It’s never been easier to find online reviews for pretty much anything you’re thinking of purchasing. From the reviews embedded in Google Maps so you can check on the go to pages like Yelp and even reviews built into retail sites, reviews are easier to find than ever. And they’re more important to customers too – it’s becoming an expectation for every business. How can your business master the art of online review management and harness the power of reviews to build your reputation? Let’s find out.
Managing Your Online Reviews
Having great online reviews can bring in customers – but lots of bad reviews can drive them away. In a marketing-saturated world, consumers are looking for independent opinions about products. That’s why they trust online reviews.
To start managing your reviews, the first step is setting up your review pages. For local businesses, you must claim your Google My Business account first to have access to the tools and analytics there. This will help with your review monitoring, and allow you to respond to customer feedback quickly. You should do the same with Facebook reviews if that’s a good platform for your business. Facebook no longer has star ratings for businesses, but still allows customers to publish recommendations.
Digital review management isn’t just about getting a review page set up, though that’s a critical first step. It also means sending your customers regular surveys after each purchase or visit – did you live up to their expectations? Would they recommend you to their friends and family? This customer satisfaction information can help you fix any issues in your products or your customer service.
Whether it’s a positive review or a negative review, the best review management strategy is to respond politely and professionally to as many as possible. An overly emotional response to a negative review can do more damage than the review itself. And don’t copy and paste your response – you want customers to know that a real person is looking at their feedback and taking it into account.
Online Review Management Tips
Setting up your review page and responding to customer feedback are just the beginning. You also want to encourage customers to leave feedback on those review sites – the more reviews you have, the more trust future customers will have in your business. You can set up an automated email to go out to customers after a purchase, thanking them for their business and asking them to leave a review on whatever site works best for you.
This strategy is bolstered if you give them something in return for their effort – a video about how to make the best use of their new product, or a blog post with everything they need to know about their new purchase.
Regularly scan negative reviews for any trends, and see if the feedback matches any business goals you’re struggling to reach. If you are trying to raise your conversion rate, for example, and your customer reviews frequently note a glitch in the check-out process, that’s valuable information. And now you can take action.
While negative reviews can give you ideas for improvement, positive reviews can highlight things customers love about your brand. This can be a great source for ideas to include in future marketing campaigns – and you’ll know you can back up those claims your marketing makes.
The Complete Solution to Review Management
You may be wondering how to get those glowing reviews from your satisfied customers the digital air-time they deserve. From helping you set up an account on Google My Business or another site closer to your business niche, to getting your best customers to give you glowing reviews – it can be a lot to manage on your own. That’s why you need a guide like us.
C1M will set up an automated system to collect this feedback for you – and put it to good use identifying customers who are your biggest fans and asking them to leave you online reviews. Leave the hard work to us and see the results roll in as your online reputation grows. We’ll report back to you regularly on your progress here too – we don’t just set it and forget it. We are constantly reviewing our strategy to make sure it’s working for you as efficiently as possible.
