How to respond to negative reviews
The reply is not really for the person who left the review. It is for the next customer reading it, who has not decided yet and will read your answer before they read anything else. Get that one thing right and the rest of this page is detail.
Reply within a day
A complaint sitting unanswered on your listing reads as agreement, and it keeps reading that way for years. The reply is permanent, public and seen by everyone who scrolls past. That is the cost of leaving it, and it is much higher than the cost of a plain, slightly imperfect answer written today.
Six rules that hold up
Reply within a day
A one-star review with no answer reads as agreement. A one-star review with a calm reply under it reads as a business that was paying attention. Speed matters more than polish, and the reply stays visible long after the argument would have ended.
Write it for the next customer, not the reviewer
The person who left the review has already decided. The person reading it has not, and they are the audience. That single shift is what stops a reply turning into a defence, because you stop trying to win and start trying to be recognisable as reasonable.
Never argue, never be sarcastic, never go long
Three or four sentences. No point-by-point rebuttal. A long reply signals that the complaint hit a nerve, and sarcasm is the only thing readers remember afterwards. If you want to say more than four sentences, that conversation belongs on a phone call.
Take it off the public page, but say so publicly
Give a way to reach you: a number, a name, an email. Then the reader sees an owner who wants to fix it rather than a thread that trails off. Do not publish the customer's details in your reply, and for a clinic never confirm that the person was a patient at all.
Say what changed, if anything did
One concrete sentence outperforms every apology template. We have changed the Friday evening staffing means something. We take all feedback seriously means nothing, and readers in India have seen it a thousand times.
Reply in the language they wrote in
A review in Bengali answered in English reads as a form letter. Answered in Bengali, it reads as the owner. This also applies to Hinglish and Banglish, which people write far more often than they write formal Hindi.
What to say, with sample replies
Three situations, and they need genuinely different answers. Take the wording and change it, because a reply that reads like a template is worse than a short one in your own words.
When the complaint is true
Say so early, in the first sentence, without qualifying it. An owner who admits a bad Saturday looks far better than one who explains it away. Then say what you have done about it and offer to make it right. Do not offer anything in exchange for changing or deleting the review; asking a customer to change a review is against Google's policies and the offer itself is what gets you reported.
You are right, and I am sorry. The wait that evening was far longer than it should have been and we were short two people in the kitchen. We have changed how we staff Saturdays since. If you will give us another try, call me on the number on our listing and I will look after your table myself. - Anirban, owner
When the complaint is false or exaggerated
Do not call them a liar, even when they are one. Correct the fact in one neutral sentence, without adjectives, and stop. Readers are good at spotting who is being reasonable, and one plain correction next to an angry review does the work by itself. Then invite them to contact you, because a real customer usually will and a fake one never does.
Thank you for writing. I have checked our records for that date and we did not have a booking or a bill under that name, so I am not able to trace what happened. I would genuinely like to. Please email us at the address on our listing and I will look into it properly.
When the person was never your customer
This is the most common unfair review: a competitor, a former employee, a mistaken listing, or somebody who meant a different branch. Reply once, neutrally, so the next reader knows there is another side. Then flag it, because a review from a person who never used the business is a policy matter and not a matter of opinion.
We have no record of this visit and, from the details, it may be a different branch or a different business. We would like to check. Our number is on this listing and we answer it. In the meantime we have asked Google to review this post.
When you can ask Google to remove a review
Only a policy violation gets a review taken down. Being unfair is not a policy violation, and reporting reviews that are merely harsh trains Google to ignore you when a genuinely fake one arrives.
Worth reporting
- • Fake or spam reviews, including ones posted by a competitor
- • Reviews from someone with a conflict of interest, such as a former employee
- • Off-topic posts that are not about an experience with the business
- • Harassment, hate speech, profanity or personal attacks
- • Personal information, such as a phone number or an address, in the review
Will not be removed
- • A review that is simply unfair, harsh or one you disagree with
- • A one-star rating with no text at all
- • A complaint about a price, a policy or a wait you think was reasonable
- • A review you would rather was not the first one people see
- • A review left after a genuine visit that went badly
How to report one
Open the reviews section of your Google Business Profile, find the review, and flag it as inappropriate with the policy it breaks. Google reviews the report, usually within a few days, and often declines it. If it does, there is an appeal in Google's help centre, and an appeal that cites the specific policy does better than one that explains why the review is unfair. Reply politely in the meantime: a flagged review stays visible while it is being looked at, and most of them stay visible afterwards too.
What never to do, however tempting
- Arguing point by point, or replying twice to the same review
- Offering a refund, a discount or a free item to get a review changed or deleted
- Confirming that the reviewer was a patient or naming their treatment
- Publishing the customer's phone number, bill or booking details in the reply
- Asking staff, friends or family to bury it under five-star reviews
- Paying anyone who promises to delete a Google review
The last two are worth being blunt about. Burying a bad review under reviews you arranged is fake engagement, Google removes them and can restrict the whole profile, and anyone selling review deletion is either doing nothing or doing something that will cost you the listing.
Frequently asked questions
How should I respond to a negative review?
Within a day, in three or four sentences, in the language the review was written in. Acknowledge the specific thing that went wrong, say what you have done about it, and give a way to reach you. Write it for the next person reading the review rather than for the reviewer, because that reader is the one still deciding.
How do I reply to a 1 star review with no comment?
Reply anyway, briefly and without assuming what went wrong. Something like: we are sorry this was not a good experience and we would like to understand what happened, please call us on the number on this listing. A silent one-star with a polite reply under it costs you far less than a silent one-star on its own.
Can I get a bad Google review removed?
Only if it breaks Google's policies: spam or fake reviews, a conflict of interest such as a competitor or former employee, off-topic posts, harassment, or personal information. A review that is merely unfair or that you disagree with will not be removed. Flag it from the reviews section of your Business Profile, and if the first decision goes against you there is an appeal.
Should I reply to a fake review?
Yes, once, calmly, and then flag it. The reply is not for the person who wrote it, it is so that the next reader sees there is another account of it. Say plainly that you have no record of the visit and invite them to contact you. Do not accuse anyone in public, because a wrong accusation is far more damaging to you than the review was.
Does replying to negative reviews actually help?
The reply is permanently visible under the review to everyone who reads it afterwards, which is the whole point. A calm answer to a two-star review does more for the next customer's decision than three five-star reviews with no response at all, and unanswered complaints are what people scroll to first.
Does Sunaam write the replies for me?
Sunaam drafts them, in the language of the review, using your business's tone and the rules of your trade, and nothing is posted until you approve it. If you switch auto-reply on, only four and five star reviews go out on their own; anything lower always waits for a human, because a complaint should never be answered by a machine without the owner seeing it.
The draft is ready before you have read the review
Sunaam alerts you when a low rating lands, drafts a reply in the reviewer's own language, and waits. You edit it, or you reject it. Nothing reaches Google until you tap approve, and a complaint never goes out on its own.
Also useful: the free reply generator, ready-made reply templates and how to get more Google reviews.