Introduction
We are currently in an electronic and online day of age. If you are looking for the information, everyone goes online, this can be good or bad when it comes to a business. Because everyone is posting their opinion on social media and Google, it is easier than ever to get a bad review or a bad word about your business for everyone to see. Unfortunately, this can be devastating for a business. Therefore, having an excellent response to bad online reviews is absolutely necessary for squashing these types of reviews quickly. Here are a few online reputation management tips for dealing with negative reviews.

Deal with the Negativity Quickly and Offline
The minute you see a bad review, be sure to immediately reach out and deal with it. Email or call the person who wrote the review and do what it takes to remedy the situation. Typically, a customer can be quickly made happy with a personal phone call and a few additional perks. There are many ways to promptly handle the situation and preventing escalation. From giving their money back to offering discounts or free services. At that point, you can ask the customer to either change or delete their negative review and replace it with a positive one. Be sure that you do not approach the negative review online. You want to always use a personal email or phone call as to not have a lot of dramatic comments or personal information online.

Request for Removal
Unfortunately, some people will not be happy no matter what you do. If you feel that a negative review is unfair, you can typically require that the review be removed by the website it is posted on. Usually, if you explain your situation and proof that you attempted to remedy the situation, they will consider that and possibly remove the bad review. The most important way to avoid a bad review is to offer excellent services. If an online review service sees multiple bad reviews, the service will be reluctant to remove them all. So first and foremost, provide outstanding services.

Urge Customers to Review
At the point of sale, urge customers to list reviews. One way to drown out one negative review is ten good reviews. So when happy customers are checking out, ask them to drop a review. Or offer a discount if a good review is posted. Reviews are crucial in having a good online presence. Studies show that companies that have reviews, even if there are a few bad ones, will get more traffic via online review companies than companies with no reviews. People like to hear what other people are saying about a company. Basically, the online reviewing sites such as Google and Yelp are the new “word of mouth” companies.

Be Involved
Lastly, be sure to always be aware of the online reviews for your company. Appoint a person to be in charge of monitoring all online actions your company takes and anything that is posted about your company. It should be your most active line of marketing in this electronic day in age. Market your company online and be sure to have only a healthy online presence.

Conclusion
In today's five start reputation age, where online reviews are the new way to comment about the quality of companies, be sure that you are positively combating negative reviews. You want to be sure to maintain a strong and positive internet presence to get the most traffic in and out of your business. Follow these online reputation management tips next time you are dealing with negative online reviews of your company.