Reviews are essential if you want to keep generating clients as a freelancer. They are a way of spreading the word about your services, giving new customers the confidence to choose you over other freelancers. If you have lots of reviews and a five-star rating, you must be good at what you do.
Having said that, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you will come across a negative review or two at times. Getting positive reviews is great, and it’s very easy to handle them. The challenge is learning how to deal with negativity, and here are three vital tips:
Respond to the Review
Before you write your response, take a deep breath, step back from your screen, and think about what to write. Responding to negative reviews is clever as you can help provide your own view of things. Sometimes, customers can write bad reviews because they weren’t happy about something, but the reality is that it wasn’t your fault. A common annoyance for freelancers is being given a terrible brief for a project, receiving no further communications from the client, then having messages back saying they’re unhappy with the final project. Here, you can take the time to reply and explain the situation, stating that the project wasn’t up to standards as you received no brief or guidance at all. It’s a good way of providing context to negative reviews, letting other consumers see the full picture, realizing that your services aren’t bad after all.
Identify the Reviewer
To be honest, before you respond to a review, try to figure out who the reviewer is. As a freelancer, this is relatively easy as you have a finite number of clients at any given time. Sometimes, you get a terrible review from someone that you can’t identify. You might respond by asking them to message you privately with their details, but they never do. If you can’t figure out who wrote the review, there’s a big chance it is fake. As noted by Guaranteed Removals, a lot of rival companies will provide fake reviews all the time, making other companies or freelancers look bad. If you suspect this is the case, you can have the reviews removed, clearing your reputation.
Take the Comments on Board
Sometimes, you have to hold your hands up and agree with the negative review. The client has been constructive, and you should respect that. Take any negative comments on board and use them as feedback to improve your services. Again, this is where replying to reviews is handy as you can say you’ve taken the comments on board, or you could ask for more detailed feedback to help you improve. Clients will appreciate this and might even return after leaving a negative review because you’ve shown that you’re willing to change and improve.
The most crucial point to take from this post is that you can’t fly off the handle when you see a bad review. Don’t let it get you down, don’t reply out of anger, and don’t assume it will ruin your chances of freelance success. Read what someone says, take their comments and learn from what they say, and remove any fake reviews that are damaging your reputation.
