Nobody wants to get a bad comment on any social media website. However, if you do get a negative review, here are five reasons it’s not all that bad.

1. One or two negative reviews show a balance and make you look real.

Consumers tend to be suspicious of businesses that have only four and five star reviews. Having all positive reviews and ratings makes you look fake. No matter how good a business is, they will normally attract a few complainers. There are some people who just like to criticize.

A study done by a company called Reevoo showed 68 percent of consumers trusted Yelp results more when there were a few bad reviews mixed in with the good. When a business showed only good reviews and never a bad comment, 30% of the consumers surveyed suspected there was some kind of editing or hidden control going on.

Consumers expect to see a couple of bad reviews and usually don’t mind them. However, it’s still important that the good outweigh the bad by a large amount.

2. Negative reviews can be a learning tool.

Nobody’s perfect. No company can be in business for much time without making some mistakes, no matter how small. Knowing one’s errors is the first step toward improvement.

Take a look at the reviews; the negative, the medium, and the over-the-top positive ones. If you have enough reviews to analyze, you’ll start to see patterns. What is the most prevalent complaint people have about your business? Is it waiting time? Customer support? Product quality? The more you know about the responses your public have to your business, the more you can learn from it, and the more you learn the better you can make it.

3. Your prompt and courteous response to a negative online review helps demonstrate excellent customer service.

How you respond to a negative review makes all the difference. When you respond promptly and satisfactorily to a negative online review, you are showing that you are in touch with your public and that you care. Always be sincere, real and polite.

Once you have announced your availability to discuss the situation and to make it right, try to get a private interview. Here you can deal with the problem and quite possibly turn an unhappy customer into a happy one. And that same customer is very likely to respond to your request to alter their online review.

4. Negative reviews can help repair weak links in staffing and customer service policies.

The biggest single complaint from people placing negative reviews online is the lack of friendly and effective customer service. Waiting, and impolite or inattentive staff are two other common grievances.

By paying careful attention to comments, both negative and positive, an owner can reward the areas of his or her business that are creating the best effects on their customers and correct those areas that are weak. The use of online reviews can repair and strengthen any enterprise.

5. A negative review can spark the desire on the part of a company to institute a more active “review encouragement” system.

Getting an unexpected lousy review can be a real eye opener. The truth is, any business needs to have in place a procedure by which they solicit and encourage reviews, hopefully positive reviews. Reviews will happen. The Internet has opened a whole new “word-of-mouth” system. This system consists of a multitude of places where consumers can express their disapproval or give high praise or anything in between. Any local business needs to keep on top of what people are saying about them online – and do so rapidly. A negative review can be just the impetus needed to get started on a whole new program of review awareness and management.

As the Judo Black Belt uses the force of the opposition to his advantage, you can use negative reviews to improve your company, interact with customers, and show a realistic balance of reviews. The only real error you can make is remaining unaware of a negative review and unresponsive to its author.