Customer reviews are so important to things like your local SEO ranking factors, as well as your overall reputation.
There was a Zendesk survey that found 90% of respondents said positive online reviews influenced their buying decisions, and 86% said their decision was impacted by negative reviews. Your reviews really define your brand.
There are some mistakes a lot of businesses make when it comes to customer reviews. One is simply not thinking about them and not working to get them. Another is focusing too much on negative reviews, and a third mistake is having negative reviews but not responding to them appropriately.
Along with influencing buying decisions, reviews help encourage people to interact with your business, and they boost your credibility. A BrightLocal survey found that in the United States, nearly 70% of online shoppers are more likely to engage with businesses that have positive reviews.
Ninety-three percent of survey respondents said they determine the reputation of a business based on reviews, and a survey from Fan & Fuel found that 92% of consumers would be hesitant to make a purchase without customer reviews.
First, you should designate one person to manage your reviews and to respond to them across platforms because this will keep your brand voice consistent. You want someone who is excellent at customer service and has a writing tone that comes across friendly. They also need to have some level of authority to deal with complaints. When you’re responding to positive reviews, you can simply let customers know that you appreciate their kind words.
Responding publicly can be a good idea because it helps show that you are actively engaged with your customers.
So, what about managing negative online reviews?
It’s more challenging, but also more important in many ways than how you deal with positive reviews.
First of all, you have to expect to get at least a few negative reviews because that’s the nature of life and business. You should look at them as an opportunity rather than something to run away from.
If it’s a valid negative review, use it as a learning opportunity. Think of it objectively rather than emotionally and see if there’s something you can pull from it and use to better your business and your customer experience.
If you don’t use this as genuine feedback, you might see more and more reviews addressing the same issue.
Once you’ve objectively looked at what the customer is saying, you want to empathize and sincerely apologize. Then your response should move on to resolving the issue by thinking about what you can do to right a wrong.
When you respond to reviews in a positive way, you’re showing other customers and the public that you take customer service seriously and that it’s a priority you’re willing to go above and beyond for.
There are a lot of ways to encourage reviews. For example, you can include logos of the review sites you have profiles on, or you could ask customers who stand out as being especially happy or loyal to your business to leave you a review.
Embedding a review button on your site is helpful too.
What you shouldn’t do, however, is send out a mass email asking for reviews nor should you try to incentivize customers to leave reviews. People are often most compelled by being asked personally and directly, and they’re usually more than happy to leave a review.
If you are going to send out an email, make sure it’s personal to the customer and overall, keep it simple and make it as easy as possible for your customers.
There was a Zendesk survey that found 90% of respondents said positive online reviews influenced their buying decisions, and 86% said their decision was impacted by negative reviews. Your reviews really define your brand.
Along with influencing buying decisions, reviews help encourage people to interact with your business, and they boost your credibility. A BrightLocal survey found that in the United States, nearly 70% of online shoppers are more likely to engage with businesses that have positive reviews.
Ninety-three percent of survey respondents said they determine the reputation of a business based on reviews, and a survey from Fan & Fuel found that 92% of consumers would be hesitant to make a purchase without customer reviews.
A Complete Guide To Manage Customer Reviews
The following is a guide to what your business should know about customer reviews.Creating Profiles
First and foremost, you need to have a way for customers to leave reviews for your business and their experience. Set up relevant profiles by claiming your Google business listing, and also, depending on your business and your industry, you might want to set up profiles on sites like Angie’s List and TripAdvisor. Facebook also has an area where customers can leave reviews.Managing Reviews
There can really be an art to managing reviews, and yes, this includes negative reviews.First, you should designate one person to manage your reviews and to respond to them across platforms because this will keep your brand voice consistent. You want someone who is excellent at customer service and has a writing tone that comes across friendly. They also need to have some level of authority to deal with complaints. When you’re responding to positive reviews, you can simply let customers know that you appreciate their kind words.
Responding publicly can be a good idea because it helps show that you are actively engaged with your customers.
So, what about managing negative online reviews?
It’s more challenging, but also more important in many ways than how you deal with positive reviews.
First of all, you have to expect to get at least a few negative reviews because that’s the nature of life and business. You should look at them as an opportunity rather than something to run away from.
If it’s a valid negative review, use it as a learning opportunity. Think of it objectively rather than emotionally and see if there’s something you can pull from it and use to better your business and your customer experience.
If you don’t use this as genuine feedback, you might see more and more reviews addressing the same issue.
Once you’ve objectively looked at what the customer is saying, you want to empathize and sincerely apologize. Then your response should move on to resolving the issue by thinking about what you can do to right a wrong.
When you respond to reviews in a positive way, you’re showing other customers and the public that you take customer service seriously and that it’s a priority you’re willing to go above and beyond for.
Encourage Reviews
Along with providing excellent customer service and above-average overall customer experience, you will need to encourage customers to actually leave reviews because it does require effort on their part. Your customers are likely busy people and they may not inherently think about leaving a review unless you put it at the forefront of their mind.There are a lot of ways to encourage reviews. For example, you can include logos of the review sites you have profiles on, or you could ask customers who stand out as being especially happy or loyal to your business to leave you a review.
Embedding a review button on your site is helpful too.
What you shouldn’t do, however, is send out a mass email asking for reviews nor should you try to incentivize customers to leave reviews. People are often most compelled by being asked personally and directly, and they’re usually more than happy to leave a review.
If you are going to send out an email, make sure it’s personal to the customer and overall, keep it simple and make it as easy as possible for your customers.
Ashutosh Jha
Ashutosh Jha is a professional blogger, Blog and IT Consultant. He writes about Blogging, SEO, Making Money, Internet Marketing and Web Design.
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