How Lawyers Can Handle Negative Online Reviews

In the world we live in today, everyone’s voice is equally loud. All it takes is one person to trash you online and there you have it: you are officially besmirched on Google.

But when these kinds of things happen, realize it’s not the end of the world. As my wife likes to say, you only get negative reviews when people are talking about you. It’s better to get one bad review among many good reviews than to have no one talking about you at all.

Furthermore, the best of the best get bad reviews (this is something else my sage wife pointed out). Even The Godfather, considered among the best movies of all times, gets trashed online. As one reviewer wrote on Amazon:

I did indeed sit through all 57 hours of the Godfather and not only is it one of the most boring movies ever made it’s completely pointless garbage.

Here’s what someone wrote about Lonesome Dove, considered one of the best American novels ever written:

Characters are undeveloped with the emotional depth of carrots, plot is scattered, and to put it simply, the writing is bad with simple sentence structures and completely mechanical.

So don’t despair. Different strokes for different folks.

Also, realize that in many cases, online reviews help you get better. You should, in a lot of cases, be genuinely grateful for free advice and the opportunity to offer amazing and winning service.

Once you’ve gathered your wits, write back politely and publicly in the same forum so other visitors can see that you care, and invite the person to discuss the issue with you offline. Then follow up promptly and try to engage the reviewer in a constructive dialog to help solve whatever issue or misunderstanding arose.

Disclaimer: This is what’s worked for us. It might not always work in all cases, and each situation is different.