
Make the best of bad reviews by leveraging consumer empathy - samizdis
https://phys.org/news/2020-08-bad-leveraging-consumer-empathy.html
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ErikAugust
“Leveraging consumer empathy”?

This is actually just listening to your customers, and caring about them
enough to respond to them thoughtfully. If you get a bad review, you still
respond thoughtfully.

Why do we have to make it into some buzzword salad term for some “strategy”
powered by pseudo-academic research nonsense? Anyone that has actually ran a
business could verify it.

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jcampbell1
The paper is not about listening to your customers at all, it is suggesting
ways to make negative reviews seem ridiculous so that negative reviews
actually form a positive impression.

I think the takeaway is to make your critics look like hyperbolic dimwits by
being nice and using real names. It not obvious this is the best rebuttal
strategy. I see companies often get hyper factual and cold with responses to
negative reviews. When responding to a negative review, you are writing not to
that person, but rather to the audience that reads reviews.

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ErikAugust
Right, which in both disingenuous and impersonal. You could just read reviews,
personally answering them, which I think would be the best policy. But this
seems like a way to game it all instead of actually just being authentic. I
guess if you can’t package it into a template it’s too much work.

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kanobo
One strategy that I employed after getting a nonsensical 2 star review was
having two friends write two 1 star review with honest positive comments.
People sorting by most critical review will still see positive comments and
assume the low ratings is because of accidental clicks. Is it moral? I don't
know, but I didn't ask to be included on a review site and be affected by the
words of strangers either.

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mhh__
> Is it moral?

No. We don't live in a moral world, though.

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Miiko
I got a feeling that unfair negative reviews work for reason different than
"empathy". Seeing a 1-star review, it is safe to assume the person writing it
was very angry and tried to make the review as bad as possible. Which means
that things _not_ mentioned were quite good... well, good enough to not stand
out.

That is, when I see in the review that unreasonable expectations of some guy
were not met, I kinda assume that reasonable expectations were actually met,
and that busyness / service is worth checking.

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BelleOfTheBall
To put it in very non-scientific terms: people love an underdog. If your
business is flourishing and someone leaves a negative review, eh, you're doing
good. But if I see someone do a 3-star for some corner bodega that just
happens to be one that I visit - oh, I must right this wrong with a 5-star
review.

It's impossible for my instincts not to kick in and push me into rooting for
the 'little guy' or someone who's been unfairly wronged. (Whether they were
wronged fairly or unfairly is a matter my instincts leave for later.)

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hippich
Anecdotal data, but for some of our products we sell, only such "unfair
reviews" ever received comments from other shoppers (either pointing out the
mistake, or straightforward ridiculing of the reviewer). I have a mixed
opinion on it in regards how it affects customers considering our products,
since one to have to make an effort to go beyond stars-value. But on the
personal level it certainly makes me feel better (almost as much as
handwritten thank you cards =))

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wonderlg
This is me. When I stay at cheap hotels that have bogus reviews like “small
room”, I’m very inclined to leave more positive and realistic reviews, and
even to be more understanding of them. Usually this leads to being treated
better and it’s a win on both sides.

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r-w
“No shit!” —everyone

