Are you prepared to handle a bad online review of your marketplace? In this post, you'll learn how to respond to bad reviews and keep them from happening in the future. These tools will help you build a strong online reputation to grow your community and keep users active your marketplace.

Nothing is more important to the collaborative economy than the peer review mechanism that tells people which platforms and users they can trust. But every marketplace will occasionally make mistakes and users often leave bad reviews to voice their concerns.

Put yourself in their shoes. People don't take to their keyboards to mindlessly slander a business. It's more likely they've had a genuinely bad experience and they're looking for recompense. Writing a bad review is a way of holding a company publicly accountable to make sure others proceed with caution.

If this happens to your marketplace, don't panic. With the right approach, a bad review can actually give you an opportunity to show people you care and attract loyal customers. Here's how to make that happen:

Respond quickly

No matter how bad the review is, you must respond as quickly as possible. The less time your user is feeling wronged, the better. Be sure to monitor your channels daily in order to get in front of problems before they spiral out of control.

Never let more than 24 hours pass between a complaint and your response. Addressing bad reviews early can help mitigate a wave of negative feedback and show your audience that you have great customer service.

Be professional

When you're responding to bad reviews, don't take their negative feedback personally. Don't make excuses or try to shift the blame. If the user didn't get the experience they were promised from your platform, it's no one's fault but your own.

Publicly addressing the affected customer not only shows that you're willing to take responsibility for their experience, but also demonstrates to potential users that you care about your community.

Apologize and add value

Apologize for the situation. Acknowledge the user's feelings and let them know that you value their feedback. Resolve any issue they might have had and look for ways to reaffirm the value of your marketplace. Provide a solution by shipping a replacement, giving a discount, providing a credit or offering a full refund.

Be flexible and give the user what he or she needs to restore faith in your marketplace. You don't want an angry customer telling their friends and family how much they hated your brand. Even though it might cost you something to fix the situation, losing a customer will cost you even more in the long run.

Learn from your mistakes

Apologizing for the error, rectifying the situation and delivering added value can quickly turn a negative into a positive. But a bad review means there's room for improvement. If a marketplace user is having a problem with your platform, identify exactly what went wrong and fix it so the same thing doesn't happen in the future.

Take each bad review as a learning experience. Working out the kinks will ensure that no one experiences that problem again, which will position your marketplace to be more successful moving forward. If you can get past the initial sting, bad reviews can actually help your marketplace grow.

How have you dealt with bad reviews? Let me know in the comments below!