60 second Social: Negative Feedback and How to Deal With It

I have a customer who sells Guides to Driving Abroad mainly via Amazon.  Much to his angst this week, he received a 2 star review from a disgruntled client, who had clearly bought his guide and knew a bit about the local area.  To say he was devastated was an understatement!

But the way he handled it was professional:  He researched the issue straight away, got the correct information and came to me (who helped compile the guide) and together we rectified the problem and had the revised copy ready for download that day.

Which is all great, but now there is still a 2 star review on his product page, that won’t go away.  He toyed with the idea of contacting Amazon to have it removed, but unless its abusive or spammy, then why would they?

There will always be people who leave negative reviews:  Some have a point, others just need to get a good hobby (preferably away from computers), but how you deal with their criticism can make the difference between a future customer hitting buy now or hitting the back button.

Reply to the feedback: Thank the person for their feedback.  Acknowledge there was an issue, but now the error has been corrected and ask them to download the modified version.  Even if the person was very brusque with their language and the review was quite damning, this demonstrates to everyone else reading that you took the criticism professionally and used it to improve your product rather than turning it into a full blown slanging match.

Get some good reviews:  Reviews are tallied and your average rating is given.  So despite the 2 stars, now might be a good time to contact the people that have downloaded the book and liked it.  Ask them first what they thought of it.  If the feedback is negative then get an insight what was wrong and act on that advice.  If the feedback is positive then ask if they would be willing to leave a 5 star review on Amazon.  This in turn will bump up your average.