You can sit back and patiently wait for reviews, but you can get so much more just by asking.
To help you proactively facilitate good business reviews, this blog will talk about the following:
- The Importance of Online Reviews for Businesses
- Online Reviews Management Tactics To Encourage Good Customer Reviews
- Top Review Sites for Businesses (Business Listings)
- Tips for Responding to Positive Reviews
- Tips for Responding to Negative Reviews
- Partnering With Reputation Management Companies
The Importance of Online Reviews for Businesses
Before we go over the tips, here’s what online reviews can do for your business.
- Speak to consumer doubts. Reviews show real-life experiences from people who have already purchased and used your product or service. Good business reviews strengthen a curious consumer’s confidence and speed up the purchase, while negative reviews can highlight possible issues, thereby helping set realistic expectations.
- Promote search visibility. Search engines, like Google, value fresh user-generated content such as reviews. Reviews are also rich in keywords, so apart from review platforms, you should also have a section on your website, such as your product listings, where verified customers can directly leave feedback to help with search engine optimization (SEO).
- Demonstrate transparency. Review platforms open the door for communication between your business and customers. Proper online reviews management, where you welcome and value good and bad reviews alike, sends a message that your brand has nothing to hide and is committed to improving your offerings.
- Guide business decisions. Both bad and good business reviews contain actionable insights to inform your strategies. For instance, if you notice customers frequently raving about a product in your social media reviews, you can run a promotion on that particular product, using review snippets as copy.
As such, these benefits likewise demand businesses to embrace the importance of online reviews management.
Online Reviews Management Tactics To Encourage Good Customer Reviews
So, to dive into the main topic of this blog, let’s talk about the ways to establish a stream of online reviews for businesses like yours.
#1 Recognize the Best Moments To Ask
After a customer has shared positive comments with your staff or made a successful purchase, they are likelier to leave an online review. Take advantage of this moment and politely ask for their help by leaving a review.
Speaking of timing, you also want to give customers ample time to experience your product. For instance, if they purchased from your website, you should consider delivery time. But make sure not to wait long before re-engaging with your customer so your brand is still top-of-mind.
#2 Designate a Review Page or Section on Your Website
Having a proper space on your website where customers can view and leave reviews helps both potential and current customers. They wouldn’t have to comb other online channels to either comment or know more about your offerings. With this, you can add a review widget or section in your product listings so prospects can simultaneously view them as they browse through what you offer them.
#3 Use In-Store Signages and Prominently Display Them
Brick-and-mortar stores can use banners, flyers, brochures, window clings or bill receipts to encourage reviews. Moreover, a dedicated in-store kiosk equipped with a user-friendly app can effortlessly direct customers to a designated review section of your website. With QR codes, make sure to provide customers with some suggestions of top review sites or other options on where they can leave a review.
#4 Ask the Customer in Person
After identifying the optimal moments to approach your customers, training your staff on how to do so effectively is crucial. For example, if you own a restaurant, you or your team can approach a diner after receiving a compliment. Consider having a flier or a placard with a QR code to make it more convenient for customers to leave reviews.
#5 Tell the Customer How Long It Will Take To Leave a Review
Often, customers hesitate to leave online reviews because they think it will take too long. Fortunately, you can quickly address this concern upfront when asking for their feedback. Simply say, “It will only take two minutes of your time.” This simple phrase can make them more receptive to your request.
#6 Reduce Friction in Every Avenue
You want to simplify each step as much as possible. Aside from making sure you provide direct and functional links to the platforms where you want reviews, you can run a campaign survey where you ask customers questions to guide them. You can also leverage a Likert scale, which is used to measure opinions, attitudes or behaviors more easily.
#7 Claim Your Listings on the Best Review Sites
Doing so not only enables you to control what information is displayed about your business on these platforms, but it also allows you to directly engage with customers when you respond to positive reviews and negative ones. Moreover, claimed listings generally rank higher in search results, improving your business’s visibility to potential customers.
It is also worth noting that unclaimed listings can be subject to edits by others, which may lead to inaccurate or misleading information about your business being displayed, and as such, claiming your listings is an integral component of any comprehensive online review management strategy.
Up next: The best review sites for businesses to manage bad and good customer reviews
Top Review Sites for Businesses (Business Listings)
Let’s start with the search engine giant to stress the importance of Google reviews.
Formerly known as Google My Business (GMB), Google Business Profile (GBP) dominates local search results on Google. Optimizing your Business Profile is a breeze with its user-friendly features, allowing you to control how your business appears on Google Maps and Search.
Verified businesses in GBP are twice as likely to be considered reputable (Google). When you accept the importance of Google reviews, you’ll naturally reap the benefits of GBP listing management.
Yelp
Yelp’s business citations hold significant value alongside ratings and reviews. A survey revealed that 97% of users spend money on businesses they discover on Yelp within a week.
While local business listing management is free, upgrading to Yelp’s local citation service allows you to stand out in search results, surpass competitors and promote your business to your target market through ads and featured posts.
Facebook (or Meta)
Facebook provides businesses numerous benefits, including access to billions of potential customers and visibility on search engines. Apart from social media reviews, you can leverage the platform’s local citation services, manage inquiries, schedule appointments and showcase your inventory for free.
Additionally, the check-in feature on mobile allows businesses to gain extra exposure by being visible to customers’ network of friends.
Nextdoor
Nextdoor is a global business directory and social networking platform that offers local citation services in over 260,000 neighborhoods worldwide.
With claimed or verified accounts, businesses can showcase their local SEO citation for free in Nextdoor’s directory called “neighborhood.” Business Posts, which can be made twice a month, reach neighbors’ newsfeeds, ensuring maximum visibility.
When you invest time and effort in managing your listings on applicable review platforms for your business, you can guarantee your reviews will grow. So, the next section is to help you manage the influx of reviews.
Tips for Responding to Positive Reviews
In some cases, a positive review may simply say “good,” “okay,” or “nice.” You don’t have to respond to positive reviews such as these. But in other cases, here’s how you can do so:
- Address the customer by name.
- Express how much you value customer feedback; thank them.
- Tell them you’re looking forward to their next visit or purchase.
Here’s an example:
Dear [Customer Name],
Thank you so much for your positive feedback. We are delighted to know that your experience with [Name of Product or Service] was enjoyable and met your expectations. Our team at [Company Name] is dedicated to providing the best service possible, and your words of appreciation make all our efforts worthwhile.
We look forward to serving you again.
Best Regards,
[Your Name]
Tips for Responding to Negative Reviews
Whether social media reviews or not, prospective customers will look into how you deal with negative reviews. So be intentional in handling them.
- Address the customer by name.
- Introduce yourself and your position in the company.
- Ask questions to make sure you understand their concern.
- Apologize even when you’re not in the wrong.
- Provide actionable resolutions.
- Offer to continue the conversation elsewhere.
Here’s an example:
Dear [Customer name],
I’m [Your Name], the [Role] at [Company Name]. We’re extremely sorry to hear about your recent unsatisfactory experience with our product. Thanks for taking the time to bring this to our attention.
We greatly appreciate the opportunity to make things right and to regain your faith in us. Your refund will be processed in three (3) days. In the meantime, here’s a [Voucher] for you to enjoy at our partner cafe.
We will use your feedback to make us better and to ensure this doesn’t happen again. If you’re open to discussing this further, please call or email us at [Contact Information].
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
Partnering With Reputation Management Companies
Before we end, remember that the cornerstone of a strong review collection campaign is ensuring your offerings’ quality. If you think you’re ready to get more reviews, on some of the best review sites, we can help.
Rize Reviews is a reputation management company specializing in review generation. Talk to our team!
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