How do reviews impact your store?

It can be so disheartening to get a bad review on a product you have worked hard on. As small business owners, we live and breathe our little digital product stores and when this happens it can not only be frustrating, but also it can really take the wind out of your momentum.

A bad review though will not destroy your store (even though it might feel like it) – today, we’re diving into how to handle them, how to create an amazing customer experience and how reviews can affect the algorithm.

Let’s get started!

Dealing with Bad Reviews:It’s essential to handle them with grace and professionalism – did you know that your customer can actually modify them later? I find that 90% of customers, once they have been helped and their issue has been resolved, are very happy to update a review to reflect the great customer service you have offered.

If you get a bad review, try to…

Stay Calm: Take a deep breath before responding. Avoid reacting defensively or emotionally. Maintain a calm and composed tone in your communication. Channel your inner business boss and try to respond in a way that you would encourage an employee to on your behalf.

Respond Promptly in a Private Message: Address the issue as soon as possible. Show that you genuinely care about resolving the problem and providing excellent customer service.

Avoid the temptation to respond publicly until all avenues of fixing things have been exhausted. When you respond to a view on Etsy publicly – even if you remove it later – it will lock the bad review in place and your customer will be unable to modify it.

Offer Solutions: Apologize for any inconvenience caused and propose practical solutions. Whether it’s a refund, a replacement, or additional support, demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction. Just remember it’s against Etsy’s policy to coerce a customer to change their review, so never offer the above solutions as a trade for a review removal. Try to use this as an opportunity to create a customer for life – go above and beyond what the standard expectation is.

Learn and Improve: Use negative feedback as an opportunity for growth. Assess the criticism objectively and consider if there are areas where you can enhance your products or customer experience.

What if your customer still won’t revise their review? 

If all else fails, you can report reviews to Etsy for removal that fall into the below categories:

1. Contain identifying private information
2. Contain obscene, racist, or harassing language or imagery
3. Violate our Anti-Discrimination Policy
4. Contain prohibited medical drug claims
5. Are solely advertising or spam
6. Are only about things outside the seller’s control, such as a shipping carrier (mentioned by name), Etsy, or a third party.
7. Contain threats or extortion
8. Include shilling or otherwise falsely inflate a shop’s review score.

If it doesn’t fall into these categories, you can then reply to the review – try to be professional and politely explain your side of the story. Remember: responding to a review makes it unable for your customer to change it – it will lock it in permanently and should be a last resort.

Ensuring Great Reviews:

While you can’t control every review you receive, there are steps you can take to increase your chances of obtaining positive feedback:

Quality Products: Continually strive for excellence in your digital products. Ensure they are well-designed, functional, and meet the needs of your target audience.

Stellar Customer Support: Provide exceptional customer service. You can manually send a follow-up message to touch base with your customer after purchase and make sure all is well – this can be a great way to catch any issues before a review is left. In addition, respond promptly to inquiries, offer assistance when needed, and go the extra mile to exceed expectations.

Set up an autoreply: Collect and compile your most commonly asked questions and add them to an auto reply in your Etsy store to support customers while you are sleeping.

Clear and Accurate Product Descriptions: Make sure your product descriptions are detailed, accurate, and set clear expectations. Avoid misrepresenting your products to prevent customer disappointment and try to clearly show on both your product images and in your description that your product is digital and nothing will be physically shipped.

Regarding the Algorithm:

Reviews do play a role in how your listings organically rank, but they are not the be all and end all of ranking. However, remember that Etsy’s algorithm considers multiple factors, such as listing quality, shop activity, and relevancy, to determine search results and visibility. Usually, bad reviews are also far and few between and your raving positive reviews will usually be the ones customers will gravitate to anyway.

Wishing you a fantastic week filled with creativity and success!

Best regards,

Jessa B

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