Got a negative review? What to do in the first 24 hours

How do you deal with a negative review on Google?

Slowly at first, then promptly. Take an hour before you write anything, and have a public reply up within one business day. Most of the damage from a bad review comes from an angry or missing reply, not the review itself: future customers read both.

Google's own tips for negative reviews are short: protect the reviewer's privacy, apologise when it's appropriate, personalise the reply and respond promptly. Keep replies professional and leave out any offers or promotions.

Is it illegal to post a negative review?

No. An honest negative review is legal in both the US and the UK, and in the US it's illegal for a business to use a contract to stop one. This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice: speak to a lawyer or solicitor about a specific review.

In the US, the Consumer Review Fairness Act makes contract terms void if they bar or restrict customers from reviewing a business, impose a penalty or fee for a review, or require customers to give up their intellectual property rights in their review. The FTC says it covers online reviews, social media posts, photos and videos, including honest negative ones. A business can still remove or refuse content on its own site that contains confidential or private information, is libelous, harassing, abusive, obscene or vulgar, is unrelated to its products or services, or is clearly false or misleading. The FTC adds that a customer's opinion you disagree with is unlikely to count as “clearly false or misleading”.

In the UK, a review that's untrue and damaging can be defamatory, but the bar is high. Under section 1 of the Defamation Act 2013, a statement isn't defamatory unless it has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the claimant's reputation, and for a business trading for profit that means serious financial loss. The government's explanatory notes say the section “raises the bar for bringing a claim”. One unfair review rarely clears it, and a legal letter to a customer can easily become the story.

In practice: reply, report it if it breaks Google's rules, and keep legal action for clear, serious falsehoods after advice.

Can you get a bad Google review removed?

Only if it breaks Google's policies. A business can't delete a customer's Google review; it can report one, and Google decides. Google's help page says “only those that violate Google policies are eligible for removal” and asks owners not to report a review just because they disagree with it or dislike it.

• Reportable: fake engagement (paid reviews, competitors, reviews that aren't based on a real experience), conflicts of interest such as current or former staff, off-topic rants, harassment, threats and personal information.
• Not reportable: a real customer's honest, harsh or one-sided account of their experience. That one needs a reply, not a report.

Google says evaluation typically takes several days, and if it finds no violation you get one appeal. The step-by-step report and appeal process, and what to do about a wave of fake reviews, is in our guide to removing a Google review. To check one review against Google's policy first, use the free Google review removal checker. While you wait, post your calm reply anyway.

How many 5-star reviews cancel out a 1-star?

To get back to your old average after one 1-star review, you need (target − 1) ÷ (5 − target) new 5-star reviews. At a 4.5 average that's 7; at 4.8 it's 19. The higher your rating, the more 5-star reviews each 1-star costs you.

Why: the 1-star sits (target − 1) stars below your average, and each new 5-star sits (5 − target) stars above it. You need enough 5-stars to balance the gap. This assumes your average was exactly the target before the 1-star arrived.

Worked example: 50 reviews averaging 4.8 is 240 stars. Add a 1-star and you have 241 stars from 51 reviews, an average of about 4.73. Add 19 five-star reviews and you have 336 stars from 70 reviews: 4.8 again.

Two things follow. First, a profile with lots of reviews barely moves: the same 1-star on 500 reviews at 4.8 drops the average by less than 0.01. Second, the fix is volume and recency, not arguing. Ask every customer, the same way, for an honest review. Try your own numbers in the Google rating calculator.

Reply templates for trades and clinics

Change everything in [square brackets], keep it to a short paragraph, and sign with your name. For more situations, see our full guide to responding to Google reviews, or let the review reply generator draft three versions.

Clinics, dentists and other health businesses need a different reply. Don't confirm the reviewer is a patient, and don't mention appointments, treatment, results or insurance, even if they did. Use the same reply for every rating:

US dental and medical practices also have HIPAA to think about. In December 2022 the HHS Office for Civil Rights announced a $23,000 settlement with a California dental practice that had disclosed patients' names, treatment and insurance information in replies to online reviews. The OCR director said providers cannot disclose protected health information when responding to negative online reviews. Check anything unusual with your compliance adviser.

UK clinics should keep the same rule. Confirming someone is a patient, or saying anything about their care, is personal information you shouldn't share publicly.

What to do after the first 24 hours

• If you fix the problem, tell the customer it's fixed. Never make the fix conditional on them changing their review; they can edit it themselves if they choose.
• Look for a pattern. Two reviews about the same thing is a process problem, not bad luck.
• Keep asking every customer for a review with your direct link, so the newest reviews show what you're like now.

Flexi Local's Reviews plan alerts you to new reviews, drafts a reply for you to check and post, and sends your review link after every visit. It has a 14-day free trial: card needed, cancel before day 14 and you pay nothing. See plans and prices.