How to respond to Google reviews + examples
Online reviews are becoming increasingly important to the success of a business.
With 93% of consumers saying online reviews influence their purchase decisions, reviews can help build confidence in your business and enhance your online reputation. If you don’t have any reviews, customers don’t know if they can trust you and are less likely to follow through with their purchase.
Our previous article, “how to get more positive Google reviews”, focuses on ways to encourage your customers to leave feedback about their experiences with your business. But the goodness that reviews can deliver doesn’t stop there.
Google Business Profile also allows you to respond to these reviews, engaging with your customers and showing them how much you value their business. Your responses can help improve your ranking as well as influence potential customers, so it’s important to get it right.
To help you get the most out of your reviews, we’ve put together some examples of how to reply to different Google reviews and created some templates you can download to help you craft the best response.
Why should I respond to Google reviews?
If someone’s taken the time to leave a review, responding to that review is a way of showing your customer that you care about their opinion. Even if the review’s negative, a well-worded response can help your customer feel heard and show your commitment to improving your products/services.
This active engagement can help to build trust in your business and is rewarded by Google with improved rankings on their Search Engine Results Pages (SERP). It can also be an opportunity to provide updates on your products and increase your local SEO with additional keywords in your responses.
How do I respond to Google reviews?
There’re some hilarious Google reviews, with equally quick-witted responses. But you don’t need to go to those lengths to write an effective response.
The best response is one that appropriately reflects your business and the content of the review. Using names and echoing their comments makes your response personal, but make sure not to make it too long. Lots of text is difficult to read, and people won’t engage with it.
Responding to positive Google reviews
Positive reviews usually come from happy customers. While you don’t need to reply to every review, a quick “thank you” can go a long way.
As they are already customers, there’s no need to be too “salesy”. Value can be by suggesting other products or services they may be interested in, relating to their original transaction. This also provides additional information for other potential customers, and you can add additional keywords to improve your SEO.
Here are some examples of responses to positive Google reviews:
Thanks for your purchase, Sara. We hope to see you in our Mandurah store again soon.
Hi Arthur, we appreciate your kind words and hope you enjoy your diary. We will release our 2023 inserts in May, so check your emails for exclusive early access.
Hello Paul. I’ll make sure our chef gets your amazing review. The grazing board was so well received. Looking forward to seeing you again soon.
Thank you for your feedback, Greg. I am happy to make substitutions where I can to allow for allergies. I’m glad everyone enjoyed the birthday cupcakes.
Responding to negative Google reviews
Negative reviews are a part of doing business. Ignoring one won’t make it go away. In fact, no response can actually do more damage than the original review.
Responding to Google reviews when you know the business is “in the wrong”
Despite our best efforts, there are some situations in business that can lead to negative reviews. This includes shipping delays, unhelpful staff, and a lack of good customer service, among others. Ideally, the customer would contact the business directly, but if they leave a bad review, when you are putting together your response, it’s best to:
Investigate the issue as much as you can to make an informed response.
Acknowledge their review and apologise for any mistakes or issues that you are responsible for. This doesn’t mean you can pass any blame onto a third party, but you can explain when things are out of your control.
You may find it better to deal with them directly rather than on a public forum, so offer them a way to contact you directly, such as an email address, so that it can be resolved directly.
Acknowledging the review and taking steps to understand shows that you care about their experience and are willing to take the time to sort the matter out.
Here are some examples of responses when the business is “in the wrong”.
Dear Kylie, we apologise for the long wait you’ve experienced while waiting for your delivery. Every effort is made to dispatch all our orders within 24 hours of purchase. However, we are aware of issues with our current courier and are taking steps to find a new provider. Thank you for your feedback.
Joe, thank you for taking the time to provide this feedback. I will make sure it’s provided to the right departments, and I hope your next interaction with us will be more positive.
Dear Graham, I am very sorry our customer service has not been up to your expectations. I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss this further. Could you please email me directly at [email address] with your order number and details so I can investigate your situation personally?
