Some studies show that a half-star increase in online ratings may mean up to 19 percent increased reservations for restaurants. Other service-oriented businesses, such as dry cleaners, plumbers, electricians, carpet cleaning companies, and others experience similar changes in customer engagement as their online business reputation rises or drops. When a business receives a bad review, the very first question that arises is if the review can be removed.

Online reviews have First Amendment protections

As a business owner or marketing manager for a business, you might feel inclined to contest the validity of an online review. If you feel the review is false or not reflective of your business, you may feel inclined to contact the website displaying the negative review and request a removal.

However, before you pull the trigger and submit a ticket to review websites such as Yelp or Google, it is important that you consider other avenues to handle the negative review. The fact is, unless the review is profane and you can prove with very strong evidence that it is false, the negative review is likely to remain published.

Many businesses have gone as far as taking legal measures to have reviews removed due to libelous content. Some of these cases have gone as far as the Supreme Court, only to be dismissed, providing reviewers and review websites significant protection under Freedom of Speech.

Click To View Larger and see if you’re able to delete reviews

What about removing a review that is both bad and false?

In the case of reviews that are patently false, you may have a little bit more leeway to have it removed from your online profile on review websites. Both Google and Yelp offer the option to flag reviews and include an explanation to support the flagging action. Valid reasons to flag a review as false or even malicious include the following:

Conflict of interest: If you suspect someone was paid or wrote a false negative review to damage your business, you may escalate using a flag. Provide as much evidence as possible, particularly if it has become a spam-like pattern aimed at drowning your business with a highly negative reputation.

Sexually explicit, offensive or racist or hate speech: If the review contains verbiage that could be construed as hate speech, or is sexually explicit, you may be able to have it removed via a flag. An example would be a review that negatively highlights the ethnicity of the business owner, or employees of a business, with the intent of damaging their business reputation. If the review contains any language that is negative, or seeks to degrade an individual or group of individuals based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity, you may flag the review for removal.

Reviews with illegal content, pointing to illegal activities, or with illegal links: If your business receives a malicious review aimed at promoting anything that is illegal, you may request a flag. For example, someone might indicate that illegal substances may be obtained at your establishment. This would qualify both as false and as promoting illegal activities, and it can therefore be flagged.

Previous examples aside, there are very few instances that allow for the removal of a negative review. The best way to handle a negative review is to become well versed in proper review responses and customer-centric reputation management. If a negative review receives a kind, caring, and resolution-oriented response, it may well turn the tables and result in a customer that is willing to give you another chance. A well-drafted response to a negative review is valuable beyond customer retention; it also serves to persuade potential customers to give you a try.

When a review is patently false, malicious, or hateful, move forward with a removal request. On the other hand, if a review is negative, and perhaps includes inflated and angry commentary, do not remove it. Respond, engage, and work with your customer toward a happy resolution.

In addition to responding to negative reviews, work on securing a high volume of positive reviews. Review velocity will result in drowning the negative reviews by positioning the bulk of your positive reviews in more prominent locations, when sorted chronologically or by popularity.
Review removal is just one way to manage and grow your online reputation. Effective and smart business owners use the whole gamut of review management tools and techniques at their disposal to ensure top rankings on Yelp, Google, and other major review websites.

This article was originally posted on the ReviewTrackers blog.

Boy, did it wake me up: the fact was that during three years of struggling to make payroll (despite working 12-hour days), my partner and I weren’t really doing something we were passionate about. We were only doing something we were comfortable with. It made me a better entrepreneur that day to realize that, while comfort may be included in the trappings of success, passion is the key ingredient to running and growing a business.

Omaha, Nebraska. The ways people described Silicon Prairie News’ Big Omaha typically leaned towards the superlative. “Big.” “The most ambitious.” “The most interconnected.” “Unlike any other.” It was a conference that gathered over 500 entrepreneurs and a dozen nationally recognized speakers. A photo booth had a picture of the moon and the stars in the background, not-too-subtly pushing attendees to reach for either or both.

