How to deal with negative online reviews

Negative reviews are an inevitable part of digital business life. Some are constructive, helping to improve a product or service. Others are emotional, fake, or even slanderous. For a business, properly managed feedback is not only a way to protect its image, but also a source of ideas for growth, increase customer loyalty, and reduce the cost of crisis PR.

In this article, we’ll look at when it makes sense to ask for a review to be removed, how to respond publicly and privately, how to organize the monitoring process, and what KPIs to use to evaluate the effectiveness of dealing with negativity.

When to remove or dispute reviews

When deciding whether to delete or dispute a review, you should be guided not by emotions, but by the evidence base and the rules of the platform. Let’s look at the specific criteria for when to do this.

Suspicion of fake or spam

If the message is clearly not related to your product, has a template form, is repeated from different accounts, or contains incoherent external links, then this is a sign of fake or spam. In this case, collect evidence (screenshots, account URLs, timestamps, examples of text repetition) and file a complaint through the platform’s tools, adding the collected materials to the complaint description. At the same time, it is worth noting this publicly and asking the author to clarify the data.

For example: within one day, three negative comments with almost identical text appeared on the platform from accounts with no history of activity. All messages contained a link to a third-party website and had no details about a specific product or service. This is a clear sign of a spam attempt or an organized attack.

False information or defamation

Sometimes a review contains statements of fact, such as allegations of fraud, incorrect information about the product’s composition or the terms of the transaction, which can be clearly refuted by documentation. In this case, you need to collect supporting documents, such as orders, receipts, internal logs, customer correspondence, or other records, and file a complaint with this evidence. The public response should be brief: indicate that the allegations are untrue, offer to contact in private messages.

For example: a client wrote that the company allegedly did not send the order and charged the money twice. A check of internal logs showed that the payment was made correctly and the order was delivered on time. Such a comment contains false information and can be challenged or corrected through a public response with evidence.

Content that violates the rules of the platform

Reviews that contain insults, calls for violence, or publish other people’s personal data fall into the category of violating the rules of any serious platform. In such situations, collect screenshots with time stamps and clearly indicate the type of violation in the complaint, submit it with a request for urgent removal and, if necessary, contact the platform’s support service for expedited moderation.

For example: the review contained insults to employees, rude statements and personal insults. This violates the rules of any platform regarding hate speech and inappropriate content, so it can be documented and a complaint for removal can be filed.

Conflict of interest or competitive attack

If the reviews show signs of a targeted campaign, such as simultaneous negative comments, accounts with zero activity, or repeated texts after the launch of competitive activity, you need to document the pattern. This can be a list of accounts, time intervals, common features, etc. After that, file a package of complaints for each case. In parallel to the complaint, you should intensify work with real clients and collect positive feedback and, if you suspect coordination by a competitor, inform the legal department.

For example: several negative reviews came from accounts that suddenly appeared after the launch of a competitor’s new advertising campaign. The texts were similar to each other, contained exaggerated negative statements about the product, and did not contain any real details about the service. This indicates possible coordination of competitors’ actions and needs to be documented for further response or complaint.

Violation of confidentiality

Disclosure of passport data, order numbers, addresses, or other personal information without consent is subject to immediate removal. In this case, you should take screenshots, prepare excerpts from the company’s privacy policy, and immediately file a complaint through the platform options, indicating the privacy violation.

For example: one of the reviews contained the customer’s address and order number published without the owner’s consent. This violates the privacy rules and requires immediate removal, as well as, if necessary, contacting law enforcement agencies to prevent fraud.

When to leave a negative review

Reviews that should not be deleted give businesses the opportunity to improve service and show responsibility. Let’s analyze three typical cases and practical steps for each of them.

1. The feedback is constructive and gives you the opportunity to correct the mistake.

Constructive feedback contains specific comments. It shows that the customer wants to solve the problem, not just complain.

What to do:

• • Respond publicly within 24 hours;
  • acknowledge the problem, briefly and specifically;
  • offer concrete steps to resolve the issue;
  • move the dialog to private to clarify details.

Remember: correcting a mistake builds trust and shows professionalism.

