opportunity to spin things to an

even greater positive by sharing information about changes or upgrades you’re making and/or specials you’re currently proud to be

offering.

Secondly, always maintain a positive attitude in your responses. It’s clearly easier to answer a positive review with matching zeal, but

consistently cultivating that positive attitude is key when responding to negative reviews as well.

Third, regardless of the content of the review, always be polite and courteous by expressly thanking the reviewer for taking the time to

provide you with his/her feedback. Let the person know your business benefits from his/her opinion as it allows you to pinpoint both

your strengths and weaknesses. Even the most stellar reviews occasionally include a quick note regarding the one thing the reviewer

would change or a small way in which he/she hopes the establishment might improve going forward. Such information is invaluable in

helping you step up your game.

Fourth, personalize your statement by identifying yourself to your audience. State your first name and your position within the

company to indirectly announce that a real person is reading these reviews and responding to all of them. This shows future customers

you care about customer service, and it humanizes your brand. People will find it more difficult to attack you online if they see you’re

actually reading, analyzing, and feeling every word.

Identification ties into the next strategic point: strive to be sincere and speak in a casual, approachable way. No one wants to receive a

canned response from a corporate robot; when that does happen, it’s disregarded immediately. Be straightforward, courteous, and

accommodating while remaining professional. Again, this is much easier to do when thanking someone for complimentary remarks,

but it’s a fundamental rule of thumb applicable to everything reputation management-related.



Lastly, when you can, try to sneak in a subtle

personal touch. If you’re able to determine the

identity of the reviewer and remember even the

slightest specific detail about him/her, try to

work it into your response. For example, if you

remember the person’s favorite item on your

menu, mention that you’ll have a fresh batch

with his/her name on it the next time he/she

comes into your store. Or, if you recall the

person has a big event or vacation coming up,

make a point to send well wishes. Future

customers will see you take the time to

cultivate meaningful relationships with your

clientele, and you’ll win new fans.

Check out this real-life example of the ideal

way to respond to a 5-star review.

Ruben did everything right. He thanked Maggi for her feedback and stated how thrilled he was to hear she was pleased with La

Fromagerie. Ruben personalized his response while adding a tinge of identification by sharing his preference for the L’Italian

sandwich as well. He used the tiny bit of constructive criticism Maggi dropped in at the end of her review by saying he’ll make note of

it. Ruben also told Maggi not to hesitate to ask for more basil next time, and he asked if she’s had a chance to check out their cheese

selection to inspire her to come back sooner than later. Finally, he identified himself as the owner then added a last minute plug for La

Fromagerie’s Facebook page to encourage Maggi to engage with him further via social media. Ruben gets an A+ on this one!



04. COMPOSING RESPONSES TO NEGATIVE REVIEWS

Now we’ve reached the moment you’ve all been eagerly anticipating. You’re here to learn the art of responding to negative reviews,

and it’s most likely because someone (if not multiple people) decided to post some harsh, unflattering things about your business all

over the Internet. The good news is, with a solid reputation management strategy in place, you can triumph over your critics and

generate more positive reviews in the process.

The golden rule when it comes to posting public replies to distressing reviews is to absolutely never under any circumstances speak in

a defensive tone. This can’t be stressed enough. You must resist the urge to argue. It turns people off, regardless of how right you

might be. You simply cannot win if you try to fight back defending yourself in an aggressive, combative manner. If a super malicious,

insulting comment really ruffles your feathers, step away from the computer, cool off, and wait until you’re able to address the review

from a more practical perspective (not an emotional one). Consult with your team members to help you objectively craft the most

cool, calm, and collected response possible.

After you’ve calmed down, go through the review again and try to find any comment that’s even slightly positive. You want to

highlight the good before addressing the bad. Now, please refer back to the last section and follow the same guidelines when

responding to less than stellar reviews: Be positive; say thank you; be polite and courteous; be sincere, casual, and approachable; and

identify yourself. Remember that even this incredibly aggravated person’s feedback is an opportunity for you to improve the customer

experience for the next customer.

One of the biggest differences in our approach toward answering positive and negative reviews is timing. Timeliness is key, and the

quicker you can respond to a negative review, the better. The longer a derogatory statement remains unaddressed publicly, the greater

your chances of turning future customers away. It’s wise to have a system in place where either you or someone on your team is on the

lookout for new reviews on a daily basis. If a review is a laundry list of issues and you’ll need some time to draft a comprehensive

response, initially send a quick reply stating that the reviewer has been heard and you’ll get back to them again in a few days. A

placeholder response will show future customers this most recent negative review is being addressed in a timely fashion.

