There’s always that one person who was in a bad mood and had an unfortunate experience with your company that somehow finds the time to log a detailed complaint on Yelp. It doesn’t matter what you do or say; they’ll be grumpy regardless. Most readers have the ability to detect a bitter person with a chip on their shoulder when they read a review. But what do you do with a legitimate complaint written by a level-headed individual who speaks poorly about your company? It’s a simple three-step process: own it, respond to it, and resolve the problem.

Own it
A bad Yelp review isn’t the end of the world, but it does affect your overall rating on the site. In addition to providing a rating for your company, it also provides you with honest feedback from customers that you might not otherwise receive. This can prove valuable to the future of your customer interactions.

When you receive a bad Yelp review, own it. People appreciate integrity and humility. If your company provided sub-par service or a sub-par customer experience, acknowledge it and apologize. It’s a simple matter of taking responsibility instead of getting defensive.

Respond to it
Just because the Yelp platform does not allow companies to respond to reviews publicly doesn’t mean that you should ignore the review completely. Send the reviewer a private message that acknowledges their review, takes responsibility for the poor experience they had with your company, and apologizes for their inconvenience or whatever else needs to be apologized for. Be polite. Be humble. Be professional. But do your best to create a dialogue so you can…

Resolve the problem
Resolving a viable complaint is twofold. You want to resolve the relationship with the customer, and you want to resolve the problem within your company so that it doesn’t happen again to somebody else.

Aim to resolve the problem with the customer in your initial communication with them. If they had a bad interaction with one of your employees, tell them you’ve addressed the issue with that employee (if you actually have) and ask them to give your company another chance. If they experienced a disappointing meal in your restaurant, offer them a discount to come back and try another menu item or the improved version of their previous order. If they received a faulty product, suggest a replacement at no additional cost or offer to replace the faulty item for free. These are all invitations for the customer to continue a relationship with you. All you can do is make the offer. Then the ball is in their court.

On the company end of things, find the truth in the bad Yelp review and remedy it among your employees. That could mean retraining sales personnel, improving the research and development process, or removing a person or product from your team or shelves.

A bad Yelp review is an opportunity to interact with a customer, to provide exceptional customer service, and to improve the services and products your company offers if you handle it properly. There is always the chance they’ll update their review and tell everybody about how well you resolved the problem.