2. A comment demonstrates the customer’s real experience and can be a source of improvement.

Real feedback describes a specific experience of using a product or service. Such feedback provides important insights for product and operational improvements.

Required actions:

• • Analyze the causes of the problem internally;
  • make the necessary changes to processes or instructions;
  • publicly thank for the feedback and describe what exactly you will change;
  • use the corrected situation as a case study in publications or the feedback section.

Real stories make businesses transparent and help avoid similar mistakes in the future.

3. Deletion can reinforce the negative and create the effect of hiding the truth.

Trying to hide the negative often causes even more distrust. Customers and audiences notice deleted comments and become skeptical of the brand.

What to do instead of deleting:

• • respond openly and professionally;
  • explain what steps have been taken to resolve the issue;
  • if the review contains an error of fact, provide evidence or explanations in a public response.

The result of transparent communication will be to reassure your audience and strengthen your reputation.

Practical response templates

Options for responding to negative reviews

One of the most obvious ways to respond to a negative review is to try to remove it yourself. If the comment is posted on your website, technically, it can be done in a few seconds. But the situation on external resources is different – the company cannot intervene on its own and has to act within the rules of a particular platform. And here, before contacting the moderators, it is worth reviewing the platform’s rules, because each platform has its own content requirements and determines what is considered a violation.

For example, Google operates under very strict standards. Businesses do not have the ability to delete comments on their profile on their own, even if they are inaccurate. The only option is to send a complaint to the moderation team. If the review contradicts Google’s policy, it may be removed after verification.

Let’s consider other approaches that help you successfully deal with critical comments and preserve your business’s reputation.

Ask the customer to update or delete the review after the issue is resolved

In most cases, negative feedback is caused by a misunderstanding, delay, or technical error. If a business responds promptly and offers a solution, the customer is often willing to revise their rating or even remove the comment.

An effective strategy includes:

• prompt response: it is important to show that the company sees the problem and is ready to act immediately;
• polite dialog in private messages: it’s easier to clarify details, find a compromise, and avoid public escalation;
• offering a real solution: it can be a replacement product, compensation, re-delivery, technical advice, or another way to fix the problem;
• explaining the significance of the updated review: the customer can be correctly explained that the clarified or deleted comment will help others to get the correct information about the quality of service;
• no pressure: the customer must change the review voluntarily, otherwise it may worsen the situation.

This approach works especially well in areas where service is critical: logistics, HoReCa, online stores, B2B services.

Start with systematic work with search engine reputation management (SERM)

Even high-quality operational work with criticism will not provide a stable result if the information background in search remains negative. SERM is a strategic system that forms a balanced and reliable picture of the brand on Google and on key platforms.

Key areas of work:

• monitoring mentions: using services such as Google Alerts, Mention, YouScan to monitor every new appearance of information about the brand;
• regular publication of high-quality content: articles, expert materials, case studies, interviews – all this displaces negative information from the first page of search results;
• collecting real positive feedback: after a successful interaction with a client, you should offer him or her to leave a review on Google, Facebook, or a specialized service;
• optimization of positive mentions: work with SEO, structured data, meta tags to make the correct materials appear higher;
• social media activity: an updated and regular presence on social media builds trust and helps to extinguish negativity naturally.

SERM is not a one-time action, but a long-term process that forms a «reputation shield» around the brand.

Hire a specialized agency in difficult cases

In some situations, a company’s internal resources are not enough. If the wave of negativity looks coordinated, lasts too long, or is already starting to affect sales and trust, it is worth engaging external experts. Specialized agencies conduct an in-depth reputation audit: they analyze search results, social media, forums, and review platforms, forming a complete picture of the situation. They also help to identify the source of the negative feedback – sometimes they can detect signs of a competitive attack or coordinated activity of several accounts.

This approach is especially relevant for medium and large businesses, where high reputational value and significant financial consequences are at stake.

Legal action: an option for serious reputational violations

The legal route is chosen when the review is not just unpleasant, but contains serious accusations, slander, or violations of the law. Legal action is a signal that the company is ready to defend its business by all legitimate means.

