Selling on Amazon, you know how difficult it is to get buyers to leave reviews. So when you wake up one day after a dry spell and see one but it’s negative, the natural response is ‘why?’ FeedbackExpress knows there are multiple reasons for why people leave negative reviews, so let’s dive in to see what they are — and how you can reduce your chances of getting one.
Buyers Want to Warn Others of a Negative Experience
When someone undergoes a negative experience, they’re tons more likely to share it as opposed to the person who experienced something neutral or positive. It’s just human nature. Back in the days when survival was a lot harder, people were constantly on guard for threats and disseminated them around the fire in the name of group safety.
We might be well beyond the days of watching for lions and tigers lurking outside our homes, but our instinct to analyse and discuss negative experiences is still with us — and that translates to negative reviews in today’s modern world. Shoppers focus on the negative far more than they do on the positive, which is a huge reason why they’re so eager to post a negative review.
Buyers Want to Help Others to Have a Better Buying Experience
Humans are also motivated to help others out by saving them from the same negative experience. Think about all the times you drank milk that was off, ate cold food that was supposed to be hot, or had to wait in a line for a really long time. You likely mentioned that to someone in the hopes that they, too, wouldn’t fall victim to the same fate you did.
When it comes to negative reviews, shoppers are doing the same thing: they want to point out where things went wrong for themselves so that others won’t experience the same, and they do so by explaining in their reviews what pitfalls to avoid.
Buyers Hope the Business Improves Things
Another reason why people leave negative reviews is to try and get the business to make things better when it comes to their products, policies or service. They know that any company worth their salt will devote some time to reading reviews, so they leave feedback in the hopes that their words will get through.
Team Ninja is an excellent example of this. They relied heavily on user feedback for Nioh 2 to create a game that players wanted, as well as listened carefully to whatever issues came up so they could fix them as promptly as possible.
Buyers are Upset and Want the Business to React
Sometimes at the end of the day, upset shoppers just want the company to know how they feel and so they’ll leave a negative review to get it off their chests. They want their hurt to be acknowledged and the situation made right, whether that’s the business simply reaching out to talk or comping a product to them.
We’re not saying you have to issue a free gift every time someone leaves a negative review, but that it would be a good idea to respond quickly and compassionately. Start with an ‘I’m sorry you experienced something that wasn’t up to our usual standards’, then dig deeper to find out how you can fix things. It’s generally a good idea to leave a paper trail so that other buyers can see you care, so something like replying to a negative feedback is a good start.
How You Can Handle Negative Feedback
The best thing you can do is to respond right away. It’ll be tempting to get upset at the customer and not want anything to do with them, but ignoring the problem won’t make it go away. If anything, it’ll make the buyer think you don’t care about their experience and you’re only out to make money.
Instead, get the ball rolling right away. Reply to their negative feedback, whether’s on the post itself or by sending an email. Once you understand the problem better, start taking steps to make the situation right both now and for the future.
Final Thoughts
While you can’t erase negative feedback entirely, there’s a lot you can do to remedy it, starting with using FeedbackExpress. Since acting promptly is your best first course of action, FeedbackExpress will help you get there in record time by sending out scheduled emails written in professional, friendly templates. Plus, our dashboard makes it really easy for you to sort through positive and negative feedback so you can instantly see which reviews require your attention first. To get in on the action, sign up now and start your 14 day free trial.