When drafting a reply to a bad review, the structure of your response is a little different. Begin by identifying yourself and thanking

the reviewer for his/her comments then work in any positives that may have been mentioned by the critic. Starting your response on a

positive note shows future customers you’re unwilling to let a negative review get to you (even if it actually has). Again, you must

remember you are writing your response for future customers; therefore, you want to ensure, in the midst of abundant negativity,

people are still able to see some positives. This method will, in turn, deemphasize the negatives.

Next, it’s always wise to apologize for whatever the reviewer is upset about, but only do so if it’s a legitimate complaint. If the

reviewer is making false claims, do not apologize as that will be construed as an admission of guilt to future customers. If anything,

you can say you’re sorry to hear the person was dissatisfied or frustrated as these terms don’t accept blame. If there truly was a

blunder though, acknowledge your mistake, express regret, and guarantee you won’t make the same mistake twice.



Address all of the negative points, explain in detail the steps you will take to correct any issues, and invite these reviewers back to

your business so they can see the improvements you’ve made. Customers are willing to forgive you if you make it clear you’ve heard

them and you’re working to improve. Provide your email address or a direct phone number to demonstrate you’re more than willing to

personally discuss problems.

Here’s the tricky part: If a review

contains a false accusation, it is OK

to defend yourself in the most

professional, non-defensive way

possible. You just need to be careful

not to cross the fine line between

defending yourself and being

defensive. State the facts, apologize

for any misunderstanding and/or

miscommunication, and urge the

reviewer to contact you directly to

discuss any discrepancies or

confusion. However, be sure to

handle with extreme caution to

ensure you don’t violate the golden

rule: never under any circumstances

speak in a defensive tone.

Now, let’s review two real-life

examples beginning with the wrong

way to reply to a negative review.

Unfortunately, David couldn’t help himself, and he opted for the defensive route. Although he did respond the same day the review

was posted, he was clearly offended by Michael’s comments and felt the need to fight back. On the bright side, David said he’d like to

speak with Michael in more detail so he can work to determine how to improve; however, given his initial reaction, it’s likely Michael

won’t be contacting David to discuss this matter further.

If David had consulted this white paper before posting his response, he might have said something more along the lines of the

following:

Hi Michael - Thank you for taking the time to provide us with your feedback. Customer reviews help us pinpoint areas in

which we can improve, so we appreciate your honesty. I’m David, the owner of Kawika’s Ocean Beach Deli, and I assure

you I’ll do everything in my power to guarantee your next Kawika’s experience is far more enjoyable and memorable than

your last. If you’d be so kind as to give me a call at (415) 555-5555, I’d appreciate the opportunity to discuss the service you

received the last time you stopped by our shop. I’ll then work with my team to correct any issues ASAP. We’re grateful you

have faith we can rise and only get better. We won’t let you down! I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Sincerely, David N.



If Michael received that response, he might actually reach out to David and/or visit Kawika’s again because he would’ve seen that his

critique was not only heard but also taken to heart. Maybe we’ll do David a favor and send him this suggested, refined response via a

private Yelp message!

Here is a more desirable response to an unfavorable review:

Hopefully you can see the difference. Courtney has some serious reputation management skills. She begins by thanking Evelyn for

stopping by, and then immediately apologizes for being sold out of cookies when Evelyn visited her establishment. Courtney explains

how this snafu may have occurred but informs Evelyn that her team has already revised their practices and invested in a second oven

“to better fulfill customer demand.” She closes by politely and positively inviting the reviewer back to give Milk Jar Cookies another

chance. You can also see that Courtney responded to this review only one day after it was posted which demonstrates extreme

timeliness.

The best way to think about responding to negative reviews is to consider it an opportunity for you to try to win back unhappy past

customers and show future customers that you care about customer service. Online reputation is actually the latest hot form of

marketing since a well-composed response can actually bring people to your business. The way you represent yourself in a review

response is a reflection of your values, hospitality, and authenticity; therefore, making an effort to represent yourself and your business

well can only help.



05. INCREASING POSITIVE REVIEWS

Positive reviews stem from happy customers who’ve had a better than expected experience while patronizing your business. This

usually means your staff went above and beyond; therefore, it starts with your team. Customers are inspired to write positive reviews

after they’ve been provided with high quality products and exemplary customer service. Encouraging your employees to be friendly,

polite, and eager to please goes a long way.

Help your staff learn to identify situations that can result in a negative review. Sift through old reviews to identify the top five to ten

complaints about your business. Use that information to train your employees on how to manage each potential negative customer

experience by working to turn it into a positive experience.

