I recently advised a small law firm that had received negative word of mouth in the form of a bad review from a former client. This review was posted to the law firm’s business listing on Google Maps, and it accused one of the firm’s lawyers of unethical conduct and being unprepared for the client’s trial.
There were a number of good options for responding to the bad review:
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Reaching out to the unhappy client offline to try to repair the relationship, and then asking the client to change the review;
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Responding online to the bad review to document the firm’s attempts to satisfy the client;
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Asking satisfied clients to post good reviews to the firm’s Google listing, thereby offering a positive view of the firm’s work with clients; and
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Asking Google to remove the review because it was defamatory.
I told the attorney involved that there was only one unwise way to respond, and that was to ask Google to remove the law firm’s listing completely. Sure enough, I checked back a couple of weeks later and the firm’s business listing, with the bad review, had been removed from the Web by Google.
Why was this an unwise strategy for this law firm to take? Here are some of the reasons:
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Even though the firm’s Google listing is gone, this unhappy client can find other outlets for her anger on websites such as Yelp, Yahoo Local, Bing Local, Findlaw, Avvo, Citysearch, Judy’s Book, and Angie’s List. This negative word of mouth could multiply across the Web because the law firm chose to avoid dealing with the ex-client.
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By failing to launch an effort to collect online recommendations from happy clients, the law firm ensures it will be in the same predicament the next time an unhappy client goes online to write a bad review.
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The law firm’s website is not search engine optimized and performs poorly in local search, so eliminating the Google business listing has made this law firm all but invisible online. At the same time, a majority of consumers and businesses are using the Web to search for legal service providers.
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By failing to claim the Google listing, the law firm will be unaware of the reappearance of a firm listing the next time Google purchases and uploads a law firm database.
The very best way to deal with negative word of mouth is to be proactive about launching a program to build positive word of mouth on the Web. By regularly asking clients for recommendations, creating search engine friendly and usable websites, and by responding effectively when a client problem occurs, any good law firm can build great word of mouth. If you need help launching your Web Word of Mouth program, please contact us.
