It happens. A client is unhappy about something you did or didn’t do and posts a negative review. And those reviews can hurt you.
But bad reviews are a fact of life. No matter how good you are and how hard you work to keep your clients happy, you can’t please everyone all of the time.
So, what can you do?
- Don’t ignore these reviews. Contact the client immediately. Take responsibility, apologize, promise you’ll fix things, and then fix them. Once you’ve made amends and fixed what needs fixing, ask the client to update their review.
- If necessary, and the review platform allows it, consider responding to the review with an explanation. Show readers you care and have made improvements or are in the process of doing that. But be careful. A vindictive client might not let it go. At least prospective clients will see that you made the effort.
- Encourage clients to talk to you about their concerns early and often. Let them complain privately instead of waiting to tell the world. Consider scheduling regular phone calls to review “how you’re doing” and learn what you can improve.
- Ask your happy clients to leave reviews. Get enough of those and you might “bury” the bad ones.
Finally, learn from your reviews, good and bad. Find out what you’re doing well so you can do more of it, and what you need to change to keep clients better informed and happy.
Client feedback is always important. Negative feedback can be invaluable.
