Negative reviews – today I would like to write about them. Specifically, what they are, who writes them and why, as well as how to deal with them… I’ll also share my opinion on whether it’s good to have only positive reviews. Along the way, I might touch on some other topics.
A negative review is a review in which someone expresses dissatisfaction with a product or service, or perhaps with the company that produces the product or provides the service. Why do people write these reviews? If it’s an honest review, then there’s only one reason – revenge! The person is unhappy with their purchase and wants to express their dissatisfaction.
But there are other situations in which negative reviews appear online. Have you heard of fake reviews? Do you think they’re only ordered to praise companies and their products? Then I have news for you. Many people don’t hesitate to order negative reviews on their competitors.
Negative SEO is a dirty tactic, but it’s very effective. With negative SEO, fake negative reviews are written about a company with the goal of lowering its reputation and discouraging potential customers from doing business with them. Instead of promoting themselves by highlighting their good qualities, many businesses order these fake reviews on their competitors. The “Reputation Audit” service from Brand-UP.TOP can help you determine whether someone is engaging in negative activity against you. Brand-UP.TOP can also remove negative content from most websites, a process called SERM.
There are other situations in which negative content appears on the internet. Everyone has probably heard of internet trolls.
Troll
A troll is not a very intelligent creature that behaves rudely on the internet. The main goal of a troll is to create conflicts. They usually leave non-informative messages that are aimed only at provoking someone into a conflict. Don’t fall for it. If the provocation succeeds and you react with a response in which you express your thoughts about the troll, it means that the troll has won! This is exactly what he wanted. Then he will complain to the moderators about you, you will be punished, and it will be a complete victory for him! Then he will still gloat, and maybe even tell others about his victory over you!
How to deal with trolls? Ignore them!
Yes, exactly ignore them! Don’t fall for their provocations, try not to engage in dialogues with them at all, nothing good will come of it. They know how to push people to block accounts. Complete ignoring of the troll means that he was left without attention! And attention is everything for him! If he is ignored for some time, he will just leave! Don’t argue with the troll, it’s pointless, it will only get worse =)
There is also a source of negativity. Let’s imagine a situation where a person has set a goal to pump up their account, for this they need likes for their posts, and adding to their reputation, and of course, making posts. Do you think everyone will write useful articles to be evaluated? No! There is a much faster and less labor-intensive way!
A person looks for a topic on the forum where there is some debate, usually it is a debate between a group of people or one person against a company. This person simply writes that the company is a scoundrel, cheated for the sake of profit, and should have apologized… As a result, for such a simple text, he gets several likes. Finding 2-3 such topics, you can quickly pump yourself up in them.
This behavior resembles trolling, with the only difference being that the person’s goal is to boost their account reputation. Otherwise, the behavior is almost identical.
Do you think these are the only sources of negativity? No, there are several more, such as negative reviews written by former employees who were fired. Yes, this happens often. And the worst part in this case is that the employee (former), knows such details about the company that could do a lot of harm! This is one of the most difficult cases.
I would also like to focus on the negativity that website owners write themselves, or such reviews are created on their order. I once made a video about how one of the online platforms trolls companies itself. I had evidence that I wanted to publish, but then I asked myself: “Do I really need it?” and eventually decided that I did not, especially since this resource agreed to work with us (not for free, of course). Why do they do this? The reason is simple – “MONEY”!
Imagine someone created a website, paid for it, invested time to promote it to the top, and wants to make a profit from it. But how? Advertising? As an option. There is another way. The owner writes negative articles about companies. These companies then find these articles at the top and of course want to remove them… it’s clear what happens next, right?
I’ll clarify that the cost of removing one negative review that you don’t like and that is causing trouble can be up to $2,000. In my experience, this is the highest price that has been charged for removing one post. That’s where the profit comes in. But many go further. Websites are interested in constant income, not just a spike. Through companies like Brand-UP.TOP (I don’t recommend dealing with them directly), you can arrange for no negative reviews to appear about you on a particular site in the future. But you have to pay for this constantly. Yes, it’s not fair, but there’s nothing you can do.
If you want to get free reviews on such sites and write reviews about yourself, there are several options:
- the moderators won’t let the reviews through;
- the review will be allowed, but 1-2 negative reviews will be written immediately afterwards;
- the review will be marked as rating manipulation.
As an option, you can hire a lawyer and squeeze the tail of 2-3 of these sites, and show others what will happen to them if they don’t remove the reviews, using the example of those 2-3 sites. But it’s not easy, there are many nuances. We always recommend going the easier and often cheaper route.
Conclusion
There are certainly more sources of negativity, but we have covered the main ones.
Let’s summarize briefly what the sources of negativity are and how to deal with them:
- Real negativity from people. Improve the quality of the product/service, apologize, compensation;
- Black PR. Fight this problem with SERM (reputation audit + review monitoring + displacement of negativity);
- Trolling. Ignore the troll. If you want to respond, do it in a way that you are not responding to the troll, but to other people. For example: “Look, this person has no idea what he’s talking about, I’ll answer for those who are interested in this issue…”;
- Someone decided to boost their account on your thread. Ask the person if they have any specific complaints about the company and what they are. Many people leave after this;
- Former employees. Nothing can be done about this. You have to wait until the person’s anger subsides. It’s better to part with employees gently, for example, by giving them a bonus at the end;
- Site owners. Either pay these sites, or promote yourself through other sites.
Is there such a thing as a flawless reputation?
Yes, it does happen, when there isn’t a single negative review. But let’s think logically. Is it possible that there isn’t a single dissatisfied person?
Of course not! There will always be those who are unhappy about something! For example, in a cafe, one person might find the cutlet undersalted, while another might find it too salty… One person might like IPS display, while another might prefer AMOLED… In general, you can’t please everyone!
But what about companies that everyone is satisfied with? In my experience, I’ve only encountered this in high-yield investment programs (HYIPs). They have to maintain a flawless reputation so that there isn’t a single dissatisfied client, otherwise they will quickly fold. But after a while, there comes a turning point, at which all the satisfied clients are left out and all the reviews become negative. The company bursts.
If everything is very good, then you also need to be on your guard, most likely it is either a trap, or the reviews are an outright deception, and no one should read such reviews – you will waste your time. Only the most naive people will believe such reviews. In principle, everything is designed for them. Any product, service, or company as a whole should be subject to some criticism, and this is normal, not just normal, but right and natural!
The company Brand-UP.TOP is always ready to help you solve your reputation problem, so don’t hesitate to contact us!
