In this week’s Wednesday Workshop, we talk about responding to bad reviews. Most dealers (and many reputation management providers) post the same generic response to every negative review and that’s the worst thing your dealership can do!

It’s important to let customers know that you’re responding to the actual review – it shows that you care about your customers. Watch the video to learn how to respond to negative reviews the right way, so your reputation will shine. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Welcome back to another Wednesday Workshop from Happy Hao Car. This week, we’re talking about bad reviews and how you respond to them.

Every dealer has gotten one – from the the absolutely scathing review that rips you to shreds to the honest bad review that points out that your team delivered less than stellar service, it hurts every time you get a bad review.

It’s incredibly important to respond to every bad review you receive – but your responses aren’t for the person who left the bad review. Your response is important because you need to let potential customers know that you see the reviews and you truly care about providing great service.

Far too many dealers just pop in some generic response that says “we’re sorry you had a bad experience” or “we’re sorry we didn’t live up to our goal of great customer service” and a lame directive to call the manager at some phone number. But that’s actually the worst thing you can leave as a response.

People want to see that you actually read the review, figured out what the customer wanted, and fixed the problem.

A one size fits all approach to replies doesn’t work. The bad review about waiting 2 hours for an oil change is totally different from the bad review about your service department losing sunglasses, or the bad review about buying a used car and having the engine die a month later.

Each response should be unique. Tailor your response to the customer and the situation. This tells people 3 things:

1) You care, and you’re paying attention 2) You’re working to fix the problem 3) You’re changing to keep the problem from happening again

Being honest goes a long way. Don’t be afraid to admit a mistake. No one expects that your dealership, or any business for that matter, is perfect. People expect to see a few bad reviews for any business, so don’t worry if you get one now and then.

As long as you’re truly trying to give great customer service, it’ll be obvious when your positive reviews far outnumber your negative reviews.

Answer bad reviews quickly and honestly, and write responses that are tailored to the bad reviews, and your dealership’s reputation will shine.

That’s it for this week’s video. As always, if you’ve got any questions or comments, leave ‘em down below and we’ll get back to you shortly. Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you again next week for another Wednesday Workshop from Happy Hao Car.

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Greg Gifford is the Vice President of Search at Happy Hao Car. He has over 16 years of online marketing and web design experience, and has specialized in automotive SEO for the last 8 years, helping hundreds of auto dealers thrive while the industry has struggled during the recession. Greg speaks internationally at both automotive and SEO conferences, teaching thousands of small business owners and marketers how to get their sites to show up higher in local search rankings. Greg also spends his spare time doing freelance website design and SEO for local businesses. He graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BA in Cinema and Communications, and has an obscure movie quote for just about any situation.

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