How to answer a bad review (and why it is worth more than a good one)

A bad review lands and the first instinct is to explain. The customer was difficult, the delay was not your fault, the job was done to the letter of the quote. All of that may be true and none of it is the point.

Nobody reading your reviews cares who was right. They are asking one question: if something goes wrong on my job, what is this business going to be like to deal with? Your reply is the only answer they get.

Who you are writing for

Not the reviewer. They have moved on, and they will rarely change a rating because of a reply. You are writing for the next person, who is comparing you with two others and has just found the one review that is not five stars.

That person is not put off by a bad review. Everybody has one. They are put off by a bad reply, or by no reply, because both tell them what to expect.

The shape of a good reply

Four sentences, in this order, in a level tone:

1. Thank them, briefly. “Thanks for the feedback, and sorry the day did not go the way it should have.”
2. Own the specific thing. Not “sorry you feel that way”. “We were late, and we should have rung ahead.”
3. Say what happens now. “I have called you this morning to sort out the snagging, and I will make sure the next visit is on time.”
4. Leave the door open. “If there is anything else, my number is on the invoice.”

No excuses, no history of the job, no correcting their version of events, even where it is wrong. The reader is not scoring the argument. They are watching how you behave under a bit of pressure.

Speed matters more than polish

A calm reply on the day reads as a business that is paying attention. The same reply three weeks later reads as a business that got round to it. This is the practical reason to be told the moment a review lands, and to be able to answer it from your phone rather than from a dashboard you have to log into at the weekend.

Answer the good ones too

A profile where only the complaints get replies looks defensive. A short thank you on the five-star reviews, naming the job where you can (“Glad the boiler is behaving, thanks for having us”), makes the whole page read like a business where somebody is home.

The counter-intuitive part

A profile of nothing but perfect scores with no replies reads as bought. A profile with a three-star review and a graceful answer underneath it reads as real, and real is what people are trying to establish before they hand you their keys.

So the bad review is not the problem. The reply is the opportunity, and it is one of the few places in your marketing where you get to show, rather than claim, what you are like to work with.