Customer Reviews & Message Boards

[sarahbeth219]

Hi there,

Is there any value to responding to negative reviews that are older than this year? I have some that span from 2009 until now, as well as negative message board posts.

Another question, to mitigate this, should I have the client respond to just reviews or actually get on the message boards as well and address some issues that have been brought up with the company? Some are specific customer complains, some are just talking about the company in general.

Thanks!

[MiriamEllis]

Hi SEOSynder!

Good question! Yes, I do think there would be value in having the client respond to any negative press you find, whether on message boards or otherwise, provided he can do so effectively. I see some challenges here, however.

A problem with responding to old negative reviews is that you are unlikely to remember the specific circumstances surrounding a customer's complaint. For example, if you own a hotel and someone you can identify leaves a negative review about their stay that happened last week, you can remember what happened and be really specific about the circumstances and what you did to address them. If the stay happened 5 years ago, who knows what happened? So, if you did respond to those old ones, your replies would have to be kind of generic, so the persuasiveness of your responses will likely be less.

I think it will be important to discuss with the client what the goal is here. If it is to

A) Assess complaints to see if there are frequent ones that have occurred in order to discover if internal fixes have been implemented to remedy a negative situation (improving customer service and then having something to write about, explaining what the client did to fix the problem)

B) To create a good impression of the business' responsiveness to complaints by responding with empathy and a will to improve

...then I think it could be worth the time to respond.

*But, do be sure the client is doing this on his own. Don't post replies to negative feedback on the behalf of the client. You can help him craft caring replies, but let him post them on his own, under his own account.

My only other proviso here would be to weigh whether responding to negative threads on message boards might have the effect of making them appear more recent and relevant than leaving them alone. Something to consider

Hope these thoughts are helpful!

[DanielFreedman]

Agree completely with the above.

Every situation is different and your mileage may vary.

That said, as a general rule and in most circumstances:

It is probably best to let sleeping dogs lie re: old reviews. Much better to focus your attention on new, positive reviews...and general link-building.

There are some common sense exemptions, of course. If there is a persistent  pattern in the negative reviews..it is best to address the root cause head on -- to show you have improved.

As I have written elsewhere, short and snappy " zinger" responses that avoid tit-for-tat re-hash are best.

Examples from my own practice:

In response to a 1,000 word complaint re: recurring credit card charges: "We issued a full refund as soon as we were notified of theproblem." In response to a complaint about a trade school:
**"The author of this review is a former employee, and not a student. We're sorry things didn't work out for her, but wish her well. " **

[Bryan_Loconto]

IMO.. Regardless of the age of the reviews, when you respond in a professional, understanding & helpful manner, this will help new visitors/potential customers to see that you care, and take the time to engage in the reviews left about your business. Good or bad, reviews are helpful to both potential customers as well as the business itself. As the business owner, this helps us understand how we can improve our service/product/customer support.

I would go in and leave a reply to all reviews, Good & Bad and regardless of the age. It will only help the users. Good luck SEOSnyder!!