Situations when it is advisable to contact lawyers:

• defamation or dissemination of false facts;
• disclosure of confidential data;
• insults or discrimination;
• an organized attack by a competitor, if there is evidence of systematic and coordinated action.

Lawyers can draw up a legal claim against the author, submit a formal request to the platform, prepare materials for a lawsuit, and represent the interests of the business. Although this is a last resort, it often becomes an effective tool in situations where the reputational damage is significant or other methods have failed.

How to organize the process of monitoring reviews

Effective monitoring is not just about watching what is written about a brand. It is a systematic work that allows you to identify risks in a timely manner, control the information background and prevent reputational damage. The main goal of such a process is to separate individual emotional comments from situations that require intervention in time and to respond promptly to critical feedback without losing details and evidence.

What needs to be set up for monitoring to work stably:

• Create a clear list of queries that the system or a responsible person will use to track mentions: not only the company name, but also alternative spellings, product line names, popular abbreviations, and even common branding mistakes. The more complete this dictionary is, the less likely it is to miss an important signal;
• a list of platforms. In addition to classic platforms like Google Reviews or Facebook, you should consider marketplaces, industry forums, specialized Telegram channels, and comments on your own website. In some niches, the main negative feedback appears on «small» platforms that brands habitually ignore;
• automatic notifications. They can be received in the mail, a work messenger or CRM – it is important that all signals are collected in one place and not lost. If your business works with large amounts of mentions, services like YouScan, Brand24, or Mention will help you structure the information and simplify the search for patterns.

It’s equally important to determine the internal procedure for action after receiving a notification. Typically, the process consists of a brief initial assessment, classification (constructive comment, fake, slander, emotional statement, potential attack), prioritization, and transition to specific actions – response, escalation, or filing a complaint.

Why do we need such a structure?

Thanks to a well-established process, the team does not waste time on a chaotic reaction. Any mention can be quickly categorized, its impact assessed, and a decision made without giving in to emotions. In addition, consistency allows you to see trends: for example, when similar complaints indicate a problem in a product or service, rather than a random negative.

Properly configured monitoring is a clearly defined process. And when it works steadily, the next logical step is to measure its effectiveness: collect key indicators, evaluate response times and the quality of case resolution.

KPIs for assessing the effectiveness of negative feedback management

KPIs allow you to turn intuition and random actions into a manageable process. They make it possible to objectively evaluate operational work, the quality of communication, and the results of strategic initiatives. Without metrics, it is impossible to find problem areas, allocate resources reasonably, and demonstrate the impact of feedback management to the management.

The main KPI

How to interpret KPI

KPIs work like signals – they clearly show where to intervene. If the detection time is decreasing, it means that the alarms are set up and the triage process is working – the team receives information faster and can respond. However, short detection times without corresponding changes in response times indicate a lack of resources or a lack of role alignment: signals arrive, but responses are delayed.

The time to complete resolution indicator reflects the company’s ability to not only respond but also solve the problem. If it’s been rising for a long time, it often indicates operational issues such as logistics, difficulty with returns, or poor coordination between support and the product department. A low percentage of resolved cases with a normal response time suggests that the solutions are not satisfactory to customers, and a change in compensation policy or approach to resolution is needed.

Changes in average rating and NPS/CSAT after resolution are business-oriented KPIs: they show whether your feedback management really affects reputation and loyalty. A slight improvement in the ranking after the launch of the monitoring process and quick responses is already a positive signal, but a full assessment takes 3-6 months, as search rankings and accumulative opinion change slowly.

A high false positive rate means that filtering rules need to be customized: the operation wastes time on unimportant cases. On the other hand, an increase in the number of successfully removed fakes indicates the correct complaint tactics and work with platforms, but it can also mean increased attacks against the brand – track the trends.

Finally, KPIs should be reported regularly and in different sections: a daily digest for the operational team, a weekly report for the manager, and a monthly dashboard for the management with an interpretation of the reasons for changes and specific suggestions. This frequency allows not only to record problems, but also to adjust processes – from response templates to changes in the product or return policy.

Olha Tyshchenko

Editor

Author's page