How to respond to customer reviews - the positive and the negative

Mastering how to respond to customer reviews is crucial for any business. It tells potential customers how much a business values their customers and how they react in the scenario an issue arises. 

Should I respond to positive reviews?

If you want your dealership to come off as courteous and that you care about your customer expereiences, then YES! Part of building your reputation is taking the time to acknowledge customer satisfaction (and dis-satisfaction) and thanking them for taking the time out of their day to give you feedback on your business. 

Tips

• Avoid repetitiousness when responding. Don’t copy and paste the same response to each review, try write something different for each response. You want your responses to look sincere and not as though a robot wrote them.
• Make your responses personable. The more personable your response is, the bigger the impression you can make, which in turn increases the customer expereience and return rate. 

How to respond to negative reviews  

When a customer leaves a negative review, it is in your best interest to respond to the review and address the complaint. 

Tips

• Always respond to a negative review. You want future customers to see that you truly care in the scenario they aren't happy with their experience.
• Always apologise to the customer for their experience.
• Never pass blame.
• Be honest with what led the customer to have a bad experience and make it clear how you will improve things going forwards. If the experience was due to faults or partial faults on the customer’s part, and you feel it's necessary to mention this please do so with care.
• Try make things right. This could be an offer to have a chat about their experience to try and fix the issue, offer a discount or a refund. 

Fake reviews

Anyone can leave a review on Google which unfortunately, opens the door to fake reviews. These can come from competitors, bitter past employees or individuals who hold a grudge towards one of your current team members. If you find yourself in the position where someone has left a fake review, this goes against Google Review Policy and you can flag the review.

If you are on the BuyerScore rating and review platform then you don't have to worry about fake reviews being posted as it only allows ratings and reviews from verified buyers. This creates a genuine and authentic platform for both car buyers and car dealers.