The comments and opinions of customers are of great importance to the company. More than 70% of consumers rely more on the opinions of their peers than on the advertising of brands or companies. A comScore study a few months ago, the percentage of consumers who claimed that opinions and comments they had read from other consumers had influenced their buying decision, which had even reached 87% in some categories of products and services, such as hotels, or 84% in travel.

But what happens if the reviews or comments are negative? Some companies do not want to see them and remove them from their profiles and pages on social networks as soon as they appear. While other companies think they should view them as constructive criticism and an opportunity for improvement. Whatever our perception, we must remain calm and not allow panic to invade us.

Let’s be smart and see what we can do.

Put things in place

Consumers have acquired “wisdom” thanks to numerous elements such as their own experience, advertising, the media, their education, etc. In general, they are quite skeptical of anything that sounds too good, or too sugary. Of course, there is nothing wrong with receiving many excellent reviews, but sometimes, negative reviews also help put things in place, to mitigate the natural skepticism of our customers. Every product has its drawbacks and weaknesses, like ourselves. The image of the product or service is more complete if we also know about those weak points, and the consumer can make his decision trusting that he knows everything and that he is doing the right thing.

An opportunity to improve

The market is becoming more competitive, seeking improvement sometimes becomes a necessity if we really want to stay in business. Negative comments can serve as a suggestion box that provides us with high value information and knowledge. Even those negative comments generated by trols or arriving almost like junk mail, you have to know how to put them in context and take advantage of them. For example, if criticism comes to us from individuals who are completely outside our target groups, this may imply that we are spending resources and time in wrong places, which should lead us to better analyze our actions and adjust accordingly.

Know how to extract opportunities from the crisis

Receiving a negative review can be a great opportunity to evangelize those clients and convert them into convinced of our brand. If we are able to respond properly and show our critics that their comments are taken into account and that we are concerned, we may even be able to reconvert them to our interests. That way we will give our critics a sense of ownership over the brand that will have very positive consequences.

Transparency

A community manager should understand that negative comments need to remain in plain view. This demonstrates a total desire for transparency of the brand or the company, which results in a greater confidence on the part of the consumer, a greater value to the positive comments, and a perception of honesty and professionalism in the communications of the company.