While social media allows clients to talk freely about everything they love about your salon, it can also be a place to air complaints. Here’s how to deal with a bad review.
Get onto it quickly
It can be tempting to hide from criticism but if you do get a bad review, jump onto it as soon as you can. If the criticism is fair enough (perhaps you made them wait too long for their appointment, perhaps you ran out hard wax and couldn’t do the Brazilian they’d booked), then answer the bad review with a public reply explaining the circumstances. As with any realtionship, an apology goes a long way so perhaps ask them in for a free appointment as way of saying sorry.
Recognise cyber shenanigans
Now this is hard to say… but sometimes it’s not you, it’s, well, your client. Perhaps she’s had a bad day at work, perhaps she was feeling flustered at her appointment, perhaps she was just in a bad mood – and, well, posting something not-so-nice on your Facebook page is her way of venting. People often forget that there is a person at the other end of social media so they say things they would never say in real life. Still, blatant rudeness is hurtful so if things come up that are untrue and just plain mean, then we say, delete.
Talk to your staff
If one of your staff is to blame for a bad review, then perhaps a real-time face-to-face chat is in order. Did the review say she was rude? Did it say she didn’t do a good job? This isn’t great for your business but it does give you the opportunity to iron out any niggles in your team. Most of the time, training, education and a little bit of empathy can help smooth out any issues likely to get you a bad review on social media.
Bury it
If you have a bad review that you can’t get rid of (perhaps on Yelp or Startlocal) then the best way to manage the fallout is dilution. Lots of good reviews gives a bad one much less power, so encourage (incentivise if you want to) your clients to post their glowing reviews.
Have your say: Had a bad review on social media before? How have you dealt with the situation?