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With the rise of online review sites and social media comment sections, it is more essential than ever to know how to handle law firm reviews — positive or negative. Clients want to see how firms react or answer every question and comment people give them. Now, these comments can be good or offensive, and sometimes it can be hard to gauge whether you need to respond or not. Hence, knowing how to deal with bad and unfair law firm online reviews is essential to protect the company’s overall reputation.
The saying “Think before you click” applies to all. Taking an extra moment to assess what could happen as a result of your online activity can make all the difference in protecting both yourself and your organization’s reputation. Keep in mind that no matter how bad the comment may be, stay calm and rely on your firm’s policy.
Every law firm should have a set of social media and online terms and rules on how to handle negative online publicity. Oftentimes there is just one employee who will be given this task. But if you’re the firm’s owner or you’re the lawyer who the commenter is referring, do your best to follow your company’s guidelines.
Your policy should cover this set of rules that you must follow at all costs.
Clients are a company’s best asset, and their feedback should be taken seriously. Once determined who should reply to the comment, the appropriate first response is to publicly acknowledge the complaint. Remember that an honest review from a client always deserves the company’s full attention to fix the issue.
Follow these steps to de-escalate the problem:
After you acknowledge the client’s post publicly, make sure to send a follow-up message, email, or call to the client. Let them know that your firm is taking the matter seriously and will do the appropriate action needed to solve the issue.
Once you establish the company’s intention, try and understand what happened. Get the important details of why they are leaving negative feedback and determine how to resolve it.
Lastly, make sure to close the discussion with a clear message. Lay out your resolution, ask them if they’re happy with it, and ask a final question if there’s anything else you can help them with.
Most often than not, negative feedback from clients is due to miscommunication. So always be professional, and show you care about your clients’ thoughts. To avoid dealing with bad comments online, your best option is to provide your clients an avenue where they can give their reviews about your service. Legal Soft Solution offers client survey packages that will help your law firm dodge unnecessary negative publicity.
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