By Carrie Hyde, The Spaw Pet Life Coach | May 21, 2022
When you have a bad experience at a small business, how do you handle it? Do you ask for the manager? Or do you go straight to your computer to write a scathing review?
What many people don’t realize is that their reaction to a bad experience at a small business has a major impact. Depending on how you react, that impact can be positive and help reduce the likelihood of future negative experiences, or it can be negative and leave both you and the business worse off than you were before.
If you find yourself having repeated negative experiences with companies, the issue may be in how you handle those situations. Below, we’ll look at the psychology behind negative Yelp reviews, the real consequences of them, and how to affect positive change in wake of a bad experience.
Why Do People (Really) Leave Bad Reviews?
The simplest answer to this question isn’t all that surprising. People leave bad reviews because they’re angry about a negative experience and want to punish the business for making them feel that way.
This drive is much stronger than the drive to reward businesses with good reviews after a positive experience. This is one reason why very negative Yelp reviews often outnumber very positive reviews, even for successful, well-liked businesses.
Many people who leave bad reviews say they do it because they want to inform both the business owner and future customers of the bad experience.
But, according to multiple studies, this idea doesn’t quite add up.
One report covered by Time Magazine found that people were more likely to post negative reviews without in-depth explanations of the situation they were upset about. That’s because, when we take a step back to understand why something may have happened, we feel less emotional about it. And, therefore, are less likely to take the time to write a review.
This means that most negative reviews that make it online don’t actually explain the situation well enough for it to be useful to the company or future customers.
Additionally, most people who leave very negative reviews have no intention of returning to the business in question. And, because of that, they don’t care if the issue gets fixed or not. Again, in most cases, negative reviews are not about helping, they’re about punishing.
The Real Consequences of Negative Yelp Reviews
The desire to punish a company that you’ve had a negative experience with is understandable. But what many people don’t realize is that negative reviews can have a much more negative effect than you realize. This is especially true for small businesses that have less bandwidth to weather storms than large companies do.
According to the New York Times, people are far more likely to use negative reviews to influence their purchasing decisions than positive reviews. This is true even if the positive reviews far outnumber the negative ones.
Because most negative reviews are left in anger rather than with a desire for resolution, they rarely provide a path forward for the business to improve. As we discussed above, negative reviewers rarely go into enough detail about the issue to allow the business to understand what happened and make changes to assure it doesn’t happen again.
Negative reviewers are also less likely to engage with the business after the fact. This is often because they have no plan to return anyway. Without an open dialogue about the problem, small business owners are, again, left without the necessary details needed to make improvements.
These factors make negative reviews a double blow to small businesses. By existing in the public space where future customers are more likely to read them than the positive reviews, they can greatly hurt revenue. And, by providing no map for improvement, they do nothing to assure the problem won’t persist and affect future customers.
How to Affect Real Change in Local Businesses
When people are involved, whether as the customer or the shop owner, mistakes, misunderstandings, and negative experiences are always possible.
But reacting to those experiences by punishing the business with a bad review doesn’t solve any problems.
As the customer, you’ll be left searching for a new business, one that may or may not be better than the one you just smeared. And the business owner will be left to deal with the many negative effects a bad review can bring.
Instead of leaving a bad review, there are many effective ways to deal with a bad experience that will have a more positive impact on you and the business.
Talk to Someone First
Before you rush out of the store to stew in your anger, ask to speak to someone first.
Misunderstandings or mistakes made by new or undertrained employees often lead to problems with customers. Talking to someone in charge can not only rectify the situation but can provide a valuable learning experience for the newer employee so they don’t make the same mistake again.
In some cases, the reason for the negative experience might be out of the shop owner’s control. In these circumstances, opening a dialogue can help you understand that what happened wasn’t personal or even controllable. As we covered above, once explanations are introduced, a person’s emotional reaction to the situation tends to decrease.
Once emotions are out of the way, you and the business can begin to work on a logical solution or come to a mutual understanding.
Of course, if you are too upset by something that’s happened to set emotions aside, it is best to take some time to cool off. Once you’re feeling better, you can return to open that all-too-important dialogue with the business owner.
Understand What Went Wrong
Understanding the circumstances behind a bad experience is the most effective way of removing emotion from the situation. It is also imperative in order to find a solution to reduce the odds of the problem recurring.
It’s easy to get upset about bad service at a restaurant, but once you understand that half the staff is out with the flu, you’re more likely to commiserate with the remaining staff than be upset with them. Similarly, if your dog’s grooming appointment runs long but the groomer explains that there was a glitch in their scheduling software, your understanding of the situation makes the mistake feel less personal.
But more importantly, understanding what happens allows both parties to take a closer look at the circumstances surrounding the event. When this happens, both the customer and business owner are likely to see new opportunities for improvement. Or, at the very least, find more productive ways to discuss and handle issues when they arise.
When you post a review online without first talking to the business owner, you’re only telling one side of the story. If your goal is to inform future customers, you can’t do this without telling the whole story. Often, when you open a dialogue first, you realize there’s no point in writing a review at all.
Understand that Some Things are Out of Everyone’s Control
Sometimes discussion leads to the frustrating conclusion that there was no way to avoid the problem. As a customer, this discovery can be especially unsettling because it highlights the potential for something negative to happen again.
For the small business owner, it isn’t any easier to accept. Supply chain issues, late deliveries, no-show employees—all of these are out of the business owner’s hands. But all of them and more can lead to problems with customers.
When something happens that’s out of the business’ hands, a negative review doesn’t help anyone. It doesn’t point out a problem that the business can avoid in the future and it doesn’t provide information to help future customers.
At best, you may get an apologetic reply from the business or a refund. But these are things you’re more likely to get when you open a dialogue about the issue. And when you do that instead of blasting them on Yelp, the business won’t get unnecessarily hurt in the process.
Give Them a Second Chance
Negative Yelp reviews are bad for the business, but they can also be bad for the customer.
If you cut and run after one negative experience, you could be abandoning a business that was actually a great fit for you. And worse, the second (or third or fourth) business you try might be worse than the one you never gave a chance to.
The only way to know the difference between a great company having a bad day and a mediocre business that will never get it right is by giving them another chance.
Don’t Yelp for Help
Negative Yelp reviews written in the heat of the moment might make you feel better for a second, but they don’t affect any positive change, not for you or the business.
Instead of opting for a very public emotional response, try talking about your experience to someone in charge first. Most often, if you take the time to understand what happened, you’ll realize it wasn’t personal or intentional. And you may even help the business find a way to improve and, therefore, become a better fit for you.
By Carrie Hyde, The Spaw Pet Life Coach | May 21, 2022 | Written for The Spaw by Sara Seitz, Professional Freelance Writer and Novelist with Pen and Post
Carrie Hyde is the founder, owner, and Pet Life Coach of The Spaw in Tustin, CA. Carrie’s extensive experience and understanding of pet nutrition and coaching enabled her to create The Spawdcast, a podcast dedicated to educating pet parents and pet industry professionals on ALL the options available to their pets. Her mission is to open pet-owner’s eyes to the questions they may not even know to ask, to shine a light on the many myths that have been part of pet care for decades, and to offer whole solutions for their pets. Carrie Hyde is a certified pet nutritionist with the goal of helping pet parents & pet professionals with a new understanding of how to care for pets in a “whole and natural” way.
