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Online reputation management for banks is about more than monitoring what the public has to say about your business. If your bank wanted to be dishonest and untrustworthy, online reputation management would simply consist of deleting poor reviews and implying to the public you are perfect in all things you do.
The problem here is that no matter how hard you may try to remove all poor mentions of your business, the public’s voice will be heard. While there are many online reputation management agencies out there, is there a way that marketing teams can start getting online reviews for banks to help increase the public’s overall view of them?
The answer is yes—but first, you need to know what online reputation management is and what an agency can do for you.
What is Online Reputation Management?
Online reputation management (ORM) is the practice of creating varying strategies that help shape or influence the public’s perception of your organization.
Online reputation management agencies, such as Rize Reviews, work hard to provide both small and large companies with services that help them manage current reviews, while also helping collect new reviews that keep your brand’s testimonials current.
To put it simply, ORM agencies will reach out and ask your customers for reviews or testimonials which will then be placed on your prominent online pages, including your website and social media profiles.
Why Banks Tend to Suffer from Poor Online Reviews
Let’s face it, as helpful as banks can be, they don’t always have the best reputations. With the rise in online reviews, this doesn’t always end well for banking institutions, especially big brand name banks. There are several reasons why banks receive poor online reviews.
Fee Increases
Fee increases are one of the top reasons individuals look at banks unfavorably, especially since fees tend to increase during times of nationwide financial and economic hardship. Bank fees come in several forms, including:
- Overdraft fees
- ATM fees
- Minimum balance charges
- Checking account fees
- Hard copy statement fees
- Inactivity fees
When your bank increases or adds these fees and your interest rates on checking accounts remain stagnant, there is nothing countering the negative feelings from your customers. Of course, adding fees is a far easier hurdle to get over than managing a full-scale scandal.
Scandals
Your bank’s online reputation will almost always take a significant hit during financial crises like the Great Recession in 2008. While you will have to work tirelessly to rebuild your online reputation, you’ll be in similar waters with your competitors. However, frequent banking scandals, such as the Wells Fargo fake-account scandal, will hinder your efforts to restore the public’s faith in your services.
Lack of Public Interaction & Communication
If your bank is hit with such hardships and scandals, you might expect to see and hear an increase in customer complaints and interactions with your bank. However, more often than not, your customers will silently take their business elsewhere.
As Steve Culp, a managing director at Accenture Risk Management based in London, stated in 2012, “In order for banks to build up trust again, they will have to focus on communication and consistency.”
Tips to Getting Online Reviews for Banks
Getting positive online reviews for your bank can seem like a daunting task. However, there are several ways it can be done—and with each new positive review, your bank will start to see its overall online reputation improve.
Know Where to Go
Companies must know where to go when seeking online reviews. Besides your business website, where else can you turn to gather reviews for your bank? Popular review collection sites include:
Knowing where to go is only part of the equation. You must also focus your efforts on guiding your clients to these sites to share their experience.
Work on Existing Relationships
In many cases, people turn to online reviews to share their negative experiences. If banks work closely on their existing clientele relationships, they can guide those individuals to the sites mentioned above to leave positive reviews. This would help boost their overall online reputation since simply “deleting” or otherwise removing negative public reviews is considered poor practice.
Use Social Media
With 2.23 billion people logging into Facebook each month, your bank is severely missing out on improving your customer relationships if you aren’t active on social media. Having one or two brand pages can help strengthen your relationship with the public by staying active with your communication and public interactions.
How Rize Reviews Works for You
Rize Reviews makes managing your brand’s online reputation a breeze. You will provide the team with your pre-made contact list, and then Rize Reviews will do all the heavy-lifting for you.
What if you don’t have a pre-made list? That’s OK! Rize Reviews will go ahead and set up a customized review kiosk in your brand’s store so that your consumers can stop and leave a quick review.
Think Rize Reviews’ services will suit your online reputation management needs? Give the two-week trial a go and see what all Rize Reviews has to offer!
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