Limiting Negative Feedback on Yelp and Other Online Platforms

Recently, I read some articles about a restaurant that sent a service contract to people that made reservations of five or more. That contract included an agreement to a $50 cancelation fee. More controversially, it also included language stating customers “may be held legally liable for generating any potential negative, verbal or written defamation.” I read that to mean no negative reviews on sites like Yelp or Trip Advisor. 

Here are those articles: 

Post and Courier / Hanna Raskin

Allbusiness.com / Daniel Warner

This policy generated substantial buzz online, as well as several negative reviews for the business on Yelp. Many questioned the ability of a business to limit the free speech rights of patrons when relating a service experience. The first article I came across was from Daniel Warner, a lawyer writing for allbusiness.com. He examines the legality of the practice and explains that the law is evolving in this matter. 

To me, the question is not “Can this be done?”, but “Should this be done?”. Why should a business choose to invest resources combating negative reviews through legal means when it could alternatively invest that energy elevating product and service? Without doubt, there may be cases where a review is so malicious and unfounded that a legal remedy may be the answer. I will leave that to legal experts like Daniel Warner to diagnose. In many instances, negative reviews (based upon real customer experiences) offer valuable opportunities and insights. In this post, I will examine some of the negative outcomes of having a policy limiting feedback, and provide alternative solutions for customer engagement on social media. 

Welcome to a more powerful word of mouth

Social media has fundamentally changed the way customers interact with businesses. It has made customers more powerful by making word of mouth more efficient.  A person with a large online following can convey a negative customer experience to thousands of people. Online review platforms can magnify this reach. Businesses must embrace this new reality and seek deeper engagement with customers to produce favorable outcomes. These platforms empower the customer, rewarding those that meet customer expectations and punishing those that fail to do so. This type of information freedom will raise the level of service and products across the service sector. 

Businesses rely on reputation to generate and attract more business.  It is not surprising that companies would aggressively seek to protect their reputation. Platforms such as Yelp present an uncontrollable public relations element for companies. It allows individuals to negatively and positively impact the reputation of an organization. Reactions like the service clause are an attempt to rebalance the relationship between customer and provider. There are some negative side effects to such an action. 

Side note: To highlight the importance of customer centricity in the connected age, I recommend the following short video from Salesforce.com - Becoming a “Customer Company”

Regardless if clauses attempting to prevent negative feedback are legally enforceable or not, their existence alone negatively impacts brand perception. 

Businesses should believe that their product or service alone should be strong enough to generate positive reviews. Attempting to limit negative feedback before the transaction has taken place front loads the customer with a negative message. It signals that the business may know that something is wrong with the product. Additionally, it may make potential customers wary and influence them to scrutinize the service product more closely. 

Such a policy is incongruent with customer expectations of the limits of the exchange relationship. Customers pay for the service and product and expect to be able to communicate their experience to others freely. Regardless of the constitutional legality, people don’t want to be told what they can or can’t say after a transaction is over. It goes against values of individuality and resistance to control. 

The restaurant featured in the original article received several one-star Yelp reviews highlighting this policy after the date of publishing of the article. At the time of this post, the restaurant had a solid four-star rating that could have been higher without the existence of these negative reviews based upon the policy. (More on how to challenge them later.)

At a very basic level every company must answer the question, “Who are we?”  through their policies and actions. A policy limiting customer communication is unwelcoming to the customer. Being open and welcoming are key values for any service sector business. Limiting negative feedback may address the negative behavior of a few problem patrons, but is not worth communicating an unwelcoming message to the entire customer base.

Negative feedback provides valuable information on how to improve your service

Review sites are a valuable source of business intelligence that should be mined for ways to improve service. Read your reviews to identify elements of the experience that can be improved upon. Take advantage of the online platform to reach out directly to reviewers and delve more deeply into their perspectives and expectations. Many will be happy to tell you what could have gone better. If you are receiving feedback such as, “The drinks were fine, but I prefer how they make them at Jack’s around the corner”, find out what “Jack” is doing better than you. Listen to your customers. They pay your bills. It is vital you understand how they feel when they engage with your service. Use reviews to identify and solve problems before they negatively impact your business.

Focus on creating value for your customers 

Attempting to control the conversation is a distraction. A business should focus on what it does best. If we are talking about a restaurant, this means serving food and providing great service. Consistently deliver in these areas and most reviews will be positive. There will always be a number of reviewers that you cannot please. This is a reality of the online landscape and most people reading reviews understand that. What is more important, is that overall the sum of the reviews tell the story of an organization that is focused on doing right by the people they do business with. If you get your core business right and take care of your customers the voices of happy customers will overshadow the few that don’t appreciate your offering. 

Use the review platform to challenge and remove posts that are not based on actual customer experience

There will be occasions where people who are not genuine customers negatively review your business. In the case of the restaurant featured in the article by Hanna Raskin, it clearly received some one-star Yelp reviews as a result of the story. Yelp’s Terms of Use prohibit reviews that are not first hand accounts of actual customer experiences. In the case of the featured restaurant, the reviews were soley about the social media policy and occurred shortly after the date of publishing of the original story. This presents a compelling case to challenge such reviews with Yelp. Similarly, Business owners should review their own pages for language such as, “My friend went here and told me”, that indicates that the review was not from a real customer. Business should be accountable to real reviews but should not suffer from complete fiction. 

Create other outlets for customers to provide non-public feedback

Many times people post negative reviews out of frustration. They were dissatisfied with their customer experience and found no other outlet than the internet. The best solution is to check in on customer satisfaction during or immediately after the customer experience. Many people do not feel comfortable to complain in person, especially if the complaint is minor. Provide survey options to collect their feedback and these complaints may not make it to the internet. 

Finally

The job of everyone in the service industry is to meet (and hopefully) exceed customer expectations. Company policy should enable staff to provide the highest level of service possible. Policies to deter negative reviews send the message that the company does not care if customers have had a bad time. Attempting to control the conversation using legal means demonstrates a failure to adapt to the social space. Businesses must use social media sites to engage more deeply with customers (especially those that are critical of them). Listening to the needs and expectations of customers is vital to any service focused business. Spending resources trying to limit negative reviews takes energy away from your true mission: exceeding service expectations and developing a customer base of satisfied customers.