What to do when an influencer gives your product a bad review

When an influencer gives your product a bad review, wait a day, work out whether the complaint is fair, and only then decide whether to reply in public, reply in private, or say nothing.

The urge is to answer straight away, but a fast, defensive reply in the comments tends to turn one post into a story people share.

A bad review is usually one of three things, a real problem with the product, a creator who was the wrong fit for it, or someone using the review as leverage, and each one calls for a different response.

It often starts with a gifted product, which hands the creator every decision about what happens next, as our guide on what to do when an influencer never posts shows from the other side.

Paying for content instead changes that, and our piece on how to pay creators to post compares the options, while a posting gig on Affilitrak lets you watch the video before it goes out.

Is the bad review fair?

Before you reply, decide which of the three this is.

1. A fault in the product: the review names something specific, such as sizing, a broken part, a taste or a smell, and other customers have said the same. This is feedback, and the best response is to fix it and say so.
2. The wrong fit: the product works, but not for this creator or their audience, such as a product for curly hair reviewed by someone with straight hair. Nobody did anything wrong, and the lesson is about who you send product to.
3. Bad faith: the creator asked for money or more product before or after the post, describes things the product never claimed to do, or shows no sign of having used it. This is leverage rather than a review, and you do not negotiate with it.

Should you respond to a bad influencer review?

• Reply in public: when the review names a problem you can fix or contains a factual error, because other customers will read the comments, and your reply is for them as much as for the creator.
• Message in private: when the complaint is vague or the fit was wrong, because a public reply only draws more attention to a post that would fade on its own.
• Say nothing: when it is bad faith, because any reply gives the creator what they wanted, which is a reaction.

Whichever you choose, wait until you can read the post without wanting to argue with it.

How to respond to a bad influencer review

The public reply: short, specific, and written for the customers who read the comments.

"Thanks for the honest review. You're right that the medium runs small, and we've updated the size guide on the product page today so the next person orders the right one. We'd love to send you the correct size if you want to try it again."

The private message: for the vague complaint or the wrong fit, and never a request to delete.

"Hi, thanks for trying the product and for posting about it. I'm sorry it didn't work for you. If you're open to it, I'd love to hear what you expected it to do, because it would help us describe it better for the next customer."

Offer a replacement only when the problem was the product itself, and never as a trade for a change to the post or its removal.

What not to do after a bad review

• Do not pay for a takedown: an offer of money or product to remove the post rarely works, and if the creator shares your message, the offer becomes a bigger story than the review.
• Do not threaten the creator: an honest opinion is theirs to post, and a threat tends to travel further than the post did.
• Do not ask your followers to pile on: it drags your customers into a fight you started, and it makes the post more visible.
• Do not bury it with fake praise: fake positive reviews and comments are easy to spot, and they make the original complaint look more credible.

How to use a bad review to improve your product

1. Write down the exact complaint: one sentence, in the creator's own words.
2. Check it against your product page: if the page promised something the product did not deliver, the page is the problem.
3. Make one change: the size guide, the instructions, the photos or the packaging.
4. Tell the creator once it is fixed: a short reply on the post, if you chose to reply in public.

I would rather find out from one influencer than from a hundred returns.

How to avoid bad influencer reviews

You cannot avoid them entirely, and an honest review is part of why an influencer's praise is worth anything, but you can make them rarer.

• Send product only to creators who fit: look at what they post and who they post for before you send anything, which is part of the check in our guide on whether a creator's audience buys.
• Write a brief: say how the product is used and what it does and does not do, so the creator knows what to expect before they open the box.
• Pay for content instead of gifting: a paid video comes with a brief and a review step, while a free product comes with neither.
• Keep the video and post it yourself: if you mainly want the content, buy a video you can run on your own store and in your ads rather than a post on theirs.

How Affilitrak gigs let you approve the video first

• The creator posts after you approve the video: on a posting gig, the post link is due 7 days after the video is approved, so the video your customers see is one you have already watched.
• The brief sets what the video shows: it can require how the product is used, which features to show and which claims to make, and creators see it before they apply.
• You can ask for one revision: if the video misses the brief, say what to change, and the creator has 7 days to send the new version.
• The post is labelled and stays up: a posting gig requires the post to carry #ad and to stay up for at least 30 days.
• Or skip the post entirely: a video-only gig pays when you approve the video, and you can use that video in your ads and on your own channels, and edit it within reason.

Affilitrak's published prices are $150 for a UGC video, and $225 for a video plus post from a creator with 1k to 10k followers or $400 for 10k+, prepaid when you open the gig.

Approval lets you check the video against your brief. It does not buy a positive opinion. The gig terms let you add captions when you edit the video file, but the caption and the comments on the creator's post stay theirs.

FAQ

Can I ask an influencer to delete a bad review?

You can ask once, politely, but never offer anything in return. If the review is honest, a public fix usually does more for you than a deleted post.

Should I send a replacement product?

Yes, if the fault was in the product, such as a wrong size or a damaged item. Never send one in exchange for a softer review.

Is it normal for influencers to post negative reviews?

Yes, because an audience trusts a creator who says what they think. That candour is what gives their positive posts weight.

Conclusion

A bad review from an influencer is feedback, a mismatch or a shakedown, and the right response depends on which one it is, not on how much it stings.

So wait a day, sort the review into one of the three kinds, and only then choose how to answer.

For the next creator, pay for the video and approve it before anyone else sees it.

You can install Affilitrak free and open your first posting gig today.