Hey Michael!
But, I know, there's something to learn from each and every situation to make sure it never happens again.
Don't worry. Each stage of business brings new challenges. In this case, you will learn a few crucial things that will help you take your business to 10.000 customers and more.
The good ones quietly refer others which is lovely. The 1 in 1000 bad ones invest their limited time in writing
bad reviews.
While I do agree that a customer writing a bad review can mean 50+ customers whose business you won't get, it looks really weird to me if I learn about a new e-commerce website/Ebay storefront and it has ONLY positive reviews of 5 stars. For me, a few bad ones here and there make it more credible, because I know that you will never be able to please each and everyone.
Well it's not like the bad ones are continuously posting, but the fact is I'm running an ecomm store that doesn't have a ton of reviews, and when there only a few bad ones out there, it makes a huge impression on future buyers.
So the actual problem here is not necessarily a bad review but the lack of enough positive reviews to back that up.
Don't underestimate the power of real human contact, being nice, and being a real person.
I went from basically "F*ck you" to "thank you" by rewording my copy from being super automated to at least LOOKING natural.
I can only talk from my own personal experience. I like giving some time to improve what a company I buy from has to offer, because it benefits myself too. So when looking back and reviewing when and why I filled out a questionnaire about a new product or gave a review etc, I see a pattern:
When I get an email that tells me I can win XYZ if I write a review or rate something, I couldn't care less. A friend of mine published an app two weeks ago and he launched the following competition: the one that writes the most creative review will get $ 100. He shared that one FB, sent countless emails etc. You know how many reviews he got? 3. One of them was from me, since he is a friend and I wanted to do him a favor. But I didn't care about the money.
So what does make me leave a review then?
The one thing I will always help with is when a company sends out an email that approaches me personally and asks me to help them. No bribing, no competitions, nothing to win, just a simple quest. When I like the company and had a good experience buying, I will always help them with what they need. Mostly the email goes as follows: Hey Nico, [...blablabla...] we are trying to make more people aware of our offer [...blablabla...] so in case you are happy with us and feel that others would benefit from our offer too, please take 30 seconds and do XYZ. That means a lot and would help us improve our offer [...blablabla...]. So why do I answer to this, although it's an automated message? For the reason
@DennisDuty had success with his Twitter campaign. It at least looks natural and I want the company to offer something even better, since there are so many companies with shitty offers.
It even got so far that when I surprisingly get an above average, respectful service, I ask the company to tell me where I can help them with my review. This is a little extreme but I know how important the matter is, and this is why I want to help. So I think why not write a quick email asking and take 5 minutes to give them what they need?
I am going to ask personally for a review à la "it would be nice and would really help us if you..". No coupons for now. See how that goes. Where do I put these reviews though? Would you recommend a "verified" external website, or just take all (both pos. & neg) reviews via email and pasting them into one page on the website?
Having both good and bad will probably stop people from thinking you just wrote them yourself - which I will not do.
I would focus on one verified external source that is trusted in your region. Where I live we do have something like this, and it is not FB. Then I'd place them on your website - but so that is obvious that it is coming from outside and is not written yourself. Furthermore, I'd invite some customers to become the face of your company. Start a "Give Company XYZ Your Face". While most of the people want to write reviews anonymously, some of them might be such big fans that they want to be testimonials on your website. Give them a platform the express what they feel.
Also if someone writes a bad review, and you contact them, resolve the issue and then post as a reply to that bad review how it's solved..you're more likely to get MORE customers than less.
I really liked this idea. So you have someone bitching about you. Call him, give him what he wants, collect all the data on the side and make a real campaign out of it. Give it a twist and present it in a way that even the few that are not happy will be taken seriously and given what they want, a la Avis and its slogan of "We try harder."
A customer who takes the time to complain shows you what their problem is, so you can rectify it.
I usually get MORE business out of a guest/customer that complaints than guests/customers that are just silent and walk away. But that comes down to your offer, salesmanship and customer service.
Also very good advice. If people name you a specific problem, you might be able to capitalize on it and please many more the same way, that remained quiet.
Hope that helps!
Let us know how you approach the matter