Some negative reviews may not include any comments and show as a low-star rating. You can’t fix something if you don’t know what’s wrong, so a good response would be to acknowledge their review and ask for more information. Readers can then see you have attempted to right the wrong, even if there is no further interaction.
It’s easy to feel defensive and even angry when dealing with these kinds of reviews, but these response examples can help keep your responses polite and constructive, so you can hopefully finalise a negative comment with a positive response.
Responding to Google reviews when you know the customer is “in the wrong”
Sometimes, the customer is not always right, and every business has had to deal with a difficult customer at some point. A customer might leave an unwarranted negative review if they feel they have been treated poorly (regardless of if that’s true), think the product/service was too expensive (despite other customers being ok with it) or are just difficult and entitled.
When you do decide to reply, it’s still good to apologise not because the business has done anything wrong, more that you’re sorry they feel that way – the classic sorry, not sorry move.
Then, describe the events that transpired in a factual way. Keep emotion out of it! The good thing about Google Reviews is that the business is able to respond to the customer, but the customer can’t respond to the business responding to the customer. This means that you can have the last word – so make it count!
It’s all too tempting to reply with a funny or smart-arse response; however, being too defensive and snarky can make your business look bad to other potential customers. If 95% of your reviews are good and 5% are bad, most people will understand that you can’t please everyone, so always sleep on your reply if you’re going down that road.
Other tips for leaving a funny reply to a Google review:
Don’t get defensive or bitter
Use humour
Keep it light-hearted and use a neutral or light tone
Want examples of funny responses to negative Google reviews? Watch the video below.
Here are some examples of responses when the customer is “in the wrong”.
Hi Karen, we’re sorry you didn’t have a positive experience at our clinic. Our consultations are 15 minutes long which means if someone is 15 minutes late, they will miss their appointment, and we have to do our best to fit them in. When we are fully booked, this can mean a longer than normal wait time. If you would like to talk to us about your experience, please call us on [phone number] and ask for the Practice Manager.
Hi Bruce, we are sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy our food. When you placed the order, you requested the steak be cooked rare, however, when you were served, you sent the steak back to be cooked further. Our chef accommodated your request, but you still weren’t happy with this. We believe we did everything we could to rectify the situation. We’re happy to continue this conversation if you would like to contact the manager on [phone number].
These are two examples of Google review responses that address the customer’s unhappiness but politely and kindly explain the situation so anyone reading could understand the situation and not view the business as being at fault.
Resolving the random reviews
There may be times when you receive a review that has nothing to do with your business at all. Even Google isn’t fool-proof, and some reviews are posted even though they’ve never interacted with your business.
There may have been a mix-up, and a review left for you was intended for a completely different business.
Some can be from competitors trying to undermine your business by reducing your star rating so Google doesn’t rank you as highly.
You may have even become a victim of internet trolls with nothing better to do than spread negativity across the web.
Whatever the reason, these reviews could be harmful to your reputation and should also be responded to. Keep these responses short and to the point.
As we are a computer servicing business, not a restaurant, your review must have been intended for someone else. I would appreciate it if you could delete your comments. Thank you for your assistance.
We don’t have any record of your interaction with our business. Could you please either provide more information so we may help resolve the situation or delete your review?
If they don’t remove the review, you can flag it and ask Google to remove them from your Business Profile. Reviews that are deemed inappropriate or violate Google’s posting policies can also be flagged for removal.
Keep the conversation flowing
Reviews can be an important business tool to help you understand what’s working well and what needs improving. They can also be a crucial part of your online reputation, influencing potential customers and impacting your SERP results.
If you want to make the most of your reviews but are not quite sure where to start, Sunday Best Digital Agency is here to help you.
Our SEO services in Melbourne can help you manage your Google reviews and responses to optimise your online presence, making it even easier for new customers to find you and your glowing reviews.
If you want our Sunday Best for your business today, get in touch and let’s see how we can make your Google Business Profile work for you.
