Why E-Commerce Stores Need Negative Online Reviews

Ecommerce stores are the bread and butter for business owners, which makes each element of the utmost importance to them. Now imagine their store getting a negative review. There would be nothing less than a panic going around. Regardless of the fact whether the negative review held any accuracy or not, no one wants their prized possessions to be signaled out like that.

However, as odd as it may sound, not all negative online reviews are bad for your e-commerce website. A few bad reviews can do your site a world of good. Some might even say that bad reviews are as crucial as customer support for your e-commerce website.

Negative Customer Reviews Are Opportunities

Negative customer reviews are opportunities for positive thinkers. Website owners don’t see the positive aspects because they feel intimidated by them. Generally, the concept of negative review holds two elements:

1. Tarnishes the reputation of the brand.
2. It discourages the reader from deciding on the purchase.

While these concerns do hold some merit as well, there are higher chances of things working out more in your favor than you realize. So, don’t filter the comments just yet. Try to understand why & how bad online reviews can be classed as opportunities.

When we say that negative remarks are good for the website or are in-fact opportunities in disguise, we are referring to the point that we have explained below:

1) Boosts Traffic

Anyone interested in a product tries to gather maximum information before purchase. As a result, they visit your website, surf different pages, and check the quality of your product or services. Moreover, you will get the bouncing rate of the audience. It is just to verify either the reviews posted about your business is real or fake.

But what you get? Good traffic and valuable visitors who might not buy anything from you but can show the value of your online store to search engines.

2) Establishes Credibility

Bad online reviews give a sense of authenticity. Most websites only display good user comments and delete the bad ones. Actually, this habit forms the structure of the false environment.

However, if your e-commerce business is posting both good and bad comments, it will show that both reviews are genuine. Therefore, your positive remarks and business will get more credit. According to the client’s view, ‘everything is okay means something wrong’, leads to prove the inauthenticity.

3) Interact with Customers

Instead of filtering and removing negative comments, use this as an opportunity to interact with customers. It shows that customer service is more important in your view. There may several problems customers face in an e-commerce store, and you are unaware of them. Try to discuss what issues they faced and try to correct them if their plea is genuine. The more you discuss with your audience, the higher the chances of it are that you actually find a genuine issue with your site or service. Just fix them to avoid any further displeased customers.

4) Higher Conversions

People who visit your website to read the negative comments about a product will be spending some time on it. Later on, when they check out the other product page, their thoughts of reading comments will be diverted to check the product. It will increase the chances of getting conversion opportunities. Users will have more time to get involved in small micro-interactions such as CTAs, etc. The longer they stay on the website, the more they will be sold on converting.

5) Happier Customers

Customers who are making a purchase after reading the bad reviews are prepared for the bad eventualities. Thus, the chances of getting disappointed become high. In fact, chances are that once they receive their ordered product, they will go on the website to refute the negative online reviews, especially if they think the reviews are too harsh.

Reacting To Negative Customer Reviews

Bad reviews are opportunities. They are a channel in which users themselves open for communication with the brand. Therefore, they are more likely to be responsive. While this can be an excellent opportunity to show off your customer service and showcase how vital all customers are to your brand, interacting with angry or disappointed customers can go either way.

Imagine talking to a dissatisfied customer who is continuously bashing your product and service. Chances are that you will get angry. However, you need to be careful about how you respond to bad reviews. You can’t express your anger, distaste, or misery. You have to bear the brunt, calm the customer down, apologize and compensate them. There shouldn’t be any elements or hints of anything that might aggravate the customer further. Ensure that your replies are in no way showing any negative emotions.

Your comments need to depict patience, understanding, genuine concern, and a desire to mend the bridges. According to a customer service representative at a leading essay writer service:

“The more professional and concerned your tone is, the more quickly people will calm down.”

Other customers or leads that see how well you can handle a situation and how genuinely you care about all your customers will be more inclined to buy from you. Thus, just keeping your temper in check can go a long way. Learn to take some criticism positively.

Let’s Look At What We Learned

Ecommerce stores will not be forsaken because of a negative review. Instead, you can leverage them to your benefit. A few bad reviews on Google can do wonders for your website. It can help develop positive client-business relationships, boost conversions, showcase authenticity, and more. Don’t filter all the negative reviews.

Only negative online reviews on your website will give a bad impression. To counter that, ask a few satisfied customers to post reviews about your product and business on the website. This will allow the light to shine through the darkness.

Avoid filtering any comments. However, you need to screen which ones are genuine client complaints, and which ones are just being posted by the competition to tarnish your brand’s image, or are posted by frauds looking for a freebie or compensation.

If you want to counter the bad, then learn how to deal with fake negative reviews that are posted by opportunists, or better yet, ask them for the necessary evidence in the kindest way possible to show the world their true intentions.

Regardless, try to leverage better help negative reviews and handle them in a positive manner instead of falling prey to your own fears of stigma. In a nutshell, you need to remember that negative customer reviews are not bad for business; in fact, they are far from it. You just need to know how to tackle them.

Stella Lincoln is the founder of the blog Educator House and is currently working as a business executive at Academist Help. She is an expert at digital marketing and has some command over SEO techniques. These enable her to manage and promote her blog effectively and contribute to the workplace.

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