EXPRESS: Giving Thanks: How Managers Should Respond to Compliments in Positive Word-of-Mouth

Consumers expect managers to respond to positive reviews, but it is unclear whether these responses are beneficial. This research finds that managerial responses to positive reviews can positively impact consumers when managers follow conversational norms for responding to compliments. It proposes that managers downplay the compliments that their firms receive via positive reviews (e.g., “Dinner was fantastic!”) and examines two norms-based strategies for doing so: 1) shift the content of the compliment (e.g., “We’re glad dinner was good.”) and 2) shift the recipient of the compliment (e.g., “…our suppliers helped.”). First, an experiment and Google Local data show a disconnect between how consumers think managers should respond and how managers currently respond. Second, six experiments test the proposed response strategies. Compared to managers that do not respond to positive reviews and to managers that write responses currently recommended by industry or academics, managers that downplay compliments improve readers’ evaluations of the firm and engagement on the platform. Downplaying the compliment improves consumer outcomes by conveying the manager’s humility, which is normative. Downplaying is most effective when the manager reduces credit to the firm, appreciates someone else involved (e.g., supplier or reviewer), and uses moderately positive descriptors (e.g., fantastic to good).