Responding to Negative Google Reviews

responding to negative google reviews at makers, our mission is to create welcoming, community driven retail spaces because we operate stores across multiple provinces, online reviews play a powerful role in how customers, vendors, and future team members perceive our brand despite our best efforts, negative reviews happen, and when they do, how we respond matters more than the review itself why this matters negative reviews are public, but our responses are even more public when someone leaves a negative review, they are often frustrated, emotional, or feeling unheard our objective is not to “win” an argument online our objective is to neutralize negativity in a calm and professional way move particularly angry or complex situations into a private conversation make the customer feel heard and valued protect the reputation of our makers and store teams for those particularly angry or complex situations, our biggest goal is to redirect the conversation offline by inviting the customer to email the customer complaint email ( customersupport\@shopmakers ca mailto\ customersupport\@shopmakers ca ) this allows us to properly investigate the situation, respond thoughtfully, and avoid escalating a public back and forth it’s important to remember a thoughtful response can shift someone’s perspective many customers who initially had a negative experience can become repeat supporters when they feel genuinely listened to tone and voice guidelines when responding to negative reviews, consistency is critical to ensure consistency, only store managers are permitted to respond to google reviews and should use the pre approved response templates provided in this document these templates are written to align with our brand voice and should be copied and pasted, with only minor adjustments added as needed regional managers may support, review, or assist with responses when needed they will also monitor the customer complaint email for any situations that require further conversation if a review involves a serious accusation, legal concern, safety issue, or escalated customer complaint, notify your regional or area manager immediately before responding when responding be calm, kind, and professional acknowledge the customer’s experience invite them to continue the conversation privately via email keep responses concise and neutral do not argue with the reviewer attempt to “prove them wrong " state that their review is false (even if it is) share internal details publicly escalate the tone even if information shared in a review is inaccurate, responding defensively damages our credibility public arguments never reflect well or represent the hard work and efforts put in to provide the best possible space for our team and our vendors professionalism and restraint always win template responses 1 3% operational fee surprise or confusion response hi there, thank you for sharing your feedback with us! we understand how unexpected charges can be frustrating the 13% operational fee helps cover the costs of what it takes for shop makers to operate, including staffing, payment processing, supplies, and ongoing support for our local vendors so that they can keep 100% of every sale they make we do our best to communicate this through in store signage and at the till, and we appreciate your feedback on how we can continue to make communications clearer supporting small businesses is at the heart of what we do, and we’re grateful you took the time to share your experience (if needed) as transparency is very important to us, we'd be happy to continue this conversation and answer any further questions you may have on our operational fee please email us directly at customersupport\@shopmakers ca mailto\ customersupport\@shopmakers ca 13% operational fee perceived as too high or misleading response hi there, thank you for taking the time to leave us a review the operational fee allows us to cover the costs of shop makers’ backend operations (like credit card transaction fees, supplies, vendor payout fees, internet, electricity, and pos system costs) to ensure our vendors keep 100% of their sales without it, we couldn’t offer vendors their full sales amount—for example, by charging the operational fee, a $5 sale means a vendor would receive a full $5 on their payout our goal is always to create a transparent, supportive space for both customers and local makers, and we appreciate your feedback as we continue refining how we communicate this (if needed) we'd be happy to continue this conversation and answer any further questions you may have on our operational fee please email us directly at customersupport\@shopmakers ca mailto\ customersupport\@shopmakers ca cashless policy (no cash accepted) response hi there, thank you for taking the time to leave us your feedback our stores operate as cashless locations to streamline operations and ensure consistency across all locations it also plays a big part in our ability to pay our vendors 100% of their sales without mishap, as accuracy for vendor payout is extremely important we understand this may not work for everyone, and we appreciate you sharing how this impacted your visit accessibility is very important to us, and feedback like this helps inform future decisions (if needed) we'd be happy to continue this conversation and answer any further questions you may have on our cashless policy please email us directly at customersupport\@shopmakers ca mailto\ customersupport\@shopmakers ca no paper receipts / email receipt concerns response hi there, thank you for sharing your feedback with us! we offer digital receipts as a way to reduce paper waste and streamline transactions, but we recognize that this may not be everyone’s preference your feedback is appreciated and helps guide how we improve the in store experience wholesale / non handmade / dropshipping concerns response hi there, thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with us shop makers is truly and genuinely committed to supporting independent creators and small businesses, and all vendors are carefully vetted before joining our stores each vendor also signs an agreement stating that their products fall within our policies, so we take concerns like this very seriously thank you for bringing this to our attention, and we encourage you to please either email us directly at \[customercomplaintemail]@shopmakers ca or speak with our staff on any concerns about particular products you see in store, as they’re the most knowledgeable and can provide further context on the goods or escalate these concerns to perform a full audit we’re committed to making sure the products we carry align with our values of originality, transparency, and craftsmanship if you’d like to learn more about our product guidelines that each vendor must adhere to in store, please visit shopmakers ca/apply and scroll to the bottom until you see “review our product guidelines " (if needed) as mentioned, we'd be happy to continue this conversation and look into any concerns you may have please email us directly at customersupport\@shopmakers ca mailto\ customersupport\@shopmakers ca ai generated art concerns response hi there, thank you for bringing this to our concern please note we have a strict policy against ai in all our shop makers store locations, and if products are found to have ai images, they will be removed our teams actively review vendor practices and take feedback like this very seriously please note that our team will investigate based on this feedback, and that we’re committed to making sure the products/vendors we carry align with our values of originality, transparency, and craftsmanship (if needed) we'd be happy to continue this conversation and look into any concerns you may have around particular products please email us directly at customersupport\@shopmakers ca mailto\ customersupport\@shopmakers ca in store signage (“you break it, you buy it” / cameras) response hi there, thank you for taking the time to let us know how your in store experience was our intent behind the signage is to protect both handmade items and the vendors behind them our vendors’ products are made with countless hours of love, care, and hard work, but we understand that tone and presentation matter we wish to create a welcoming and comfortable shopping environment feedback like this is valuable as we continue to refine shop makers’ retail experience, so thank you return & exchange process (including vendor repairs) response hi there, we appreciate you sharing your experience! as shop makers is a multi vendor marketplace, return and exchange processes can sometimes involve coordination with individual vendors we understand this can feel lengthy or frustrating and are continually working to balance fairness for customers with respect for the vendors’ processes thank you for your patience and feedback (if needed) we'd be happy to continue this conversation about your return or exchange experience further to resolve any outstanding issues please email us directly at customersupport\@shopmakers ca mailto\ customersupport\@shopmakers ca pricing perception / items feeling overpriced response hi there, thank you for your honest feedback our vendors’ pricing reflects the realities of small batch, independently made goods, where materials, labour, and ethical production are key factors our vendors spend countless hours pouring their love and hard work into every single item they make, however, we understand that value can feel subjective, and we appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective other / operational issues (late opening, crowd control, isolated incidents) response hi there, thanks for bringing this to our attention we’re sorry to hear that your visit was affected by this please know that we take feedback seriously and use it to improve our operations and in store experience we appreciate you sharing your thoughts with us, and are happy to continue this conversation further to make sure we can provide the best experience for you on your next visit! please email us directly at customersupport\@shopmakers ca mailto\ customersupport\@shopmakers ca