Whether you check your agency's online reviews daily or haven’t even set up a Google My Business listing yet, you can be sure potential customers are reading what others are saying about you online. Insurance policyholders check online reviews before they make a purchase or visit a business, so it’s worth ensuring that your reviews look their best. If you’re a small insurance agency, receiving negative reviews can hurt your reputation, putting off potential clients. Fortunately, there are ways to handle negative ratings that can have your business coming out on top.
How Insurance Agencies Should Handle Negative Reviews
Don’t:
- Get defensive. It’s natural to get mad when someone criticizes your business, especially if the complaint is unwarranted. Yet, if you respond with an attack, it will make your business look worse. Take time to order your thoughts before responding, and ensure your thoughts don’t come across as aggressive on-screen.
- Ignore it. It’s tempting not to give negative reviews any attention. However, this will come across as the reviewer feeling justified in their anger and put other potential customers off your agency. Always respond to reviews – even if they’re negative.
- Beg for positive reviews to hide negative ones. If you have to pull teeth to get people to say how good your business is, it won’t sound genuine to readers. If you were asking for a flood of good reviews to drown out the bad review, it could seem disingenuous and untrustworthy to prospects.
Do:
- Acknowledge the issue and apologize. Just like in real life, most customers who complain online simply want to be heard. Empathize with the person who left the negative review and shows that you care about their issue – without blaming them.
- Be authentic. It’s not a good idea to cut and paste the same response to every negative review as this will make your agency look insincere. Take time to craft a personal response to the bad review.
- Review what happened. If a customer was genuinely upset by your product and service, you should know about it in order to correct what went wrong. Whatever the negative review is concerning, nipping these issues in the bud from the outset can set up your business for success in the long run.
These are some ways you can handle negative reviews online. Do you have additional questions about your insurance agency’s reputation management? If so, then contact the experts at Stratosphere. We are ready to assist you with your online presence and marketing needs today.
