Bad reviews are (for the most part) an inevitable part of doing business. Sometimes a business drops the ball and doesn’t deliver the 5-star customer experience it promised. But sometimes, online reviews are fake, untrue or the kind of emotional rant you see in a soap opera.
If you have received a bad or negative online review, you may be wondering what you can do.
This article, our eCommerce lawyer, explains how a business can respond to a bad online review, including the potential removal of a negative review and other steps businesses can take
Key takeaways
- Taking down a bad review may not help your business’s online shopfront to convey the right message to your would-be customers.
- If a bad review is false, there are steps businesses can take to remove it.
- However, if the review (although negative) is accurate, it may be illegal to remove the poor review.
- Businesses can seek to minimise the damage by instead obtaining a flurry of positive reviews!
Removing a negative review
A negative online customer review may be removed by a business if the business is able to prove that the review is fake, offensive or defamatory.
However, an online customer review that is truthful or one that is an accurate reflection of the customer’s experience with your business, may not be able to be removed.
In fact, removing such a review is likely to be in breach of the sections 18 and 34 of the Australian Consumer Law. This means the manipulation (e.g. deletion) of negative online reviews may be considered ‘misleading and deceptive conduct’ ,as it alters a consumer’s impression of and trust in your business.
Learn more about defamatory remarks in our article: The Ultimate Guide to Defamation in Australia.
What can your business do when it gets a bad review?
Here’s what to do when your business gets a bad review:
Step 1: Respond immediately
Always respond immediately (and professionally). While you’re assessing and preparing your next move, you can significantly reduce the damage by immediately responding to the review.
Remember: it’s important to not be misleading or deceptive in your response.
Step 2: Bring the review to the platform's attention
If the review is fake, offensive or defamatory, flag it with the relevant online platform (i.e. Google) and request that it be removed.
Step 3: Contact the reviewer
If the review is untrue or “rant-like”, contact the reviewer directly (if you are able to) and request that they either adjust their review so that it is accurate (if this is going to benefit your business by painting it in a better light than the current review) or request that they remove their review.
Step 4: Engage an online lawyer
If the reviewer refuses to change or remove their review and that review is not true, it’s time for a heavy hand.
You can either send a legal letter, putting them on notice that if they don’t take action (and your business has legal grounds to do so), your business will take legal action against them.
Step 5: Consider your next steps
If the negative online customer review is having a material impact on your business and its reputation, it’s time to take legal action.
At this point, you should contact an online lawyer that can help your business draft and submit appropriate documents and, yes, you guessed it – Prosper Law can help your business with negative online reviews!
Frequently asked questions
Why are online reviews important?
Your online reviews are a major decision making factor for customers considering purchasing goods or services from your business.
In our own experience, customers often look at recent reviews to determine if a business is suitable for the customer’s needs. Seeing a bad online review can quickly alter a customer’s perception and they may no longer want to want to engage your business.
Notably, Google is one of the most popular websites in the world. According to research, it’s also the top online review website. Further:
- 90% of consumers will check reviews on Google before visiting a business — more than any other review site.
- 21% agree that Google reviews are one of the most important factors in their search for a local business, ranking them as more influential than proximity, price estimates, and search engine results pages (SERPs).
- Google is the top site for online reviews, followed by Facebook.
Is it legal to remove negative online reviews?
That depends on whether the negative online review is fake, offensive or defamatory. Additionally, does your business have evidence to support that this is the case?
Remember, removing an online review that is truthful or accurate may be in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.
What legal action can my business take for a fake online review?
The type of legal action your business can take will depend on the type of claim made by the customer in the fake, offensive or defamatory review.
Speak to one of our experienced eCommerce lawyers today for a free initial consultation and no-obligation fixed-fee quote.
