Treat a review that blames your website as a fault report. Reproduce what the reviewer describes, find the cause, such as form messages lost to spam or a page needing Flash, fix it, then reply.

A review about a form, not a stay

The review is short: two messages sent through the website about August dates, no answer to either, so the writer booked somewhere else. Two stars.

Another says the booking calendar would not load on an iPad. Neither reviewer ever stayed, yet both reviews now sit beside those from guests who did.

The owner's first reaction is that no messages arrived, so the complaint must be wrong. Often the messages were sent and simply never reached anyone.

Why the business takes the blame

A visitor sees one business. Who built the form, who hosts the site and which mail filter caught the message are all invisible from outside.

A form that never answers looks like a business that does not care, and the visitor reports exactly what happened to them. From where they stood, the account is accurate.

That makes a review like this useful. It is a fault report from someone who had no reason to send one privately.

The usual causes

Website complaints in reviews tend to come down to a handful of faults, and each can be tested in minutes.

Of these, the first is the hardest to see. Each message looks forged to the receiving mail server, which quietly files it as junk.

Test what the reviewer describes

Repeat what the reviewer did, as closely as you can. Use the same kind of device, send a message from an outside address such as a Gmail account, and wait.

Then look everywhere it could land: the inbox, the junk folder, the host's spam quarantine and any address the form copies. Note the time it was sent.

Check the date of the review against recent changes to the site or the hosting. A form that worked in June may have stopped the week the server was updated.

Ask the host for its mail logs for the dates in the review. They show whether messages from the form were sent, refused or delivered.

Find the cause before replying

A quick reply saying no message ever arrived reads as calling the reviewer a liar, and other readers tend to side with the reviewer.

A short wait while you test is better. A day or two to find and fix the fault gives you something true and useful to say.

A worked example

A glamping site on Vancouver Island rents eight furnished safari tents in a meadow above the sea, from May to the end of September. Most bookings start with a question sent through its website.

Two reviews in August said messages went unanswered. The owner sent a test from her own Gmail account, and it never appeared in the office inbox.

The host found the reason. The form sent each message as if from the visitor's address, and the office mail server, seeing Gmail mail arrive from a web server, filed it as spam.

The availability calendar had a second fault: it ran in Flash, so visitors on iPhones and iPads saw an empty box.

The developer changed the form so that each message comes from an address on the site's own domain, with the visitor's address as the one to reply to. The calendar was rebuilt to show on any device.

Each form now sends the visitor a copy saying when to expect an answer, and a test message goes through on the first of every month.

Fixing the form properly

Each message a form sends should come from an address at your own domain. The visitor's address belongs in the Reply-To line, so that pressing Reply reaches them.

The domain's records should also name the web server among the servers allowed to send its mail.

Send each message to a shared inbox that more than one person reads, and keep a copy on the server so nothing depends on a single mail filter.

Tell the visitor what happens next, and show a phone number beside the form for anyone who would rather call.

Writing the reply

Reply once the fix is in place. Thank the reviewer for saying so, apologise once, and explain in a sentence what was wrong, without technical detail or blaming anyone.

Say what has changed and how to reach you directly. Sign with a name, so the reviewer and everyone reading can see a person is answering.

A reply that explains a fixed fault also tells future guests the form now works, which a silent page never does. Any wish to make amends belongs in a private message.

Quieter visitors with the same problem

Others may have met the same fault and gone elsewhere without a word. The review is the visible part of a problem that was probably larger.

Search your other reviews and comments for the same complaint in different words: no reply, could not book, would not load. Then test every form on the site, not only the one named.

The counter-case

Sometimes the site is not at fault. The message arrived and nobody answered it, or the reviewer mistyped their own email address, so the reply bounced.

Then the reply is different: own the delay plainly, or explain kindly that a reply was sent and offer to try again by phone. Test the form all the same; it takes ten minutes.

And some reviews describe a problem you cannot reproduce at all. Say what you checked, and invite the reviewer to tell you more.

After the next review that mentions the site

  1. Read the review as a fault report.
  2. Repeat what the reviewer did on the same kind of device.
  3. Check every folder where a message could land.
  4. Fix the cause, not only the symptom.
  5. Test every form on the site.
  6. Reply once the fix is in place.
  7. Schedule a monthly test message.

Step seven keeps it from happening again. A form tested on the first of each month can fail for a few weeks at most, rather than for a whole season.

Regular customers who argue with your critics deals with the loyal supporters who sometimes rush in beneath a review like this one.

Frequently asked questions

Why do reviewers blame the business for a website fault?

They only see your business. Who built the form or which filter caught the message is invisible, so an unanswered form looks like an indifferent business.

Why do form messages end up in spam?

Many forms send each message as if from the visitor's address. Mail arriving from your web server under someone else's address looks forged, so filters file it as junk.

Should I reply to the review straight away?

Not with a denial. Test what the reviewer describes first, fix the cause, then reply with what was wrong and what has changed since.

What should the reply say?

Thanks for saying so, one apology, a sentence on what was wrong, what has changed, and how to reach you directly, signed with a name.

What if the message did arrive and nobody answered?

Then own the delay plainly in the reply, and look at who reads the inbox. Test the form anyway, since it takes only a few minutes.

How often should website forms be tested?

Once a month at least, and again whenever the site or the hosting changes, with a message from an outside address followed all the way to the inbox.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

A review says your form never answered?

Send us the review and your contact page address, and we will trace where the messages went and fix the form.

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