With the pandemic, many businesses had to pivot and move online. This has made online reviews more important than ever. Reviews contribute to your business’s image and can determine whether you are successful or not. But that can fail quickly when all you’re getting is negative reviews about your business. This is why reviews are so important. You might be wondering, I provide quality goods or services, why am I only getting these negative reviews?! The reality is that if you aren’t asking for your customers to leave reviews when they are happy with your service, you’ll only get people leaving reviews when they’ve had a bad experience or not when they’re satisfied. So, ask them for their feedback.
Whenever you complete an order or a service, ask your client to leave a rating online. It may feel uncomfortable at first, but you can rest assured that if you provide quality products or services then more than likely, the client will be willing to take the time to leave a review when asked. If the customer is truly satisfied, nine times out of ten, they’re going to be telling their friends and family about it, so why not ask them to recommend it to others online too?
Online Reviews Can Establish Credibility
Remember, reviews establish credibility. Potential clients will look at your reviews before they place an order or hire you. Podium’s study on customer reviews found that 58% of customers would be willing to spend more on a business with good reviews. If all they see is negative reviews from customers that had an off experience, more likely than not, that potential customer isn’t going to want to do business with you.
If they see numerous great reviews, they’re going to have a positive impression of your business and will want to order from you or hire you. This is why you should urge your customers to write reviews, especially those whom you know had a good experience. Reviews show an honest reflection of your business to the outside world, that is why it is so important for your customers to leave reviews. According to ReviewTrackers, 80% of customers said that they trust businesses with ratings always above 4 stars. Even a rating, like the ones used on Facebook, can be helpful for business and establish credibility.
How to Get More Online Reviews
Luckily, there are some easy ways to automate or streamline the review request process. These include:
– Using a reputation management software
– Using a CRM
– Sending out emails to your mailing list
The first option is to use a reputation management software. It is possible to connect your customer list to these tools and when they complete a transaction, sale, or appointment, the system will send out an automated message to them, asking for a review. Another way is to use a CRM or Customer Relationship Management system, such as Keap. These tools allow you to keep a database of customers or leads and send out a pre-written request for a review. A third option is to set up an automated email from your email marketing tool, such as MailChimp or Constant Contact so that when a customer completes a transaction, such as an online sale, the system will send out a request for a review at the right time. All of these options require minimal effort for a huge reward.
Online Reviews are a Learning Experience
In addition to bolstering your reputation, another benefit of asking customers to leave reviews is that you’ll be gaining feedback. If you see multiple reviews about a particular thing, it might be time to change and adapt to customers’ wants and needs. On top of that, it also reflects well on your business.
Online Reviews Can Improve Search Visibility
Good reviews can also increase your visibility online, whether that be on Google or social media. Many people, unless looking for something specific, usually just click on the first link that comes up on the Google search or the first account that comes up. So, while improving your business’s reputation, you can also bring in new clients by asking your current customers to give you feedback.
Managing Online Reviews
Responding to reviews can also improve your business’s reputation. Ideally, you would like to respond to every single review, good and bad. Even the words you use to respond can affect how your business is seen and the visibility of your business online. But as a business owner, responding to every review might not be very high up there on your to-do list, you have other more important things to do!
You can leave that to us and cross just one more thing off your to-do list. Here at Sinuate Media, this is one of the major things we do when managing our client’s reputations. We have a huge list of services we provide to our clients among responding to reviews, if you’re at all curious, go check out our other blog article 305 Tasks Digital Marketers Do.
