There’s no question that most of Alternative Payments merchants would say they love positive product reviews. Is it possible that they might see a value in the occasional negative review? Here are 3 reasons to consider how they can be turned in your favor.

1. Believe-ability

Negative reviews make the positives one more believable. You would probably agree that an entire page of glowing 5-star reviews of any product would seem suspicious. When have you seen a product on Amazon that didn’t have someone complaining about the packaging being damaged or shipping not being on the schedule? While not directed to the product these things are the sort of indicators that real people are buying and reviewing real products.

2. Chance to Respond

The best way to mitigate a negative review is for the online store to reply to the review. This is a chance to take back the spotlight and demonstrate to potential customers that your customer support is spot on. There may be no way to placate the bad reviewer, however, a simple statement such as, “We’re sorry this product didn’t fit you needs. Thanks for letting us know” will go very far in a shoppers eyes. Browse a site like TripAdvisor which is heavily dependent on user reviews. Notice the hotels that bubble up to the top are active in responding to their reviewers.

3. Need to Know

If a product or service receives a couple of similar negative comments you need to recognize the issue. Perhaps this is an indicator that there actually is something wrong. The new supplier, different batch or maybe minor change has created a push back point. There may be a simple solution like changing your product description to correct a misunderstood feature/spec.

[Tweet “Listening to your customers may tell you something you overlooked. “]

Perhaps this change would have the immediate impact of preventing people destined to be unhappy with a purchase from making the mistake. Preventing negative reviews before they happen may be the best advice…although see point #1 😉