Responding to Negative Electronic Word of Mouth to Improve Purchase Intention

Retailers have little control over what their customers say about their products and services online. Review platforms (e.g., Yelp and Travelocity) are rife with negativity, from both real customers with bad experiences and from fake reviews created by competitors. These negative reviews have been shown to influence the purchasing behavior of future consumers. Many platforms do afford companies some control by including them in the online conversation about their products or services. Crafting a response to a poor review which appeals to future consumers may mitigate some of the negative outcomes associated with that review. This study advances our knowledge of responding to negative reviews by adding to the growing body of research, using a simulation-based experiment to test the influence of three elements of a review response on purchase intention (i.e., an apology, an explanation and a pledge to correct the problem identified in the review). In doing so, the data show that purchase intention increases only when a response contains all three elements. Implications for e-commerce researchers and review platform developers are discussed.