How Serious Should You Take That Negative Review?

Like every movie you see these days, this is a “true story” about me.  When I was managing with Aimco in Philadelphia, I was called by the concierge on a Saturday afternoon.  This community had 4 high-rise towers and an on-site transfer was taking place that day.  However, like most communities, there are rules regarding moves, one of which prohibits the use of main entrance doors.

The concierge said residents  were moving from one tower to another and using the main entrances  at both.  They refused to listen to the concierge or anyone from the leasing team.  I lived on-site and made my way to the front desk.  I confronted the residents and mentioned why this rule is in place, etc.  One of the 3 roommates had a brace on one leg and said “I don’t care what your rules are here, I can’t walk, I’m injured and refuse to take the long route, but it doesn’t matter anyway because we are done” (the PG version).  Later that evening, I receive a notification from apartmentratings.com that a new review is up.

The review was from the resident with the brace (by the way was walking fine without the brace on surveillance video) and he made it clear that “Randy Trubow” was the worst manager, yada yada.  On Monday I contacted the website and the best they were able to do is remove my actual name.  So be it…

So again I ask, how serious should you take that negative review?  

Here is my opinion:

1. When a customer sees consistency negativity in the content within reviews, they are likely going to be concerned.  For example, if the building in story had 5 other negative reviews, all regarding move experiences, I’d be concerned as a customer.
2.  I buy a lot of products online from Amazon.com.  Naturally, I read the reviews on the products.  On Amazon.com, for every 10 positive reviews, there’s always a negative that was purely based on the shipping.  The review had NOTHING to do with the actual product.  Therefore, negative reviews that are not on actual product, shouldn’t be anything to worry about.  Customers are smart and know not to use this information in their decision.  For example, in property management, you’ll see a negative review because of nearby construction noise.  Really??  That’s like eating a great meal at any restaurant and giving them 1-star because of the road work going on outside.
3.  If you work in the corporate office and don’t interact with customers, you should be meeting with front line employees and get their opinions on daily operations.  Any review can likely be answered in detail by the people who are most important in any company.  There’s nothing more valuable than the feedback from frontline employees who are with customers on a daily basis.
4. Hiring someone to manage your online reputation is always a good idea.  Actually, you can even give someone the task of managing industry-related websites that provide customer reviews.  Thank the people what provide a positive review and spend some time researching the negative ones.  Can you locate that customer?  Did you try clicking on their profile name?  If you are able to contact this specific customer, DO IT.  Be sincere and listen to why that specific customer is so upset.  I’ve personally made phone calls and had negative reviews removed.
5. I’d use a 10:1 ratio for managing reviews, meaning for every 10 reviews I’m okay with 1 being negative.  That’s 90% or above rating, which I consider excellent.  This doesn’t mean I’m ignoring the 1 negative review.  It’s a benchmark used to see how we’re doing.