As a business owner, it’s only natural that you want happy customers; with that, you want glowing reviews from your efforts to make them happy.

And nothing says that better than 5* reviews. You want your satisfied, happy customers to tell the world how amazing you are!

Perfect ratings can only be good for your business, right?

Well, on the whole, yes, this is true. We would always encourage you to try and get 4 and 5 stars whenever you can.

But our message this week is that if and when you get a review that is less than perfect, don’t be disheartened.

It happens to every business at some point – You just need to use them to your advantage.

You see, consumers are smarter and more attuned than ever before and are OK with a certain level of detraction from the norm.

The modern consumer is looking for authenticity.

Don’t get us wrong – the overwhelming majority of your reviews should be 4 or 5 stars, but a mix of good and less-than-perfect reviews is absolutely fine too.

It shows you’re genuine, and that’s what the modern customer wants.

While the star rating of your product or service is vital, it’s not everything. The content of the review matters as well.

You should welcome some negative reviews about your business. There’ll be times when, as a business, you don’t quite get it perfect. And those reviews not only give you an opportunity to put things right with your customer and turn a not-so-great experience into a fantastic one by showcasing your customer service skills, they can also give further credibility to all of your other reviews too. No-one is perfect all the time, we all have the odd bad day, and negative reviews provide valuable insight that can help you keep improving the service you offer.

 When you get a negative review, thank them for their valuable feedback and think about – “What can we do to put this right?”

I've also spoken about how a negative review from someone, can be a positive to someone else. Let me give you a real example from my experience. When our girls were younger, we used to do a lot of camping. When researching the sites, we would jump straight to the reviews, in particular the negative ones. If we read a 1* review that complains the toilets are unclean, that's a big no. However, if someone gives a 1* review because there's no clubhouse showing Sky sports and they've run out of Carlsberg, then it's a site worth investigating!

Embrace all the reviews you get, not just the 5-star ones and become the face of honesty, integrity and credibility in your industry.