Should I Pay Someone to Remove Their Negative Review? | Marketing Q&A

Dealing with a negative review that comes with a money demand for its removal is tricky, but here’s my take: absolutely not. 

Paying for review removal is a slippery slope. It’s not just about ethics – though that’s a huge part of it – it’s also about the precedent it sets. Once you start paying for review removal, it’s tough to stop. The initial negative reviewer that you paid can tell their friends, and then suddenly you have random people – who were never even a customer – leaving potentially hundreds of bad reviews and demanding money to remove. 

And let’s face it, it can look like you’re admitting guilt or wrongdoing. Not to mention, on most review platforms – Google, Yelp, etc. – offering compensation to someone to post a review, or to remove a review, is against their terms of service. This could get your business permanently removed from their platforms, which would actually harm your business in the long run.

But what can you do instead? 

First, take a deep breath. Negative reviews happen, and they’re not the end of the world. Approach the situation professionally. I always recommend responding to reviews when you can – whether they’re negative or even positive – and in this case you want to do so factually and ask them to contact you directly to resolve their issue. 

If you think the review is fake, you still want to address it professionally. For some clients, this has meant responding with something similar to “We have no record of you ever being a client, please contact us with your order information so we can help get your problem resolved” and perhaps commenting again with “we still do not find you as a client in our records and do not see that you have reached out, do you still need assistance?”

If the complaint is legitimate, focus on making it right. This shows other prospective customers that you’re committed to customer satisfaction. Sometimes, yes, this may mean a monetary compensation in the form of a partial or full refund.

Today’s consumers are pretty savvy and often can tell when a review feels fake vs real, so remember that you aren’t writing your response only for the person who posted the review, but also often for the prospects who come along after.

After you’ve resolved the issue, it’s perfectly okay to ask the customer to update or remove their review if they are now satisfied. However, this should come after, and only if, you’ve managed to turn their experience around.

Remember, a single negative review, or even several, won’t sink your ship, especially if you’ve built a strong, positive online presence. Regularly encourage happy customers to leave reviews. This helps create a balanced view of your business and lessens the impact of the occasional negative feedback.

In summary, while it might be tempting to just make the problem go away with money, it’s not a sustainable or ethical solution. Focus on rectifying the issue and building a strong, positive online reputation organically.

Vicky