Another recommendation is to use a spreadsheet (or any system you prefer) to do sentiment tracking every time you read and assess a

new review. Make a list of the top five negatives and top five positives included in the reviews your business receives, and keep a

running tally of every instance those sentiments are mentioned. This is an excellent method for determining where your business is

thriving and where it might need improvement.

It’s imperative to stress that you cannot ask customers to post positive reviews. You can request feedback, but you must leave it at

that; otherwise, you could be found in violation of review sites’ policies. Once again, it’s a fine line so just be careful. If Yelp ever

suspects you’re guilty of fraudulent behavior, such as soliciting positive reviews, they will flag your account. Once flagged, online

visitors will receive a consumer alert every time they view your page. Yelp could also opt to push your business to the bottom of

search results—both consequences can be detrimental to your business.

Be aware that one of Yelp’s terms of service prohibits what is referred to as review blackmail. This means you should never, under

any circumstances, offer a customer an incentive for leaving a positive review. On the flip side, do not let customers bully you into

doing something for them by threatening to leave a bad review if you don’t. All reviews should be completely voluntary, not coerced.

Make your customers aware of your online presence. One way you can do this is by creating a weekly or monthly email newsletter

that includes information about upcoming deals, changes to your menu, holidays and/or special events. Every email should contain

links to all of your relevant review sites. You should also publish links to your social media accounts and appropriate review sites on

your website. Don’t be afraid to show off a bit by featuring positive reviews on your social pages. After all, positive reviews breed

more positive reviews! Another helpful strategy is posting signage around your store that says “Find Us on Yelp!” and “Like Us on

Facebook!” The possibilities are endless!

One final method to help boost happy reviews is what we like to call surprise and delight. Surpassing your customers’ expectations

helps you achieve a better online reputation. Think of ways in which you can exceed your customers’ expectations whether it be

throwing in a complimentary, fresh-baked loaf of bread, giving them some swag (e.g., t-shirt, hat, calendar), or doing free, monthly

tasting events. It may be cliché but it never hurts to give customers something for free on their birthdays! Who doesn’t love a free

sandwich or a gift of a dozen cookies? Anything you can do to set yourself apart from other businesses in a positive way will motivate

people to sing your praises online and improve your online reputation.



06. EFFECTIVELY FLAGGING REVIEWS FOR REMOVAL

It's no secret people can be ruthless on Internet review sites as they hide behind their keyboards mercilessly tearing businesses to

shreds. Even if the frustration is justified, the way some of them go about expressing it can be downright nasty. We’ll now focus on

how to successfully convince the controllers of the Yelp universe to remove the utmost offensive and/or inappropriate reviews from

their site altogether. Anytime you manage to triumphantly persuade Yelp to abolish a negative review, your online reputation

improves just a little bit more.

Yelp is the site you will have the best chance of convincing to remove a negative review because they give you the freedom to plead

your case. Google and Facebook provide fewer options from which you can select your reason for flagging and they don’t give you

the ability to type out an explanation of specifically why you’re flagging a review. You can try reporting reviews to Google and

Facebook, but the odds are generally not in your favor as both sites rarely remove reviews.

Flagging a review on Yelp is actually a rather simple process, and their content guidelines are quite clear-cut. You must first select one

of eight general reasons why you’re reporting the review before you can explain in more detail exactly why you think the content

you’re reporting is violating Yelp’s content guidelines.

Here’s a helpful breakdown to help you better understand these eight categories and which tend to have the highest success rate:

It contains false information.

The first reason you might be flagging a review also happens to be the most difficult one to prove. When it comes down to it, it’s your

word versus the reviewer’s word, and Yelp has no way of verifying the validity of either party’s statement; therefore, avoid selecting

this option even if you are 100% certain every word of a particular review is 100% false. It just won’t hold up in court.

It was posted by someone affiliated with the business.

It was posted by a competitor or ex-employee.

The second and third reasons go hand-in-hand. You’re either flagging a review because the person who wrote it is affiliated with the

business (whether it be an employee, family member, or significant other) or because the reviewer is a competitor and/or disgruntled

ex-employee. In one case, the intent of the review may be to illegitimately boost a business’ overall rating while the goal of the other

is to most likely sabotage it. If you know (or even suspect) a review was written by someone who used to work for your company and

you are able to provide a full name, dates of employment, and any other pertinent information, you have a decent shot of getting that

review removed.



It contains threats, lewdness, or hate speech.

