How negative reviews affect customer decision making process

when a customer is about to make an online purchase, they are purely making a decision based on words and pictures. Without having the access to any other means of forming a decision or passing a judgement, the consumers are solely dependent on what they are presented with digitally. Such experiences become personal and once they come across a negative review, they come to believe that what you’re delivering didn't match the other person's expectations or that what was presented to them digitally wasn’t delivered quite physically. The biggest way to save your business from these distressing negative reviews is to improve your product, offerings or customer service

A negative review is equivalent to a major put-down. Disappointed customers express what they were expecting and how the business failed to meet their expectations and how changes could help if any is required. Such reviews help future consumers to form their decision instead of just turning them away. Well, similarly, a bad review that’s just bad though is a different story and equally impacts the business

Can customers be sued for posting negative reviews?

Yes, indeed, at times customers can be sued for leaving dreadful reviews. In several instances smaller companies have relied upon legal maneuvers to have disappointed customers remove their reviews

However, such reviews are rarely successful, i.e. if a review turns out to be true in all aspects and based on facts, the reviewers (unsatisfied consumers) are usually safe against any form of legal action.

A single drop of water in the sea is negligible and so is a single bad review amid the positive ones. Consumers trust and rely on the collective experiences of people more than forming an idea based on the opinion of a single individual who had a bad stand-alone experience for some unavoidable factor.

And so is the other side of the coin, that a single good review among the batch of negative reviews won’t make any difference to help you gain a potential customer. Simply put, not every bad review will possess harm your business, however, a bunch of them might be something you should look out for because it enhances the fact that you are at fault.

Don’t dwell on such bad reviews, but consider them learning experiences and find a way to grow, improve and advance from them. Integrity goes a long way, even in the face of bad reviews, if you are wrong apologize for it and fix them. Be transparent and let your consumers see that you are active and making improvements, this will gain you loyal customers and help establish a healthy relationship with them.