Online Reviews / Building and Preserving Reputation

[climbingmonkey24]

More so curious if others have encountered this. Have you ever had people who were raving about your work and were super happy, left you a fantastic review in words but only put 3 or 4 stars? I’ve seen it online, a real good review but only 3 or 4 stars.

Some just can’t put 5 stars I guess right no matter how great the service is?

I’ve also heard and it was actually talked about in a previous thread not too long ago some customers look at having a mix of reviews versus just having all 5 star reviews.

So not having all 5 star reviews and even having some negative reviews isn’t necessarily a bad thing for a business or too damaging to their reputation when considering the overall picture of all the reviews out there?

I know not everyone gets too involved with the online presence, etc. but for those that do what are your thoughts?

 

[Reach]

I have some thoughts, and likely wrote at least some of the previous comments you encountered.

We have had one or two leave us less than perfect reviews for no good reason. Just this week we had one leave us a 4-star with raving good comments, and a remark about something we did not do - something the contract he signed clearly stated was not included. I will kindly note that in the reply I am putting up tomorrow, so that the world can see that his complaint is unwarranted.

I believe, based on comments from past customers, that an occasional imperfect or even poor review is not a big problem. Think about it a bit, and take your favorite chain restaurant for example. Go read their reviews, and look at how many good reviews there are, and how many bad. Compare that to how many people still go there every day, do you think an occasional bad review hurts their business? On the contrary, it is expected that there will be one or two, as this world has many people who just plain can’t be made happy no matter what.

Any other specific questions, let me know. Reviews really are a big part of how we get work, and I am a big believer that an online presence is important today, especially if you wish to build up a sizable business.

 

[climbingmonkey24]

What if 1 out of those 2 bad reviews among many more positive reviews is really, really bad? Even if the customer is being unreasonable and off base, making false accusations and you obviously get to reply and share your side, how do potential clients react to that when they see many positive reviews but one horrible review that makes the business out to be an untrustworthy, uninsured hack and they say do not hire (even though what they are saying is not true and doesn’t align with what others are saying about their experience)?

What are potential clients perception?

 

[surveyor]

There was a local family run restaurant which had an overall excellent rating, and I enjoyed reading the reviews , having know the father who used to work for me. His son was the chef and owner, and he would respond politely to many of the reviews, good or critical. However there was a 1 star review, from a very picky reviewer and the Chef's response to that review was "whaa, whaa, whaa.", which was much appreciated by me, I went and ate there the next day.

 

[Boomslang]

What if 1 out of those 2 bad reviews among many more positive reviews is really, really bad? Even if the customer is being unreasonable and off base, making false accusations and you obviously get to reply and share your side, how do potential clients react to that when they see many positive reviews but one horrible review that makes the business out to be an untrustworthy, uninsured hack and they say do not hire (even though what they are saying is not true and doesn’t align with what others are saying about their experience)?

What are potential clients perception?

When you buy a piece of gear off TreeStuff do you let the one or two bad reviews in the sea of positives stop you from buying?

Don't focus on the negatives. You will never please everyone. If you did everything you could to satisfy that customer and they still weren't happy, that's on them. Same with potential customers. If they decide not to use your services based off one or two poor reviews, that's on them. Go out and do your best everyday and the worthwhile customers will continue to come.

 

[climbingmonkey24]

The odd thing is is that this recent review I had pop up that was really bad was from something that occurred 3 years ago and the person just put a review up yesterday. I did mention that in my reply that it was 3 years ago and that it had been peacefully resolved originally when it happened, so why bring it up 3 years later?

 

[climbingmonkey24]

When you buy a piece of gear off TreeStuff do you let the one or two bad reviews in the sea of positives stop you from buying?

Don't focus on the negatives. You will never please everyone. If you did everything you could to satisfy that customer and they still weren't happy, that's on them. Same with potential customers. If they decide not to use your services based off one or two poor reviews, that's on them. Go out and do your best everyday and the worthwhile customers will continue to come.

I get it but I also work really hard to build a good reputation, so it stings a little and makes me nervous about how it could affect my business.

 

[Reach]

What if 1 out of those 2 bad reviews among many more positive reviews is really, really bad? Even if the customer is being unreasonable and off base, making false accusations and you obviously get to reply and share your side, how do potential clients react to that when they see many positive reviews but one horrible review that makes the business out to be an untrustworthy, uninsured hack and they say do not hire (even though what they are saying is not true and doesn’t align with what others are saying about their experience)?

What are potential clients perception?

Most potential clients will see that one and write it off as an angry nut and leave it at that. If they don’t, and they let one bad review out of many dissuade them from hiring you, they are better left to harass someone else.

Best things to do are to get as many reviews as possible, and respond to every review you get, good or bad. Google likes that, and so do potential customers - it shows you care. If you don’t already do it, ask every one of your customers to review you after you finish a project.

 

[evo]

I have a mix, but something like a 4.8 overall. One is a one star review, for some dude who I gave a referral to a different company. I was healing a broken toe and didn’t want to finish the spar he had someone else “bail” from. The situation really stank, but I knew a tree service in the same development so I gave him their number. He then left me a one star and spew all this nonsense bullshit.
Then I have a 4 star from someone I don’t know and never have worked for! I was told that sometimes this happens and it’s just people trying to build cred with google. Apparently it’s a thing?

 

[David_G895]

I had a “ customer” (if you could even call it that) leave me a one star review because he didn’t like my price. He stated my professionalism and all was great, just didn’t like the price we gave, as that we were trying to take advantage Of people. Can’t please them all. Keep doing great work and treating people with respect and you shouldn't have to worry, the better reviews will continue to come in.