How does online sentiment affect your business results?

Whether you run an online shop, a dental practice or a restaurant, you’d rather not see your business name mentioned in negative reviews or comments from complaining Facebook users. And rightly so: online sentiment has a significant impact on your business results. Especially if it’s negative. Let us explain.

Online what?

Online sentiment. This is the collective term for all possible comments that consumers leave online about, for example, your business. An accumulation of different reviews creates an overall impression and judgement of your business. It is therefore vital, as an entrepreneur, to keep online references, comments or even complaints under your own control as much as possible. First, we assess the potential impact of online sentiment on your business results. Then, of course, we’ll explain to what extent you yourself can influence these online comments.

To analyse or not to analyse?

It’s all very well having a wide online reach. It builds brand awareness for your business, and before you know it, everyone knows your company and the services it offers. But as soon as you find yourself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons, this online attention can suddenly work against you. Consumers mainly complain online about transport companies, postal services, telecoms providers, online shops and the hospitality sector. Customer service and product quality are often the main reasons people vent their frustrations online. Consumers prefer to use social social media such as Facebook and Twitter for this, but review sites are also popular platforms for voicing dissatisfaction. Whether it’s the beginning of the end or just that final push towards the abyss. Every year, several businesses go under, partly as a result of negative reviews.

Those who complain therefore tend to use social media as a public shaming platform. Entrepreneurs consequently often choose to analyse online sentiment on social media, for example using a sentiment tracker. In this way, they hope to gain an insight into the overall assessment. Is this a sensible approach? That is open to question. Generally speaking, complainers are more likely to feel the need to share their opinions online than satisfied customers. Furthermore, it is difficult for such trackers to recognise cynicism and sarcasm. (To be clear: we say A, but actually mean B. Or the other way round.) A computer lacks this refined sense of language and will therefore be unable to recognise these nuances. This can result in a distorted picture. Do you want to carry out sentiment analysis? If so, analysis by a human reader is still the preferred option for the time being.

Facebook as a decisive factor

Sometimes the impact of online sentiment is so immediate that no tracker or analytics system is needed to understand the overall assessment. For example, Danny, owner of the Mangia restaurant in Doetinchem, wrote on Facebook: ‘Since November, there has been an irreversible decline’. He wrote his post after his restaurant filed for bankruptcy as a result of a flood of poor online reviews. These began following a negative report in the newspaper. Among other things, the report stated that several customers had sent their plates back to the kitchen due to the quality of the food. This triggered a flood of further comments; customers were particularly vocal on Facebook.

Weekly turnover

“I came for the ravioli… Unfortunately, we were only told when we ordered that it had run out. It’s rather unusual for a dish to be out of stock so early in the evening. The lasagne and spaghetti were OK. We had to ask for drinks ourselves every time. We missed that proactive touch! The service took quite a long time, even though it wasn’t very busy yet. There was also some bickering amongst the staff on the floor. Not professional! The chocolate cake was supposed to be our highlight… but even that was a let-down. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what we’d expected,” said Martine.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t an experience we’d want to repeat. The table we’d booked wasn’t free on time – as it was occupied by friends of the waiting staff. The waiting staff were very friendly, but slow; it took a very long time for them to come and take our order, which meant the bread board and starter arrived together,” added Evelien. “Eight weeks after opening, weekly turnover plummeted,” according to the owner.

The case of Mangia restaurant shows that poor reviews lead to poor business results and can even result in bankruptcy in record time. After all, your customers are the decisive factor in a profitable business.

Criticism as an opportunity

How do you minimise negative feedback as much as possible? Obviously, by not giving your clients or visitors any reason to complain. Whilst there’s no denying that, it’s also a rather simplistic view. Clients are, after all, becoming increasingly critical. So, no matter how well you do your job, there’s always a risk of criticism. Have you come across a negative comment online about your services? Then it’s always a good idea to respond to it yourself, via the same platform. This shows that you don’t shy away from criticism and are willing to go the extra mile if necessary. It also demonstrates that you take negative comments on board. ‘So this won’t happen very often to this company,’ is the message your (potential) customers will hopefully take away from this. Incidentally, hold off on jumping straight in and refuting the criticism with counter-arguments. Instead, thank the customer for their feedback and let them know that you’ll serve them better in future. This is something owner Danny understood well. He thanks customers for virtually every review, tip and suggestion. He promises those who have complained that he’ll take action on the points raised. He also invites customers to visit his restaurant a second time. He cleverly highlighted positive feedback by publicly thanking customers for their compliments.

Responding publicly to complaints therefore even gives you the opportunity to work on your brand’s image. Do you consistently use the same tone of voice in your responses? If so, this is guaranteed to stand out after a while. In this way, clients or visitors get to know you even better and, in the best-case scenario, feel that they should judge for themselves.

Finally, receiving negative reviews can also be viewed in a positive light. Various experts believe that having a few negative reviews in the list makes it seem more realistic. This is because only positive reviews can give the impression that you may have posted them yourself. When, as the owner, you also respond to these negative reviews, you increase trust among potential clients.

Proactive in seeking positive feedback

As we mentioned earlier, we naturally want to avoid those negative reviews as much as possible. That’s why, finally, we’ll take a closer look at the online shops that feature in the top five for online complaints. Coolblue clearly receives a higher percentage (53 per cent) of positive feedback than its competitors in this sector. According to online customer reviews, Coolblue manages to ‘delight customers’ with swift handling, hassle-free processes and service with a touch of humour. They also achieve this speed when dealing with complaints, offering solutions and processing product returns. Surprising customers in a positive way? They do this by proactively informing customers when, unexpectedly, something has gone wrong. This ensures that customers do not have to ask for information themselves. So, in effect, they are not given the opportunity to complain online (i.e. publicly).

In short

Online sentiment has a significant impact on your company’s results and survival. How can you minimise the impact of online sentiment? And what is the best course of action if, unexpectedly, you do find yourself facing negative online reviews? Let’s summarise the key points:

• The best way to avoid bad reviews is by providing good service and keeping your promises.
• Still receiving online complaints? Take them seriously, publicly thank people via the same channels for their feedback and offer an apology. Ask how you can make amends (and then make sure you keep that promise).
• Try to surprise them in a positive way by contacting your clients about a mistake before they have a chance to complain. That way, you don’t give them the opportunity to complain publicly.