Google has recently released an update to Google Place Pages that now will allow business owners to publicly respond to reviews.  This is a great opportunity for businesses to interact directly with their customers.  When it comes to negative reviews this has the potential to be an extremely powerful tool.  It allows both sides of the story to be told if you will.  It is reassuring for a consumer to see that when someone does have a bad experience with a business that the business is aware of the issue and doing everything possible to correct it.

So while this is a great opportunity to clear up complaints, I would suggest against posting a response with a hot head.   More than one person is going to see the response.   Posting an inflammatory response to someone who is already unhappy with your product is only going to make a bad situation worse.  The phrase “The customer is always right” still has relevance in this case.  Potential customers will see great value in a company who realizes that they might have a problem, and if they choose to do business with that company the same will not happen to them.   In the case of responding to good reviews it is great to let the consumer know that their business is important to you, and be able to thank them directly.

All a business has to do in order to claim their place page is verify their identity and claim their listing.  Remember to check your reviews often and stay up to date with responses.