What To Do When You Get A Negative Review

In a world where everyone is hopping online to find their clothes, establish travel plans and plan their events, reviews have become more important than ever. As a new creative, they scared me to death. I was paralyzed by the thought of what a negative review could do to my business. It left me awake at night and continually on edge within client interactions.

As I’ve developed and built a brand that has expanded to 13 cities, reviews have become even more important, but they no longer keep me up at night. Don’t get me wrong, we have had unhappy clients, but I’ve found that more often than not, they are eager to talk it out and have the situation rectified over public shaming. Reviews continue to be a huge part of what makes our planners attractive to potential clients online, and we’ve learned to embrace them.

As a creative, I highly encourage you to set up a place online where you can ask past clients and associates to leave reviews of your services. We have a Wedding Wire and Knot listing for each of our locations for this purpose, and Yelp is also a great spot to send clients.

At the end of each quarter or at least twice a year, I recommend reaching out and asking past clients to review your services. With a simple template for your review request and a list of client emails, it’s amazing how fast you can reach out for reviews.

Something that I also encourage you to do is reach out to past co-workers or creatives for reviews. It says a lot about you as a creative when other industry professionals recommend you. I’ve included two email templates for requesting reviews below for your use and customization.