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What every business owner should do to manage online reviews

Performance Driven Marketing > Blog > Online Reviews

How often do you pay attention to online reviews? Did you know, “92% of consumers read online reviews specifically for local businesses?” Online reviews matter, plain and simple. Online reviews allow people to learn about your brand, understand your reputation, and determine if they want to do business with your company. Also, reviews enable businesses to learn about shortcomings that need to be addressed and improved.

Online reviews need to be something you intentionally participate in gathering and managing.

How to Manage Online Reviews

There are several free online review tools and several paid review tools. It helps to have tools to manage the various areas with online reviews such as Google, Facebook, and Yelp.

Google is Dominant

Customers usually check Google before they check anywhere else. Google makes it easy for customers to review companies, and for their searchers to find what they want. Start by claiming your Google My Business listing and start encouraging your customers to leave reviews.

Bad Reviews Matter

A bad review can ruin your day, and it’s understandable when you work hard to be successful. However, use bad reviews to highlight areas of the company that needs to be addressed. Perhaps now is the time to discuss internal changes that have a direct impact on the customer experience.

Empathy is essential to customers. Do they feel that you are offering a sincere apology, or just doing this to safe face?

Do not delete the bad review. Respond immediately, reach out to the customer, and focus on rectifying the situation. Ask them to review or update their review following a positive discussion. When other people see how you respond to the negative review, they can clearly see how your company takes steps to improve from mistakes.

Do I Need Reviews?

Yes! Potential customers rely on reviews, but a lack of reviews will also damage your search engine ranking. According to Google, nearly 10% of the search engine algorithm rely on online reviews. If you are below your competition, take a look at their reviews compared to your reviews.

Where Are We?

If you want to be successful with online reviews, find out where people are reviewing your business. While Facebook, Google, and Yelp tend to be the most known, there are thousands of others including;

  • Amazon customer reviews
  • Angie’s List
  • Better Busienss Bureau
  • Consumer Reports
  • Foursquare
  • Glassdoor
  • Manta
  • Trip Advisor

Become aware of where you are being reviewed, and claim your profile on those review sites. Start engaging with your audience on these sites to boost your reputation and visibility.

Stay Relevant and Recent

An area where businesses often fall behind is forgetting to thank people for reviewing them. Share positive reviews on your social media accounts. Highlight the customers with positive experiences. Apologize to the customers that have a negative experience. Part of managing reviews is to ask satisfied customers to post reviews to continue gaining a positive reputation in your industry.

A great way to generate positive reviews is by rewarding your loyal customers and encouraging a review. Send them a free product or ask if they would like to be part of testing a new product and sending you a review of it. Customers will feel valued by the business for their ongoing support, and the business, in turn, generates a new positive review.

Natural Ways to Obtain Reviews

No one has enough time to ask each customer to review the business, so use automated tools to help. SMS text message services and email surveys with review links can remind people to leave a review. While these methods are helpful, here are some natural ways to obtain reviews:

  • Focus on delivering a great product or service. People leave reviews when they are satisfied with their product and overall experience.
  • Improve customer service. It helps to go overboard and truly fawn over your customer’s needs. Make sure you take steps to make them feel important with each employee and each interaction they have with the customer. If they have a bad interaction, they are likely to take to the review boards to vent their frustrations.
  • Ask an influencer if you can send them your product and have them review and share it with their audience. Influencers are helpful to gather a new audience for your business, and they do a great job assisting with reputation building.

Reviews on the Go

An easy way to keep tabs on your customers is by installing apps on your phone. Google My Business makes it easy to respond to reviews and connect with customers in real-time. Keeping on top of reviews and responding promptly can often improve the customer experience. Outsourcing reviews can help when they do become overwhelming to manage.

Stay in touch with your customers and they will reward you with positive reviews. Keep your website updated with the latest SEO tips and tricks by signing up for our informative newsletter.

Filed Under: Online Reviews

How important are customer reviews to a business? Nine out of ten customers claim they read online reviews prior to working with a business. With at least 88% of consumers trusting online reviews as much as a referral or personal recommendation, it is an essential component of your online marketing strategy. 

Online reviews have an impact on your sales. However, obtaining reviews has always seemed to be a challenge for businesses. How do you know your most satisfied customers will leave reviews? What should you do in the event you receive a negative review? 

Getting Started with Online Reviews

Understanding how reviews work is the place to start. Business owners need to take some time to familiarize themselves with Google My Business and other social platforms where customers leave reviews. Depending upon your industry, you may find yourself dealing with reviews on websites like:

  • Yelp
  • Facebook
  • Yellowpages
  • TripAdvisor
  • Manta
  • Amazon 
  • Citysearch
  • Foursquare

Local Businesses and Online Reviews

Multiple studies show that 53% of customers will visit a business within 48 hours of performing a local search. In addition, 33% of customers surveyed by ReviewTrackers say they will not eat in a restaurant with less than 4 stars or multiple negative reviews. 

Bad reviews will hurt your business and can drop your website ranking. In fact, one single negative review can drop sales by 5-8% or more! 

Google My Business

Each month, Google averages about 158.3 million visitors. With such high exposure, it pays to spend some time optimizing your profile. It is free to claim your Google My Business profile and it does give your business a stronger local presence. Once you have verified your business listing, your website will start to appear in the search engine results and people can start leaving reviews.

Google My Business does provide an option for businesses to post updates and share information directly with the customers. If you do not have a website, or you feel your website is not that impressive, your Google My Business page will become one of the best free resources you have available to keep focused on attracting customers. 

 

online reviews

Asking for Customer Reviews 

It is important to ask your customers for reviews. We utilize services that make it easier for customers to submit a review. We can customize a personalized email and SMS text message tool that will go directly to the customer, making it easier for them to leave a review. 

Never be afraid to ask customers directly for a review. If they are in your store and having a great interaction, ask them to leave a review. Most customers are happy to leave a positive review when they have a good interaction with the business in person. 

Handling a Negative Review

What happens when you have a negative review? The most important thing we can stress is to avoid attacking the reviewer. Before you even respond to the review, you need to make sure you know all the facts. One thing you can do is make sure you read the review, take the information into consideration and respond positively. 

When you respond, the upset customer may update their review or might even remove it entirely. Potential customers will be able to see the response and notice that the business does care about customer satisfaction and is seeking to always improve. 

Add Reviews to Your Website

Customers love testimonials as it gives them peace of mind. People want to know what type of experiences people have been experiencing with the business. Use a variety of clients to provide feedback in multiple industries and continue improving the conversion rates for your business. 

Online reviews are vital to each industry. Failing to prioritize online reviews can be detrimental to your business. Reputation is everything in the modern Internet-driven world. Successful reviews may not happen immediately, but with the right tools and engagement strategy, you will be able to see a boost in your online reputation and website traffic!

online reviews infographic

Filed Under: Featured, Google, Marketing, Online Reviews

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