{"id":10931,"date":"2026-08-19T16:26:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T23:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.numberbarn.com\/blog\/?p=10931"},"modified":"2026-08-19T16:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T23:26:09","slug":"how-to-handle-bad-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.numberbarn.com\/blog\/how-to-handle-bad-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Bad Reviews Really Bad? Practical Advice on Managing and Responding to Customer Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When you make an online purchase or look for a a vendor, product or service, you likely first go somewhere to read online reviews. Any time I\u2019m shopping on Amazon for a new product I often sample both the 5-star and 1-star reviews. I guess I\u2019m a sucker for the extremely positive and extremely negative, but I pay close attention to any comments about the durability of the product, etc.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same way, I head to Yelp before dining at a new restaurant, looking out for any feedback about their food or service. I\u2019m likely to go elsewhere if I see repeated mentions of unfriendly staff, hairs in food, or long waits even with a reservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NumberBarn is no different. Customers constantly review us and read reviews about us. They love to talk about number porting, calling features, our mobile app and the quality of our customer support. I\u2019d love to tell you that we\u2019ve earned all 5-star reviews but that\u2019s not always the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we should always strive to be the best we can be, research indicates that perfection isn\u2019t necessarily required. A study<\/a> on the role of online reviews and purchase probability suggests that the likelihood customers will buy increases when review ratings reach about 4.5 out of 5 stars. After that, buyers begin to question the authenticity of the review site and company. With too many perfect reviews, users may begin to question the credibility of the reviews and wonder if the system is rigged. So, 5-stars across the board could actually scare away buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does that mean that bad reviews aren\u2019t always a bad thing?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Shoppers are 51.4% more likely to shop elsewhere after reading an online review of 3-stars or less out of 5-stars, according to research<\/a> by SSRN (formerly the Social Science Research Network). That\u2019s a significant number \u2013 and the concerning part is that many of those people never give companies a chance to explain themselves. They just quietly click on the next company in their search results and give them their business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we\u2019re proud of our substantial 5-star reviews at NumberBarn, we\u2019ve also earned some clunkers along the way. Even though negative reviews<\/a> can hurt customer perception of our brand, we do have an opportunity to turn the tide of negativity in the way we respond.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bad review is an excellent opportunity to weigh in on customer feedback, observe any patterns, and learn new ways to improve. Here\u2019s our approach to monitoring and responding to online reviews, how we turn the negatives into positives, and some tips for customer experience (CX) leaders building out this practice in their organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We Try to ALWAYS Listen EVERYWHERE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I would love it if every customer just contacted us directly when they have a problem \u2013 but that isn\u2019t the world we live in. Customers talk to and about us all over the place. This includes Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Instagram, Google Reviews, TrustPilot, Reddit, App stores and many other random places. Furthermore, customers can contact regulatory companies like the Better Business Bureau and Federal Communications Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, a couple of years ago, we announced<\/a> our online community site called Community Corral and regularly hear from customers via that platform. I love it when they take the time to request features that would benefit them. And we can say that we frequently integrate those suggestions into our products and customer experience. But many customers also use it to rant about an issue knowing that we watch the community forum closely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I say this to highlight the fact that customers talk about us in many, many places. If customers have a bad experience somewhere, they frequently just quietly go elsewhere. So we count it as a positive any time a customer chooses to post about us, even if it\u2019s negative. This gives us the opportunity to respond, not in a defensive manner, but always with the aim of helping and trying to restore a relationship with that customer.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bottom line is that if customers are talking about NumberBarn anywhere on the Internet, we always try to hear and join those conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We Aim to ALWAYS Act<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Online mentions and reviews of our company are always<\/em> a call to action. Let\u2019s start with the positive reviews. These are an indicator that we did something right. We take the time to post these to an internal Slack channel, celebrating the people who take great care of our customers. And we always try to thank our customers for taking the time to give us a positive, public shout out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The negative ones aren\u2019t nearly as fun, but action in these situations is even more critical. There\u2019s a bit of work required before we\u2019re ready to respond. First, we have to try to identify the reviewer. Sometimes it\u2019s obvious and their screen name correlates to an account in our database. In these cases, we may be able to find an existing support ticket that gives us an idea why the customer is posting negatively about our company.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some cases the reviewer\u2019s screen name for a particular website doesn\u2019t match a customer in our database. Some sites, like TrustPilot give us a mechanism to ask the reviewer to provide more information so we can identify their account. For others, we post publicly, stating that we\u2019re unable to identify the customer and ask them to contact support and reference their review. It doesn\u2019t happen often but a handful of customers have taken us up on this offer, allowing us a chance at resolving the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting to the root of the matter.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The next step in the process necessitates an open mind, with a desire to problem solve with the customer, while avoiding a defensive or emotional response. As we review the complaint and any related interactions with the customer, we strive to get to the root cause of their issue. Here are some questions we ask:<\/p>\n\n\n\n