I recently received a very negative review on The Room Xchange Facebook business page. My initial response was one of anger, disappointment and fear that it might negatively affect our business.
Facebook is a big part of our marketing campaign so we need to stay on top of these things.
I immediately clicked ‘hide from timeline’ thinking it would delete it. I then quickly realised that wouldn’t make any difference as it was only hiding it from my timeline and not from anyone else’s.
I stopped for a moment and had a good think about what this person had written. It was obvious he knew nothing about our company, our value proposition or how much we care about our community.
This is what he wrote:
After my anger subsided and I considered it logically, I responded with the following comment. Note the very last line, “Is there anything we can do to help you right now?”
He came back with another comment which said: “Ludwina Dautovic, what you are doing is tricking people into working for room and board. People need to be paid for work.” I heard the frustration in his voice and noted that he really hadn’t taken the time to review our policies or read any of our content or FAQ’s on our website. I did some self reflecting and decided to stay calm, respect his views but clarify his error. Again, I ended off with “Is there something we can help you with?”
At this point if this is where the conversation ended on our Facebook page I would have been okay with that as people can make up their own minds based on my responses. However, something really interesting happened; he ended up deleting the review altogether.
I can only assume why. My guess is that there was no where he could go with my responses so he felt the best thing to do would be to delete it. Reviews stay on your own Facebook as well so if there is one that seems unreasonable, it’s likely to come back and bite you on the backside.
I can’t guarantee that if you take this approach that your negative review will be deleted by the reviewer. However, what it does show, is that if you respond with reason and not react with anger, you calm the flame instead of fanning it. Either way, you win. Your positive, calm response will give you an opportunity to show your company values and that you care enough to address it. Or, they might end up realising they were wrong and delete it.
It was a great outcome and a good learning experience as well. Reviews are a part of our online world now. Good, bad or indifferent – they’re here to stay. What’s important, is how you manage them.