How should a business respond to a negative review?

Reply promptly, keep it short, and write for the next customer reading it. A good response to a negative review shows that a real person read the complaint, that you take it seriously, and that there is a way to resolve it. It does not argue the facts in public.

Expect your reply to be read. BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2025 found that only 7% of consumers say they do not expect businesses to respond to reviews, and 63% expect a response within two to three days up to a week. The same survey reported that consumers are more likely to choose a business that responds to all reviews than one that only answers the positive or the negative ones.

Most good replies follow the same four steps. Google's own guidance for business replies says to keep them short and personal, acknowledge mistakes where they happened, apologize when appropriate, explain what you can and cannot do, and never share a reviewer's private information. The structure below puts that into practice.

• Acknowledge: thank them for the feedback and name the issue in general terms ("I'm sorry your visit felt rushed").
• Take it offline: give a direct way to reach a named person or role ("Please call our office manager, Dana, at the front desk" or "Email us at the address on our website").
• Share no private details: do not confirm they were a client, mention dates, services, diagnoses, case details or account history.
• Follow through: say what happens next and then do it ("We are reviewing how we schedule first visits").

Adjust the tone to your business, but keep the structure. These examples are written to work for any reviewer, whether or not they were actually a customer.

• Salon or spa: "Thank you for telling us about this. We want every guest to leave happy with their color, and we'd like to make this right. Please call or text the salon and ask for the manager so we can talk it through."
• Auto repair: "We're sorry the wait was longer than expected. We'd like to understand what happened. Please reach our service manager through the contact page on our website, and we'll look into it right away."
• Restaurant or event venue: "Thank you for the feedback. This isn't the experience we aim for. Our general manager would like to hear more. Please email us at the address listed on our profile."
• Home services: "We appreciate you raising this. We'd like to review the job with you and fix anything that isn't right. Please call our office and ask for the operations lead."

Healthcare providers covered by HIPAA cannot confirm in a public reply that the reviewer is a patient, or mention anything about their care. Doing so is a disclosure of protected health information, even if the patient posted those details first.

This is enforced. In 2023 the US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights announced that Manasa Health Center, a New Jersey psychiatric practice, paid $30,000 and agreed to a two-year corrective action plan after replying to a negative review with a patient's mental health diagnosis and treatment details. OCR said it also found disclosures about three other patients in review replies, and noted it continues to receive complaints about providers doing this.

A safe reply from a dental office, med spa, chiropractor or therapy practice reads like this: "We take all feedback seriously. Privacy rules prevent us from discussing anyone's care online, but we would welcome a call to our practice manager." It works whether or not the reviewer was a patient.

Lawyers face a similar limit through their duty of confidentiality. ABA Formal Opinion 496, issued in January 2021, says a lawyer may not disclose confidential client information in response to an online review, because an online review is not the kind of controversy that would allow it. The opinion suggests lawyers seriously consider not responding at all, since a reply can prompt more posts.

If a firm does reply, the ABA opinion points to generic responses such as "Professional obligations do not allow me to respond as I would wish." A firm can also ask the platform to remove a post that is false or violates its policies.

Accounting, tax and financial advisory firms should apply the same caution. Do not confirm someone is a client or reference their return, account or engagement. Keep the reply to an invitation to talk privately.

A poorly handled reply can do more harm than the review itself, because it stays at the top of your profile for every future customer to read. Avoid these:

• Arguing about who was right, line by line, in public.
• Copying the same reply onto every review, which reads as if no one read them.
• Offering a refund or discount in exchange for removing or changing the review, which Google's policies prohibit.
• Threatening legal action over an honest opinion. The FTC's 2024 rule on consumer reviews bars using baseless legal threats or intimidation to get negative reviews removed.
• Replying while angry. Draft it, wait an hour, and have someone else read it first.

Treat reviews like any other customer message, with an owner and a deadline. Set an alert for new reviews on every platform you use, decide who drafts replies and who approves them, and keep a short library of approved replies for common situations that staff can personalize.

For regulated businesses, have your privacy officer or managing attorney approve the templates once, so staff can reply quickly without guessing. Monvell's Marketing and Communications teams set up review alerts, reply drafting and approval steps so replies go out on time and stay inside your rules.