For the California restaurateur Andrew Gruel, poor online reviews demand rapid responses.

One of his new Slapfish restaurants, serving sustainable seafood, was hit this year with dozens of bad reviews that complained about its prices (too high) and portions (too small).

So Gruel pulled out all the stops. He sent emails to customers begging them to come back. And he rejiggered menu prices, increased portion size and even introduced combo meal deals. Quickly, those one-star reviews shifted into five stars.

對加州餐廳老闆安德魯．葛路爾來說，網路惡評必須盡速回應。

今年他旗下供應永續海鮮的新餐廳Slapfish中的一家，引起幾十則惡評，抱怨價格（太高），份量（太少）。

於是，葛路爾使出了一切辦法。他寄電子郵件給顧客，懇求他們回來。他並且更改菜單價格，把份量放大，甚至推出套餐優惠。很快地，那些一顆星評價變成了五顆星。

"You can get buried by bad reviews," said Gruel, whose fast-casual restaurants serve food like fish tacos and lobster burgers. "So it's a race to stop the bleeding."

The payoff, he added, can be tremendous. Turning around one-star reviews creates lifetime customers — and better reviews draw more customers.

Gruel's extreme approach to bad reviews may sound like overkill. But studies show that consumers overwhelmingly choose businesses based mainly on star ratings. Even a decline of one star, on a scale from one to five, can hurt revenue and send a business into a slide.

於是，葛路爾使出了一切辦法。他寄電子郵件給顧客，懇求他們回來。他並且更改菜單價格，把份量放大，甚至推出套餐優惠。很快地，那些一顆星評價變成了五顆星。

葛路爾說：「你可能會被惡評淹沒。所以，這是場止血比賽。」葛路爾的快速休閒餐廳提供諸如魚肉玉米餅及龍蝦漢堡之類食物。

他接著說，回報可能會非常之大。扭轉一顆星評價會創造出終生顧客，更好的評價會吸引到更多客人。

"Star ratings persist forever," said Daniel Lemin, author of "ManipuRated: How Business Owners Can Fight Fraudulent Online Ratings and Reviews." "Meanwhile, actual reviews can fall off the first pages of review sites. And consumers rarely read reviews older than three months." After problems are addressed and solved, he added, there's a high chance that disgruntled customers can become avid advocates.

葛路爾處理惡評的極端方法可能聽起來有點小題大作。但有研究顯示，絕大多數消費者主要是根據星級評等選擇商家。在分為5顆星的評比中即使只下滑一顆星，都可能傷害到營收且令業績下滑。

「操縱星級：企業主如何對抗不實線上評分以及評論」一書作者丹尼爾．雷明說：「星級評比永遠存在。同時，實評會從評論網站的第一頁被洗到下方。消費者很少會去看超過3個月的評論。」他接著說，在問題獲得處理與解決後，不滿的顧客很有可能變成死忠。

So small businesses have nothing to lose by engaging their critics, Lemin said. The recipe is simply apologizing and asking for another chance. The criticism may hurt, he adds, but the way a business responds matters.

Gruel, a trained chef who started his business in a food truck, prefers to respond to reviews himself. He fears using "canned responses that aren't personal." If he cannot respond quickly, he asks an employee to do it for him."The minute you see a bad review, look for a shard of truth," she said. "Is this something you can improve? Look for what you can fix." But don't fight fire with fire by getting into an argument with a reviewer, she added.

雷明說，因此小企業與批評者接觸互動不會有任何損失。方法很簡單，就是道歉並請求對方再給一次機會。他並補充道，批評可能帶來傷害，但更重要的是企業的回應方式。

葛路爾喜歡親自回覆評論。他害怕使用「非由本人親自為之的自動回覆功能」。若他無法迅速回覆，他會要求一名員工幫他回覆。葛路爾是個訓練有素的大廚，從一輛餐車開始打造事業。她說：「你一看到惡評，就去盡力找出真實性。這是你能改善的地方嗎？找出你能改正的辦法。」 她並補充道，別跟評論者陷入爭論，用以牙還牙的方式回覆。