How to delete a Yelp review.
Reviews tell consumers what to expect when doing business with a certain place. Reviews also tell a business owner what they are doing wrong and what they are doing right. Yelp Reviews are great for consumers and great for business; but there is the exception. Certain reviews can be deceptive, nasty, and invasive. Reviews like these do not help consumers’ decision making and do not help a business make changes. So how do you deal with a bad Yelp review? Whether you are a consumer and you see an inappropriate review, or you are a business and you have someone harassing your online presence; removing a bad Yelp review helps the entire community.
Before we start with how to delete a Yelp review, let’s start with defining what qualifies as a “Bad Yelp Review.”
According to Yelps guidelines, a bad review would include the following:
Inappropriate content: Keep it PG and be respective with your post. Everybody reads these reviews.
- Conflict of interest: Friends supporting friends is great, but let’s be honest. Honesty grows.
- Promotional content: Reviews are for consumers and not a place to promote your business. Let your work speak for itself!
- Relevant content: This isn’t the place for ranting, politics, or gossip. It is the place to recommend.
- Privacy: Putting someone on blast and sharing personal information is inappropriate and can have consequences.
- Stealing content: Stealing someone’s content, pictures, or videos isn’t right and can be illegal.
- Demanding payment: No this isn’t the place to bribe the company into giving you a refund for the raw burger.
If a review matches any of these, it most likely is a bad review that can be removed.
How to remove a bad review.
- Search for the business and find the review.
- Click on the Flag icon on the review.
- Select the reason.
- Explain your reason.
How to delete a Yelp review.
1. Search for the business and find the review.
The first step is to find the bad review if you haven’t already. If you are a business owner, your reviews will be on your claimed Yelp page. If you are trying to delete a review from a page that isn’t yours, then search for the business and find the review that you want to delete.
2. Click on the Flag icon on the review.
In order to delete a Yelp review, you have to report it to Yelp. To report a review, click on the small flag icon in the bottom right corner of the review.
3. Select the reason.
Yelp will ask you the reason for requesting the deletion of a Yelp review. In order to have a review deleted, it will have to be in violation of one of Yelp’s guidelines. Yelp will go over the review and determine if it is in violation.
4. Explain your reason.
Yelp will want the specifics explained to them. Be sure to explain the details thoroughly on why the review should be deleted. Once you’re finished click on Report at the bottom and wait. Yelp is pretty quick and will notify you for more information should they need it. This method will work on any review that violates Yelps guidelines. Other reviews that are strictly negative and do not violate Yelp’s guidelines can only be removed by communicating with the Yelper.
Delete a Yelp Review by communicating with the Yelper.
People who leave reviews are able to make changes. The best way to delete a bad review is to get the reviewer to change it. Business owners should actively aim to prevent unhappy customers. With the internet, a business owner is able to see when customers are unhappy and why. Ignoring your online presence can go extremely bad as you won’t know what customers are saying about you. Here is a quick guide to removing a Yelp review by communicating with the customer.
1. Pay attention to your online reputation.
Using tools like Repzily will help you see new reviews as they come in. Your business will come up across many sites and managing your reputation can be difficult. With tools like RepZily you can view all of your new activity in one dashboard.
2. Respond quickly.
The longer an unhappy review sits, the less of a chance to make a menses. Companies that respond quickly to online reviews and comments, are more likely to have a higher rating and higher customer satisfaction. Respond as quickly as you can to bad reviews.
3. Respond politely.
Be polite no matter what. If a customer is so distressed that they refuse your politeness and still are nasty; let it be. NEVER GET NASTY! By keeping your calm and being polite, other people viewing the review will see your response and make their own mind up. The moment you get mean or inappropriate, that is the moment that you validated the customer’s bad review. Always and I repeat ALWAYS be polite!
Justin Palmer is Founder and CEO of The Remote Firm