Learn how to handle negative online reviews effectively and counter bad reviews by earning more positive ones, dispute negative reviews with platforms, and explore paid advertising options for support. Plus, you'll get tips on responding professionally when reviews can't be removed, helping you maintain a strong online reputation.
It’s inevitable – you law firm is going to get negative online reviews.
Even the best lawyers in the world get a bad review on platforms like Google, Yelp, or Avvo or other directories.
You may get an upset client, or it may not even be your fault, but they’re upset about the result they got on their case and decide to leave you a bad review.
As a lawyer, negative reviews are something that you can often resolve and remove.
Here’s 5 strategies we use with our attorney clients to manage their online reputation and deal with negative reviews.
5. Bury bad reviews by earning more good reviews
This seems basic, but honestly it’s your best bet.
If you only have 5 total reviews, 1 bad review is detrimental.
If you have 500 total reviews, 1 bad review is understandable.
In fact, studies show that companies with perfect 5 star ratings seem unrelatable (no one is that perfect).
So adding more positive reviews makes that bad reviews anomalies.
Negative reviews hold more power when there are fewer positive reviews to compare them to. Consider asking your happy clients for positive reviews to help bury the negative reviews and to make them seem irrelevant or unimportant.
We recommend doing this on an ongoing basis anyway. Reviews are critical for building your reputation online, especially as a local service business.
An easy method you can consider is to add a request for a review on your thank you page that shows after clients fill out a form electronically or pay an invoice. Here’s an example from a local accountant that you can also emulate:
You can also make it a habit to call past clients and ask them for a review. Or, once a case ends in your client’s favor, ride the wave of positive emotions and ask them for a review straight away.
There are many ways to go about this. If you remain diligent and persistent, your positive reviews will grow steadily and help bury any bad reviews over time.
4. Submit a remediation form
While asking clients to submit reviews is very important and can help lower the reputation hit of the bad review you’ve received, you can also take some more direct actions.
The first is to submit a remediation form on any platform where you received a negative review.
Most platforms, like Yelp, Apple, and Google Business, have a form you can fill out to dispute the negative review. In many cases, these are automated, and they’ll supply a list of options to select from regarding why you’re asking for the review to be removed.
You only need to select one of the default reasons on the list and send the form. A response will typically take about a couple of weeks and generally speaking, has a low success rate.
Most review platforms will side with the reviewer (if it’s a real review). If it’s obvious review spam, the platform should remove it for you.
We handle this process for our clients, and usually see around a 25% removal rate.
3. Consider paying for ads on the platform
Another option is to pay for ads or a premium tier on the platform. Usually, if you advertise on these platforms with a premium listing, you’ll get a direct representative you can reach out to at any time.
You can often ask them to remove the negative review for you. Usually, they or someone on their team will.
If you only have a free listing, the odds of having a representative, getting past the automated form, and asking someone to help you are slim to none.
2. If your removal request on Google is denied, escalate it
If your request to remove the review gets denied, there’s often little more you can do on most platforms. However, on Google, you can escalate the request.
In many cases, you’ll be able to chat with a moderator and present your case. This is a last-resort scenario if the automated form doesn’t work out for you.
By escalating it to a moderator, you can describe the situation in more detail and potentially have them remove it for you.
1. Reply to the review in a professional, sympathetic manner
If all else fails and the bad review stays on your account, your last course of action is to either resolve the situation with the individual who left the review or reply to it.
Ideally, it is best if you resolve the issue with the person who left the review so when you ask them to take down the review, they are happy to do so.
However, if that’s not an option, the only thing left to do is to reply in a professional and sympathetic manner. You definitely don’t want to leave your review up there and unresponded to.
This is an example of a law firm getting emotional over a bad review. If you get emotional and fight back, you have no shot of getting then to remove the review on their own.
When replying, write your response from the perspective of what other potential clients are going to think when they read that review. Help address any concerns they may have and put their mind at ease so they deem the negative review as irrelevant or “not that bad”.
They’ll judge you based on how you respond to it and you still have a chance of negating any reputation losses from the review.
Key takeaways
The best way to overcome the impact of bad reviews is to bury them in a list of many positive reviews. It’s ideal that you ask your clients for reviews on a frequent and consistent basis so you build up that bank of positive reviews as much as possible.
Otherwise, you can apply to have the review taken down by the platform it’s posted on. Or you can resolve the matter with the person who left the review and ask them to take it down. If all else fails, make sure the review is not left unresponded.
If you’d like help with building up positive reviews for your business, reach out to our team today. We’ve helped many law firms around the country improve their online reputation and we can do the same for you.
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