In today’s digital age, it is inevitable for businesses to receive bad reviews from their consumer. There is never a perfect way or formula to satisfy every single consumer. However, it is important to note that the way a business deals with them will determine if they are an asset or not. Every business fears bad reviews, but the truth is that bad reviews can be beneficial leading to improved product management to better customer satisfaction.

Research has found that consumers spend significantly more time on a website when they come across a bad review. Additionally, 85% of the time they would end up with a buying decision when they trust the reviews. The key is to nurture customer trust and reviews are the best way to do so. Consumers check out reviews because they trust the unedited opinions of other consumers rather than the words of sales assistants and retailers. When reviews sound like they are fabricated or biased, consumers would less likely trust the business leading to loss of sales.

It has also been found that 68% of consumers believe reviews more when they see good and bad scores for a product. Meanwhile, 95% of consumers will suspect censorship or faked reviews when they see perfect scores. Ultimately, bad reviews can be a great tool that brings a list of business gains, such as increases in consumer engagement and trust in your brand while improving customer satisfaction. On the contrary, bad reviews will only hurt businesses when it is badly dealt with.