Review Management: How To Respond To Negative Reviews On Google

When your business receives a bad review, it’s not the end of the world. 

Sure, your rating might decrease a little bit, but other than that, you’re fine if you respond properly. The key is to not overthink it and be strategic about every piece of feedback you receive.

This is what you’re going to learn today: how to respond to negative reviews on Google and turn that negative feedback into a positive experience.

How Important Is Your Response?

Responding to reviews is crucial because 89% of consumers are more likely to work with a business that responds to their online reviews.

When it comes to negative feedback, it’s even more important. A well-thought-out response may help build trust with existing and new customers, possibly even save the relationship with the unsatisfied customer. 

While being criticized isn’t anyone’s idea of fun, feedback also gives you valuable insight into areas of your business that you should improve.

Before proceeding further and learning how to respond to negative reviews on Google, it’s important to point out that timing matters. More than half of consumers expect to see a response within a week. One in three are a bit more demanding and expect you to respond to negative reviews in three days or less. 

Remember, the quicker the response the more trustworthy you seem!

To ensure you never miss a single review and that you’re always able to respond swiftly, we recommend monitoring reviews with our review management platform - ReviewArm. 

Not only does it allow you to set up alerts, it also provides you with a platform to monitor and respond to reviews on multiple platforms. As a plus, you can also use it to automatically send out review requests which will come in handy to bump up your score after receiving negative feedback.

Tips For Crafting The Perfect Response

By following our tips on how to respond to negative reviews on Google, you’ll be able to write responses that your customers will appreciate. Keep in mind that practice makes perfect and the first few you write might not be as good. However, the more you do it, the more confident you’ll become, and you’ll eventually be able to put your own brand voice into it.

Try using the following techniques while writing your next response:

1. Keep your cool

Even if the reviewer is wrong, always remind yourself to get rid of any negative emotions before writing. Ensure that you stay professional and as positive as you can be throughout the entire interaction. Your job is to provide a professional and valuable response.

2. Validate their opinion

The customer may not always be right but you should still acknowledge the issue and validate their opinion. We found that the opener below works like a charm for negative reviews:

• We appreciate you leaving your feedback and pointing out this issue…

You have to show you’re thankful that they have brought the situation to your attention, which will signify to other customers that you are willing to improve. This applies even if their review isn’t justified. Maybe they had a bad day and are currently channeling their inner Karen or they simply didn’t understand your process. This response will hopefully be the first step in discovering the right solution.

3. Offer a sincere apology

No matter if the reviewer wrote something like ‘’this has been the worst business in the history of business, maybe ever’’, you should still provide an apology. The nitpicky review may be in a clash with reality, but you still have to take the high road.

This can appease the customer who left the review and show others that providing an extraordinary level of service is your utmost priority. 

Try using this in your response (feel free to customize it until it’s in line with your own brand voice):

• We’re very sorry that you had a negative experience. We hold ourselves to high standards and we sincerely apologize that our service didn’t meet your expectations. Your satisfaction is our main priority…

Writing something similar to this accomplishes a few things: you’re providing a sincere apology, it’s short and to the point, and it shows your customers you have high standards that you wish to deliver on.

4. Provide an explanation

This one depends on the situation that was mentioned in the review. Sometimes an apology will suffice, other times you might have to provide extra information that may help clear up what happened. For instance, the negative experience your customer had could be a result of a misunderstanding. If so, you shouldn’t leave it unaddressed.

This is just an example, so fine-tune it to match the content of the review you’re responding to:

• We apologize for the misunderstanding that happened regarding _______. We experienced _________. As a result, we were unable to _______. Once again, we’re sorry for the inconvenience and we resolved the issue. Feel free to call us directly and we hope we’ll have an opportunity to work with you/serve you again.

We cannot stress this enough but don’t make empty excuses, simply take responsibility and clarify what’s behind the misunderstanding. Apologize and invite the customer to engage with your business.

5. Find a way to compensate the customer

If the reviewer has got a fairly good point, don’t just brush off their experience - especially when the misunderstanding cost them valuable time or money. This is also your opportunity to compensate the customer who had a negative experience and possibly even incentivize them to give you another chance.

While apologizing is a step in the right direction, if applicable, offer them a discount on their next purchase or a freebie. 

Who knows, this might fix the damage and turn that reviewer into a lifetime customer!

6. Try to resolve the issue offline

The best way to appease a customer who is unhappy with your service is to address the issue in person, on the phone, or via email. After your initial apology, invite your customer to reach you personally. Try this:

• Feel free to contact me personally whenever possible, and I’d be happy to discuss the problem with you in more detail.

Provide your details and contact information, or the information of the manager at your business.

Damage control



Learning how to respond to negative reviews on Google can take the stress out of managing your reviews. Unfortunately, even if you do everything perfectly, you’ll always have to deal with less-than-favorable feedback so you should change how you react to them sooner rather than later.

You’ll eventually get a hang of it and drastically lessen the impact they have on your reputation. 

Also, make sure you’re using additional tools that will help you keep track of any negative reviews on your Google Business Profile. Missing a few by accident can cause a lot of problems in the long run, as scorned customers might continue spreading their experience to others offline. 

If you need any help, we’ll be happy to talk to you! Use our contact form to get in touch!