This one is the easiest to prove and, if your skin is thick enough, it can be the source of the most humor you’ll find in the sea of

negativity that is Yelp. Whenever you come across a review that’s crude, offensive, inappropriate, demeaning, racist, and/or

threatening in any capacity, always flag it. Even if you think it’s a bit of a stretch, still flag it. You may not win every time but, you

have at least a 50/50 chance of swaying Yelp in your favor and, in the world of flagging, those are incredible odds!

It doesn’t describe a personal consumer experience.

If you receive a review in which it’s clear the author never actually had any direct interaction with your business, flag away. The

reviewer is not describing a personal consumer experience thus rendering the statement useless in Yelp’s eyes. There’s no guarantee it

will work every time without fail, but if the reviewer flat out says he/she has not physically visited your establishment or spoken with

anyone on your team but has heard a lot of bad things, that person’s opinion is no longer relevant and Yelp will eliminate it.

It violates Yelp’s privacy standards.

This one can be a little tricky. People often mistakenly believe they’ll be able to successfully flag a review if employees are mentioned

specifically by name. What they don’t realize is reviewers can use employees’ first names to their heart’s content. The moment full

names come into play, it’s time to start flagging. Yelp will almost always remove a review that includes an employee's full name.

Other items that violate Yelp’s privacy standards are close-up photos or videos of employees, home addresses, social security

numbers, credit card numbers, and any other personal information the average person wouldn’t want plastered all over the Internet.

It contains promotional material.

If someone is spamming your business’ page with advertisements for an unaffiliated company, Yelp will take those posts down in a

heartbeat. Yelp doesn't want people who aren’t paying for advertisements to receive any free exposure, which works in your favor if

the attempted promotion is within the body of an unpleasant review. It’s a win-win!

It’s for the wrong business.

The eighth and final reason you might be flagging a review is easily the most consistently effective option. If a review is obviously

written about a different business, yet it’s been mistakenly posted to your page, it will almost always be deleted by Yelp. The most

common occurrence is when an angry reviewer decides to copy and paste the exact same review on multiple Yelp pages in the hopes

of getting attention. Although that method may sometimes be useful in drawing focus to the reported issues, Yelp does not like

duplicate reviews cluttering up their website, so be sure to flag reviews of this nature every single time.

Remember: Don’t be afraid to flag, but don’t flag every review either. Just be careful and consistent in your reasoning and don’t let

Yelp's occasional disagreement discourage you from continuing to fight the good fight. Who knows? You just may end up getting one

of these emails in your inbox:



For additional reference, please see the following screenshots illustrating how to flag/report reviews on Yelp, Facebook, and Google:

YELP

FACEBOOK



GOOGLE



07. CONCLUSION

Hopefully you now feel ready to initiate your reputation management strategy. Once you get the ball rolling, you’ll find it’s not as bad

as it seems! Just remember the key points are to be empathetic, apologize, offer solutions, and always keep the future customer in

mind. The future customer is the reader of those reviews, and your response strategy needs to include communication demonstrating

how much you care about past customers and their feedback.

Customers may not always be right, but they usually think they are. Reacting defensively and choosing to disregard their constructive

criticism will only hurt your online reputation. Be more open to listening than speaking. It may not be your natural response

(especially when faced with particularly harsh, unfair, and/or inaccurate criticism) but, in the long run, it will only do you good!

Don’t view reputation management as a negative. It may not always be fun, but doing it well can work wonders as a major component

of your marketing strategy. Increasing your star rating on any review site even by one star will directly affect your bottom line, and it

will have a notably positive impact on your marketing campaign.



SOURCES

Kabani, Shama. The Zen of Social Media Marketing: An Easier Way to Build Credibility, Generate Buzz, and Increase

Revenue. 3rd ed. Dallas: BenBella Books, 2013.

Luca, Michael. “Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com.” Harvard Business School Working Paper, No.

12-016, September 2011.

Mintel. “Seven in 10 Americans Seek out Opinions before Making Purchases.” June 3, 2015. http://www.mintel.com/press-

centre/social-and-lifestyle/seven-in-10-americans-seek-out-opinions-before-making-purchases.

Credits:

Writer: Lauren Boitano, GoToMyApartment

Contributors: Joshua Swanson, CEO of GoToMyApartment and Chairman of Razz Interactive

Jill Costello, IDDBA

Alan Hiebert, IDDBA

Graphic Design and Layout: Pete Schwartz, GoToMyApartment


http://www.mintel.com/press-centre/social-and-lifestyle/seven-in-10-americans-seek-out-opinions-before-making-purchases



©2016 iddba, reputation management matters (iddba.org)

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