How to respond to a negative Google review (and why you must)
A one-star review with no reply sits there for years, telling every future customer that nobody is home. Here is what to write, what never to write, and how long you have.
The review is unfair. The customer was rude, or was not even a customer. You want to explain. Do not, not like that.
The reply is not for the person who wrote the review. It is for the two hundred people who will read it before deciding whether to call you. They are not judging the complaint. They are judging you.
The shape of a good reply
- Thank them for the feedback, in one line. Even when it hurts.
- Say one specific thing, not a script. “You are right that the wait on Saturday was too long” beats “We are sorry for any inconvenience”.
- Say what you did or will do about it.
- Offer to sort it out off Google: “Call me on [number] and ask for Sarah”.
- Stop. Four sentences. Anything longer reads as an argument.
Example: “Thanks for telling us, Mark. You are right, forty minutes for a table on a Saturday is too long, and we have changed how we take bookings since. If you give us another go, ask for me at the door. Sarah.”
What never to write
- Anything about the customer’s behaviour, even if it is true. Readers side with the customer they cannot see.
- “We have no record of your visit.” Even when you do not. It reads as calling them a liar.
- The same paragraph pasted under every review. People scroll; they notice.
- Nothing at all. Silence is the worst reply and the most common one.
Unanswered reviews are one of the five things we measure. If yours are sitting there, a scan will tell you how many, and how that compares to the listings above you. See what Watch would tell you about your listing, $29 a month.
Reply to the good ones too
Two lines, with their name and one detail from what they wrote. It takes a minute and it tells the next reader that a person runs this place. Replying to the good reviews is also what makes your reply to the bad one look normal instead of defensive.
How long do you have
Days, not weeks. Reply this week to the ones you have never answered, oldest first. It is one afternoon, and it is the change that is most visible to a customer reading your listing tonight.
See how many of your reviews have no reply, and what else the top 3 do that you do not
Free, about a minute, no account. We never ask for access to your Google profile: everything is measured from what any customer can see.
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