How businesses can counteract suspicious 1-star Google reviews

Some Ottawa businesses say their recent interactions with protesters and their decision to continue to require proof of vaccination — despite Ontario ending the system — has left them with baseless one-star Google reviews harming their reputation. 

But experts say there are ways to recover — even if Google won't take the supposed false reviews down.

Ontario lifted most of its major public health restrictions, including COVID-19 proof of vaccination requirements and indoor capacity limits, on Tuesday.

Despite that decision Iron North Studio, a gym in Ottawa's Centretown neighbourhood,wanted to continue requiring proof of vaccination to better accommodate its immunocompromised clients and those with children — a decision met with some backlash, says its owner.

Since announcing this Monday, Jenna Ladd says the gym has received some one-star Google reviews, which include allegations the business "prefers discrimination over inclusion" and urging people to "go somewhere else that supports freedom!"

Ladd expects more online attacks from "internet trolls" as time passes, but says she will respond with kindness, leave the door open to discussion, and report it to Google with as much information and context as possible.

"We're looking for real experience, negative or positive, that we can actually improve our business on," she said. "So far, anything negative that comes through, usually our community upholds us with some sort of positive rebuttal."

Those "unfair" and often baseless Google reviews can harm small businesses, according to Jonathan Simon, director of marketing and communications at the University of Ottawa's Telfer business school.

Simon says people rely more on digital reviews now to make purchases, which can give those one-star ratings more weight.

"We're in an age where if you've got somebody that has a vendetta against you ... you got to keep aware of it," Simon said. "It could be both a blessing or a curse to have online reviews for your business."

If your business is hit with what you believe is a baseless review, Simon says a business should respond to the review.

He believes most people can tell if someone is "maliciously" writing negative reviews, and if a business owner responds with openness to engage with the supposed client using a professional tone, people may be able to tell the reviewer "is just trolling."

The best way to avoid negative effects of troll reviews, Simon said, is to proactively ask real customers to review the business after providing service — something very few clients do even after having a great experience.

"Later, when those negative reviews show up, all of a sudden, they'll look out of character compared to all the positive reviews this business has gotten," Simon said.