What Unfair Business Reviews Really Signify

Photo by Artem Podrez: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-in-white-dress-shirt-holding-pieces-of-paper-5716027/

It’s never pleasant to believe your business is misunderstood, that your product or service quality is questioned, or that a system you designed to be effective isn’t landing. The broader truth that “the customer is always right” doesn’t mean they’re always correct about specific requirements, assumptions or entitlements. However, it does mean that ultimately if customers continue to reject or not return to your business, sooner or later revenue will dry up.

One or two unfair business reviews are natural, and will happen in the life of any company no matter how hard you try. The best you can do is try to resolve the issue, or politely reject requests and blacklist them if this turns into unfair harassment or obvious exploitation.

A somewhat increased number of unfair reviews? It might be situational, like a disappointing product launch that you could fix, or perhaps a PR blunder you’ve had. Or, you’re just not operating as you expected. A majority number of poor reviews? Well, in this case, “unfair” is unlikely.

If you believe unfair reviews are too common, let’s have a look at what’s really happening behind the surface:

There’s A Disconnect Between Message, Service & Customer

It could be that your marketing is saying one thing and the actual service is doing something else. A business might promise an incredibly fast delivery time in its ads, but then the logistics system is slow and the product takes twice as long to arrive. This creates a disconnect between the brand’s message and the customer’s real experience. 

You’re not dishonest on purpose in that circumstance, but the results show you’re misaligning what you say with what you can actually do. Customers get frustrated because they feel like they were misled, and that’s when the negative reviews start to pile up. A clear look at every point of contact with the customer can show where these gaps exist.

You May Have Operational Blind Spots

Anyone deep in the day-to-day operations of running a business (which is definitely difficult) can struggle to see the problems that are obvious to an outsider. Perhaps a checkout process on your website is confusing for new users, or your customer service response time is too slow but seems normal to you. 

These are blind spots, areas where the business isn’t working as well as you think it is. A business owner might believe their return policy is perfectly clear, but customers are finding it complicated and frustrating and the website is sending them back to the original form after submitting all their info. Taking the time to go through every step of the customer journey, perhaps even as a secret shopper, can reveal these hidden issues that are causing people to leave bad reviews.

A Common Cause Of Frustration Is Being Ignored

A good portion of customer frustration comes from feeling like they’re being left in the dark. After a purchase, people want to know what’s happening with their order, when it’s shipping, and when it will arrive. If there’s a delay, they want to be told about it. Silence from a business can make a customer feel ignored and unimportant, but luckily, you can fix this.

A useful update process, like automated text messages or email updates, is appreciated, and ringless voicemail marketing is a unique tool, as it drops a pre-recorded voice message directly into a person’s voicemail inbox without ever ringing their phone, making it a good way to send quick updates and announcements. Even if you need to work through your business operational blind spots, at least you know no one will accuse you of being uncommunicative or irritating.

With this advice, we hope you can use unfair reviews as a jumping pad and spotlight alike.