Dentaltown March 2021 - 60

SETTING UP THE
NEGATIVE REVIEW
RESPONSE
Before responding, a handful of questions
should be addressed to determine who will
respond and when, and if the review in some
way violates the guidelines of the platform
on which it appears.

Determine who should respond.
Ideally, the response will be given from
an individual, rather than the practice as a
whole. Positioning a response from a person
makes the words feel more personable; in
turn, the reviewer and future readers of
the review will be more inclined to take
the response to heart than they would if a
blanket team response is given.
As for answering the " who " question, the
main stakeholder is the best option in most
cases. That often means the practice owner
should reply. Having the top individual at a
practice respond, even if that person is the
one being criticized, shows the concern is
being taken seriously and that real action
will occur as needed.

Response time matters.
Perception is everything when it comes to
response time. Answer too quickly, and the
response may be long on emotion and short
on strategic information. Take too long to
respond, and the reviewer and future review
readers may assume the concerns raised are
not a priority for the practice mentioned.
So, what is the right amount of time to
wait before submitting a response? A reply
timeline of between a few business days and
up to two weeks is ideal. By not responding
immediately, the initial emotions likely to be
present may have subsided, but responding

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within that time frame still exhibits the aura
of taking the concern seriously.

Determine if the review violates
the platform's guidelines.
Before responding to a negative review,
one important question looms: Does it
contain any platform policy violations?
All digital platforms that allow reviews
have user guidelines that must be followed.
Any review that doesn't fall in line with a
given platform's rules runs the risk of being
removed from public view if it has already
been launched.
With the necessity to conform to platform rules in mind, the first step is to look
for possible policy violations in relation to
a review. Obvious potential violations on
most platforms include the use of obscene
or inappropriate language, being wildly off
topic, or in some way illegal in the country
of the review's origin.
Less obvious, though, is the protection
of privacy. If a person's full name is used in
a review, for example, that's often a policy
violation as well.
If the review is in violation of any of
a platform's official rules or policies, you
can request the removal or alteration of
the review. Assuming an actual violation
is present, the review will be removed or
altered so that it's no longer in violation
of the rules.
Regardless of the violation, patience will
be required. It can sometimes take weeks,
or even months, after a violation is flagged
until the review is actually removed from
public view.

MARCH 2021 // dentaltown.com

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2/18/21 11:27 AM
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Dentaltown March 2021

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