Build an effective review management strategy that turns your reviews into new business.
97% of consumers report that the customer reviews they read influence their purchasing decisions. That means the success of your business online is dependent on the strength of your online reputation.
Reviews are a pivotal part of your online reputation. You need to have reviews listed on listings like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Yelp and others.
Online reviews are the new word-of-mouth referral. If you saw a company with nothing but poor reviews listed online, would you choose them? I DOUBT IT.
Trying to capture online reviews or manage all of these reviews for your business can be time consuming. Here are 6 simple steps you can get in progress today to create an effective review management strategy:
1. Get Authentic Reviews
Real, honest reviews are key. It’s not hard for users to see through fake or purchased reviews– and nobody wants to work with a company that goes for fake reviews.
The first step to getting authentic reviews from your customers is simple: just ask them. Customers who have had good experiences with your business will be motivated to leave you a review upon request. The hard part is making it easy for you customers to leave you the review.
One quick way to capture their experience is to send an email or a text with a link to either your Google or Facebook profile to make it easy to review.
2. Implement a Review Management System
Once you start asking for reviews, you will need a review management system. This system should be able to:
- Send review requests quickly to your customer via email or text
- Make it easy for the customer to leave the review
- Look professional with your company’s branding and authentic message
- Alert you about new positive or negative reviews
- Contain reporting capabilities to measure performance
We recommend using an automated review management system. This will allow you to manage reviews effectively over time without all of the manual labor.
3. Manage Your Reviews
Reviews are not something you can simply ask for and then move on from. People can say anything about your business across many platforms on the internet. You need to know what your customers are saying everywhere.
Monitor the major review sites, Google and Facebook. Depending on your industry, you may also want to keep an eye on more niche websites. For example, restaurants and brick-and-mortar businesses should monitor Yelp and car dealers should watch Autotrader or CarGurus.
If a review site has clout in your industry, you should keep an eye on it for what people say about your business.
4. Respond to Reviews
Have you scrolled through a company’s reviews and noticed that they did or did not ever respond to the reviews?
It’s important that you respond to all of your customer reviews– positive and negative. When you respond to reviews, it shows you are engaged and can handle customer problems before they turn into big issues. When you properly address your customer reviews, you can build a more reputable and trustworthy brand.
5. Promote Good Reviews
Great reviews should go beyond just sitting on a review site. Make the most out of positive reviews by sharing them on your website and including them as posts in your social media content calendar.
Reviews are great social proof, and nothing sells your business like your customers!
6. Take Bad Reviews as Helpful Feedback
Chances are that not every customer you do business with is going to be happy with their experience. But if you’re receiving a significant number of negative reviews, it’s especially important to use those reviews as feedback to improve the customer experience.
It doesn’t feel great to get a bad review, but it opens up the conversation for how you can do better business. If you want to take improvement of the customer experience a step further, you can send out surveys to your customers to dive deeper into reviews.
Implement a Review Management Strategy for your Business
In today’s world, ethos online is critical. If you haven’t started to manage your reviews with the steps mentioned above, now is a good time to start. When you prioritize the management of your online reviews, you strengthen your online reputation.
Lasso Up is here to help you implement and execute a review management strategy that fits your business. For guidance on this subject or other digital marketing matters, contact us at 800-700-9412 or fill out our contact form.
