How to Respond to Negative Google Reviews (All Three Kinds)
By Clay Lawrence, Review Harvest · · 6 min video
The short version
Write your reply for the next customer reading it, not for the person who left the review. Wait until you have cooled down, apologize, and invite them to contact you so you can make it right. If you have no record of them, say so politely in the same reply. The only sure way to get a review removed is for the person who wrote it to take it down, so call them and fix the problem.
Do this, in order
- 1
Wait before you reply
Take a moment to cool down, up to 24 hours. The urge to explain why the customer is wrong will not make you any money.
- 2
Work out which kind of review it is
A real unhappy customer, someone you have no record of serving, or a competitor or former employee. The reply is nearly the same for all three, with one added line for the last two.
- 3
Apologize and offer to make it right
Say you are sorry they had this experience and ask them to get in touch so you can fix it. If you did mess up, own it.
- 4
If you have no record of them, say so politely
Add a line that you checked your files and cannot find where you served them. Stay apologetic: some real customers review under a different name, and readers cannot tell either way.
- 5
Call or email them
If you have their phone number or email, reach out directly and resolve the problem. This applies even when you think it is a competitor or a former employee.
- 6
Once it is resolved, send them your review link
They can change the review to five stars or delete it. Nobody else can remove it for certain.
- 7
Bury what is left with real reviews
Set up a system that asks every customer for a review. With hundreds of reviews, a single one-star review is barely noticeable.
Who are you really replying to?
You are replying to the next person deciding whether to hire you. A lot of shoppers sort a business’s reviews from lowest to highest and read the worst ones first. If every one of your lowest reviews has a calm, apologetic reply offering to make things right, that reader thinks: if something goes wrong, this owner will take care of me.
That is why the reply is nearly the same no matter who left the review. The person who wrote it may be having a bad day. The person reading it later is about to spend money.
What to do when a real customer is unhappy
Maybe you messed up, or someone on your team did. The instinct is to fire back with why they are wrong and why you did everything right. Skip it. You can be right or you can be rich.
- Wait. Take a moment, or a full 24 hours, before you write anything.
- Apologize: “I’m so sorry you’ve had this experience.”
- Ask them to get in touch so you can make it right.
- Own it. Be more upset about the problem than they are.
Then pick up the phone. If you have their number or email, call and fix it. Once the situation has calmed down, send them the link to your Google Business Profile so they can change the review to five stars or delete it.
This matters most when you are just getting started. If you only have 20 reviews, a single one-star review will tank your rating.
What to do when you have no record of the reviewer
Stay apologetic and still offer to solve the problem. The people reading have no way of knowing whether the reviewer was a real customer.
Add one line: you went through your files and cannot find where you served them. Keep it polite, because sometimes it is a real customer. The name on someone’s Google account can be completely different from the name in your records, and some people use an alias account to leave a negative review.
That line lets a reader conclude for themselves that the review may not be legitimate.
What to do when it looks like a competitor or a former employee
Reply the same way: apologize, and make it clear you fix bad experiences. You can note that you have no record of serving them and that the review appears to come from a competitor or a former employee.
Still try to reach them. The only way that works every single time to get a review removed is for the person who left it to remove it. If you are early on and that one review is hurting your rating, it can be worth putting your ego away and asking.
Why more reviews is the real fix
A couple of one-star reviews will not ruin a business that has a system for getting every customer to leave a review. Many of the businesses that work with Review Harvest used to refund thousands of dollars a month or a quarter to get one-star reviews taken down. Once they had 600, 700 or 1,000 reviews from real customers, a one-star review was barely noticeable.
Common questions
How should a business respond to a negative Google review?
Wait until you have cooled down, then reply with an apology and an invitation to contact you so you can make it right. Write it for the future customer reading your reviews, who wants to know what happens if a job goes badly. Then contact the reviewer directly and fix the problem.
What do you say to a Google review from someone who was never a customer?
Reply the same way you would to a real customer, apologetic and offering to fix it, and add that you searched your records and cannot find where you served them. Do not accuse them. Some real customers leave reviews under a different name, and the people reading cannot tell who is right.
Can you get a negative Google review removed?
The only way that works every time is for the person who wrote it to remove or change it. That is why the first move is to call them, resolve the problem, and then send them the link to their review so they can update it to five stars or delete it.
Do negative reviews hurt a small business?
A one-star review does the most damage when you have few reviews. With only 20 reviews, one bad one will drag your rating down. A couple of one-star reviews will not ruin a business that has hundreds of reviews from real customers.
Should you argue with a bad review if the customer is wrong?
No. Proving the customer wrong in public does not win the next customer. People reading your lowest reviews want to see that you apologize and try to fix problems, so reply for them.
