Responding to reviews is a great way to learn from and build goodwill with one of your most vocal customers. Yelp allows businesses to respond publicly and privately to user reviews.

However, contacting reviewers should be approached with care; internet messaging is a blunt tool and sometimes good intentions come across badly. We've put together some examples to help you get this balance right.

Keep these three things in mind as you're crafting a message to your customer:

1. Your reviewers are your paying customers
2. Your reviewers are human beings with (sometimes unpredictable) feelings and sensitivities
3. Your reviewers are vocal and opinionated (otherwise they would not be writing reviews!)

Yelp requires business account users to upload a real photo before messaging customers in order to make the message personal. Photos should clearly show your face (no sunglasses please) and not include too many people.

• Responding to a positive review

  Responding to positive reviews should be easy, right? It does sound easy, but it's also surprisingly easy to get this wrong.

  When contacting a positive reviewer, your purpose should be simply to deliver a human thank you and let them know you care. That's it. No gift certificates. No mailing lists. No event invites. No reactions to the minor complaint in their review. No requests for them to tell more friends about your business.

  This may seem counter-intuitive, but just try to put yourself in the reviewer's shoes and think about whether you would really want anything other than a simple thank you. While a gift or invitation sounds like a nice idea, it can also be mis-interpreted as a bribe or payment for the review. Remember, this customer already likes your business -- just use this opportunity to thank them and introduce yourself.

• Responding to a negative review

  This is hard. Before responding to a negative review, take a deep breath and think very carefully about what you are going to write. Or even better, don't think too much: just keep it simple by thanking your customer for the patronage and feedback.

  Negative reviews can feel like a punch in the gut. We care deeply about our business too, and it hurts when someone says bad things about our business. For you founders and sole proprietors out there, a negative review can even feel like a personal attack.

  The good news is that by contacting your reviewer and establishing a genuine human relationship, you have a chance to help the situation and maybe even change this customer's perspective for the better. We've heard lots of success stories from business owners who were polite to their reviewers and were accordingly given a second chance.

  But please be very careful here: if your reviewer perceives that you are being rude, condescending or disingenuous in any way, there's a chance he or she could get angry and make the situation even worse. Keep in mind that this is a vocal customer who could well copy and paste your message all over the Web.

  So just keep your message simple: thank you for the business and the feedback. If you can be specific about the customer's experience and any changes you may have made as a result, this could go very far in earning trust.

• Responding publicly

  Posting a Public Comment

  Public comments are a way for business owners to add a helpful comment to a user's review. Responding to reviewers' concerns shows that you value their feedback and that you're always striving to improve.

  Getting Started

  Go to the "Reviews" tab after logging into your business account. From there you'll be able to add a public comment to any review of your business.

  Where your Public Comment will appear

  Your comment will appear directly following the review that you've commented on.

  What should I say in a public comment?

  Just keep it simple and polite. Yelpers appreciate honesty and like to know when businesses are making changes based on their feedback.

  Are there times when it's better not to comment?

  Yes, sometimes it's to your advantage not to comment at all.

  If you're upset, you might write something that will reflect poorly on your business. Wait until you've had some time to think about a review; there may be legitimate concerns brought up in the review that you can address in a constructive way.

  If you want to thank someone for a positive review, send a private message instead. Comments that simply thank users without providing new information can be perceived as overbearing.

  What if a review is completely false? Can I say so?

  Sure, though we always recommend trying to resolve issues through private messaging first. If you feel a public comment is necessary, present your case as simply and politely as possible, and do not attack the reviewer under any circumstances. Remember that potential customers will be reading your comment and you want to leave them with a positive impression of your business.

  Public Comment Reminders

  As with private messaging, we ask that business owners upload a clear photo of themselves to help personalize their message. You can use Public Comments to tell the community what you've done to address a specific concern raised by a reviewer, provide correct information when a review contains inaccurate or outdated information, or provide your version of a difficult situation when you're unable to resolve a dispute through private messaging. Remember to be polite and stick to facts since your comments are public and can be seen by potential customers.

  Please don't use public comments to launch personal attacks, advertise, or offer an incentive to change a review.