The ironic thing is: Big Omaha also happened to be where a small seed was planted — a small, humble seed, but a seed that I could clearly see growing. Big Omaha was where I decided to turn one of my business ideas into a new startup — and to devote myself full-time to turning this startup into successful business venture. What I learned was that — more than any talk or presentation, more than fancy slides or inspirational photo booths — it is the act of surrounding yourself with people committed to innovation that can really push you. What a powerful thing it is, too. It reminds you that you can’t wait around for someone to do something someday. That someone is you and that something is today.

Montreal, Canada. To get to that year’s International Startup Festival, I had to ride a bus from New York City all the way to Montreal. It was no ordinary bus ride: my startup, an online review monitoring platform called Review Trackers, was selected as one of the fifteen that were selected to Twilio’s DOer Express, a (literally) moving venue for entrepreneurs to practice pitches, exchange ideas, receive great technical advice, and connect with other entrepreneurs, technologists, and innovators.

I look at this as one of the perfect examples of how the journey is just as important as — if not more important than — the destination. There is always so much to see and hear and learn along the way; this is especially true for entrepreneurs. And if, at some point, you get lost or make a wrong turn, don’t let it stop you from working, moving, and trying.

Medellín, Colombia. One of the reasons why my previous startup failed, why my business partner and I weren’t great at keeping an eye on cash flow. It’s dangerous to assume that having tens of thousands of dollars in receivables will solve your company’s problems, because it won’t — not if you’re also tallying tens of thousands of dollars in burn rate.

Right after learning this lesson (which I certainly learned the hard way), I moved to Medellín, up in Colombia’s beautiful Aburrá Valley, in an apartment with a daily view of the sun setting over the Andes. There I became an instant fan of making dollars and spending pesos. In trying to find a way to reduce my operating costs, I also discovered a better, more affordable place to live.

Mendoza, Argentina. The double-decker bus that I took to Mendoza, Argentina was awesome. It passed through Anconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas at close to 22,900 feet. But the trip was worth it: I mean, if I had to make a seven-hour, high-altitude pilgrimage to taste Argentina’s signature wine — the hearty, purple-red malbec — in one of the world’s five best wine destinations (at least according to TripAdvisor), then so be it.

Same applies to business. Don’t hesitate to go the extra mile to find out where your best options are. If you need to source fabric from China, source fabric from China. As for me, I recently hired a designer in Florida, a developer from Russia, an engineering team in Hyberabad, and a writer in Manila. Outsourcing has allowed me to be resource-efficient; more importantly, it has enabled me to see the world as my office, and to find great talent wherever it can be found.

Santiago, Chile. In the past five years I have visited over 50 cities. I started building my latest company in Santiago, where Review Trackers gained entry to the Start-Up Chile program. I’ve gained a ton of memorable experiences here, in what the Economist recently described as “Chilecon Valley“: from learning a new language and meeting smart, globally-minded entrepreneurs on a daily basis to having Sunday barbecue (asado) with new friends and enriching my knowledge of Chile’s history through museum visits.

As an entrepreneur, I see a common thread that ties together all these diverse personal and professional experiences. It doesn’t matter whether I’m speaking to a French computer programmer, a Peruvian shoeshine guy, a Russian millionaire, a vagabond Colombian, or a Chilean winemaker: we’re all trying to solve problems. Everyone, in one way or another, is hoping to make today better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today.

In this light, it’s clearer to me that business is not just a way of making money and becoming rich; it is first and foremost a social institution, at the foundation of which is the passion to solve problems and make things better, either for one’s self or for others. It thus comes to no surprise that all this traveling, scratching around, adjusting, planning, failing, and improvising has allowed me to develop my entrepreneurial instincts. As Steve Jobs once said, “I just want to put a ding in the universe.” So do I, and to be honest I don’t care which part of the universe I end up putting it.

Chris is building ReviewTrackers. This article was originally published on Entrepreneurs Unplugged and Fayer Wayer in Spanish.