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Marissa Schneggenburger

How to Handle a Negative Review of Your Childcare Center

  • October 28, 2021

Negative reviews are inevitable when running a business such as your childcare center. However, how you handle these negative reviews can greatly impact the perception of your business. By correctly handling unfavorable reviews, you can ensure your childcare center is top-rated. 

In this post, you’ll learn:

  • When to respond to a negative review
  • What to say to a reviewer
  • How to encourage positive reviews at your center
  • And more!

To learn more about handling negative reviews at your childcare center, keep reading. 

Handling a Negative Review at Your Childcare Center

Respond Quickly

Being prompt allows you to get ahead of the problem and minimize the impact of the review. This shows that you care about your business and prioritize the families at your center. Try to respond to the review within 24 hours to help resolve the issue and increase the likeliness of the review being removed.  

Remain Calm, Polite, and Professional

Your response and demeanor is crucial when responding to negative reviews. By being calm, polite, and professional you can help keep the reviewer calm and protect the image of your business. Keep in mind that potential families can read these reviews and they will take into account how you respond to difficult situations. The better you handle the review, the better your center will look and the happier your reviewer will be.

Offer to Address the Issue Offline

Rather than having back and forth conversations, it’s best to move the issue offline to reconcile it as best as possible. Simply respond to the review politely and ask for the reviewer to contact you as soon as possible. This shows you’re taking the review seriously while keeping the matter private. 

Here’s an example of what you can say to a reviewer:

“Hi [name], we’re sorry to hear about your negative experience with our center. We can assure you that we take these reviews very seriously and want to do everything we can to make this right. Please reach out to us at [email or phone number] so we can address the issue. Thank you for your time.”

Ask for the review to be removed

If the issue was successfully handled offline, kindly ask the reviewer if they can remove the review they posted. 

Request Positive Reviews

Having positive reviews will not only help potential customers find your center but also allow them to establish trust within your center. Word-of-mouth marketing is extremely powerful for childcare centers. When families see a range of positive reviews from happy families, they’re more inclined to want to join your center.

To get started, register your center with Google My Business. Next, encourage your families to write positive reviews about their experience. You can even offer incentives like a gift card, tuition discount, or small gift for those who fill out reviews. Google Reviews are free, easy, and one of the most popular ways prospective customers will research childcare centers. 

Mitigate the Risk of Negative Reviews

To help keep negative reviews at bay, ensure you and your staff are doing everything in your power to maintain a positive experience at your center. This means having your staff follow your updates handbook, creating a resilient team, and having a great company culture.

You can reduce negative reviews by:


Kangarootime is the leading all-in-one childcare management software for daycares and preschools. With billing and invoicing capabilities, parent communication and staff management tools and classroom automation, Kangarootime helps childcare centers grow and scale. To learn more about optimizing your center with Kangarootime, visit kangarootime.com

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