I am a pretty active user on Yelp! I like to rate places, write reviews, add information, check-in – the whole gamut. As a marketing professional I see the value someone like me provides (and Im not just tooting my own horn here). I provide honest opinions and feedback without the business owner soliciting it or giving me something in exchange. Now my reviews are not always the best. In fact, studies show that people are more inclined to talk about a bad experience than a good one. I guess it just makes a better story – right? We’ve all been there!
A Bad Hair Day – Literally
About 6 weeks ago I went to a salon in my town for the first time. I moved recently and am a little tired of driving over an hour to get a cut & color so wanted to see what was around here. The salon came highly recommended and had all 5 stars (3 reviews total but still).
So I did not have a 5 star experience. I wont share all the niddy-griddy details here but I did share them on Yelp which resulted in me getting a call from the owner of the salon. She said it was unfair that I wrote a negative review without talking to her first. She also told me this would destroy her business.
I felt bad. I really did.
Now I had to consider what I could do. I could take down the review altogether and leave this woman and her salon with their 3 ’5 star’ reviews. I could modify it so it wasn’t so harmful (it honestly wasn’t bad anyways). Or I could leave it as is.
Ramifications of Being Honest
While I did decide in this case to take it down, I starting to consider our ability to leave honest reviews and constructive criticism. Is this even allowed anymore? We will not always ask for the manager when we are dissatisfied (I couldn’t get out of there fast enough!) and we wont always take down our reviews. How will business owners react? Could my bad experience actually destroy her business? I really doubt it and if so, then she has way bigger problems than my bad hair color.
You cannot expect perfection. We all want it but it’s highly unachievable. Strive to get better each time instead.
You cannot berate honesty. Instead of crying about a bad review, thank the person for their honesty. You just learned something about your business that you didnt already know (not to mention the reason why someone wont be returning).
You cannot ignore criticism. I love criticism because it helps me get better. That’s all it does. I dont enable it to beat me up or make me feel bad. I simply allow it to make me better. Do the same for your business.
Businesses, restaurants, gas stations, whatever, look more real when they dont have a bunch of gold stars next to their name. We should be allowed and encouraged to be honest. We should be constructive in our response, but honest, open and complete transparent. Same goes for the business owners.
Transparency wins, not perfection.
{photo via Flickr Creative Commons contributor Michael Loudon}
Hi Christina,
I’m not sure I would have removed the review. I think there’s something akin to emotional blackmail when a business owner calls and asks a customer to remove a review — and I think it would irk me. It’s a bit like the (apparent) trend of late to tell customers to give 5 star survey results or else don’t fill it out. It’s not accurate, and if it ruins your business then your business has real issues.
Having said that, I might be inclined to post a follow-up — if a business calls me to find out what went wrong, offer an apology (if appropriate), and try to resolve the issue.
And I completely agree: unceasing rave reviews doesn’t mean a company is perfect. I’m far more likely to “buy” reviews when I see both the good and the bad. In other words, a more accurate picture.
@dariasteigman I should have posted a follow-up. Even after I deleted it, I felt like I was somehow betraying other people that looked for these reviews to make more educated decisions.