How to Handle Negative Reviews for Wedding Venues
If you are reading this post, you might be feeling either hurt or angry after receiving a negative review about your wedding venue.
I get it. Negative reviews are a punch to the gut. Almost every business is bound to receive one at some point. The question is - how do you handle it?
I believe figuring out the right approach is somewhat based on the situation. If you would like some help with your specific situation, feel free to drop me a note here and I am happy to help you brainstorm responses.
This post covers some general situations. Do you have a great way to handle negative reviews that I haven't covered? Share it in our Facebook group.
4 Bad Review Examples & How To Handle Them
Inaccurate Expectations
Imagine a bride, groom, or parent assumes you'll be acting as a wedding day coordinator, when that is not a service you offer or include. They might be upset that you didn't organize the line up of the bridal party, keep the day on schedule, or manage their vendors. Somewhere along the line you didn't realize they had this expectation and therefore it was a "miss" in terms of wedding day expectations.
What to do: Pick up the phone and call them. Accept responsibility. Be sincere. Let them know that you have learned from this situation and that you will do your best to make it more clear to future clients that you don't include planning as a service. If the conversation goes well, ask if they would be willing to modify their online reviews. Whatever you do, don't be combative.
Wedding guest gets it wrong
Imagine a wedding guest attends an event at your venue and leaves you a three star review because the food wasn't great, but you aren't the caterer. Yep - that is a real possibility if you don't have an exclusive catering list.
What to do: If you have a great relationship with the couple, I would consider asking them to reach out to the wedding guest to let them know the venue was not the caterer and ask if they would kindly update their review.
If you don't feel comfortable with this route, respond to the review and thank them for their feedback. Let them know that one of the great things about your venue is that you give your couples the choice in caterers and you are in fact not the caterer.
You messed up
No one wants to drop the ball, but we are imperfect human beings. Imagine a situation where you truly did mess up. Perhaps you made a promise you fully intended to keep, and then as things go sometimes, you didn't.
What to do: Pick up the phone and call them. Take responsibility and ask for them to please share their concerns with you fully. Hear them out. Most often when people are angry, what they want is to be heard and to feel that the situation is being taken seriously.
If the situation is resolved or you feel that the client knows you are truly sorry and want to make it right (however possible), consider asking if they may modify their online review. If it's clear from the conversation that isn't an option, don't ignore the review online. Write a thoughtful response to the review online and accept responsibility. The goal here is to not make the client any more upset and show that you are a human with a heart to others reading this review.
There is no reasoning
Imagine you received a 1-star review on Google, but after some background research, you can't even be sure this person ever visited your venue. This has happened to me more than once on both Facebook and Google. One of them was my own mother-in-law by mistake! (It's much easier to leave an accidental review by mistake than you think!)
What to do: First see if you can reach out to the person who left the review. Add them on Facebook messenger and let them know who you are and that you sincerely hope they didn't have a 1-star experience at your venue. If their profile is locked and you don't have a way to reach them, consider leaving a response like this to their review, "Hi Bob - I noticed that you recently gave our venue a one-star review. I sincerely hope you didn't have a one star experience. Our venue is family owned, and our entire family really strives to provide a five star experience. If you didn't have a stellar visit (and this rating is indeed not an error), please give me a call at 123.456.7890. I would love to do whatever I can to make it right."
This shows others reading the review that you believe it is in error and that if it isn't you want to take responsibility.
A Word of Caution
Google is now pushing for more reviews. In my opinion this is hurting wedding venues. If a guest uses Google Maps to get to your location, it is likely Google will prompt them and ask for a review. This means people who would have never gone to the trouble of leaving a so-so review are being asked to do so. This is so frustrating.
Be careful if you consider asking questions like "why did you leave a 3 star review" on a review. It might be better just left alone... And as annoying as these new reviews are, just remember it won't be just your venue receiving them.
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