This article answers the question: How can a negative review become a marketing advantage? Answer: Negative reviews don’t hurt businesses as much as poorly handled negative reviews.

It’s time to talk about negative reviews again. It’s been a while since I last approached this topic, and while my thoughts on how to handle negative reviews haven’t changed, they have expanded. My 2026 customer service and CX research found that 84% of customers look at ratings and reviews before making a purchase.

Daniel “Danno” Vivarelli, the founder of Starloop, has made an entire business of helping companies build their reputation through Google reviews. He compares having the most and best reviews to being in high school, where people are drawn to the most popular students. Getting two or three times as many reviews as competitors makes a company much more likely to win new customers.

Vivarelli says, “This is a simple way for smaller businesses to compete with bigger names.” 

Another important finding in our research is that when it comes to negative reviews, nearly a third of customers (31%) say they won’t make a purchase from a company that doesn’t have a negative review. In other words, perfection is not reality.

Before we go further, I want to emphasize that it’s important for a company to respond to all reviews, not just negative ones. Adam Alfia, the CEO of Realtime Feedback, says, “If a customer tells you in person they love you, would you not say anything, turn your back on them and walk away?”

When your customer takes the time to give you a high rating and leave a positive review, thank them. But don’t stop with a generic “thank you.” Personalize your response with a brief comment that shows you’ve read what they wrote.

Now, let’s jump over to negative reviews. Assuming most of your reviews are positive, with just a few negative ones, you have an incredible opportunity based on how you respond. This is an opportunity to prove how good you are, not because you are perfect, but how you fix what’s not perfect.

My son and I were shopping for an engagement ring when we found a jeweler we loved. As we were doing our “due diligence,” the jeweler said, “Check out my Google reviews. Most are five stars, but pay attention to the ones that aren’t.”

He was referring to a few one-star reviews. What impressed us wasn’t the actual reviews but his responses to them. He thanked his happy customers and quickly responded to the unhappy ones, promising to make things right. Follow-up comments from customers confirmed he did exactly that.

It wasn’t the positive reviews that made us want to do business with the jeweler. It was how he handled the negative ones. 

Customers don’t judge companies by whether they make mistakes. They judge them by how they respond. Sometimes the most powerful marketing message isn’t found in a five-star review. It’s found in a one-star review that was handled the right way.

Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s customer service and customer experience keynote speeches and his customer service training workshops at www.Hyken.com. Connect with Shep on LinkedIn.