Your online reputation is important, and unless you’re putting in some effort to collect reviews from happy customers, you may find that one negative review is drawing down your ratings drastically and costing your business money.
Follow these tips below for requesting and dealing with online reviews to start getting your online reputation well into the positive before you know it:
Don’t be afraid to ask…everyone
You work hard for each and every customer and take pride in providing a good experience, so why shouldn’t you at least try to get feedback from everyone you work with.
The more reviews you get, the more likely you are to overcome any future negative reviews while still maintaining a high overall score on major review sites, so first things first, you should get in the habit of asking every single customer for feedback in one way or another.
…But don’t be intrusive about it.
When asking for feedback, you cannot pressure your customers, annoy them, or give them reason to look at the review process as a reason to turn a positive experience into a negative one.
While it is important to at least try to get feedback from all customers, there are plenty of subtle ways to do it. A follow up email, a message at the bottom of each sales receipt with instructions on where and how to leave feedback, or by saying a simple “if you enjoyed your experience, don’t forget to leave us a positive review” as they walk out.
Though it may take a bit of extra effort to do things the right way, politely reminding all customers will pay off with an increase in positive reviews.
Utilize automated tools
And on that note, with the extra effort you have to put in to manage your online reputation and encourage positive feedback can feel like a lot, but this is one area where robots can help you. Follow up emails are a great way to remind a customer that reviews are helpful to your business, so if you gather email addresses during any transaction, be sure to automate a follow up asking for feedback (and encouraging another sale).
You can also put your website to work for you with reminders on where and how to leave reviews for your business – especially if you’re processing transactions online. Once someone completes an order, present them with a pop-up window soliciting a positive review. Then, once again, follow up with them via an automated email sometime after the transaction to remind them.
Look at the especially tough situations as especially important
Inevitably, you are going to have a customer that is not happy, and therefore, you may not want to encourage them to leave feedback, but these situations should also be seen as challenges that can be turned into positives. If you can turn a negative situation around through a customer service experience, you have an opportunity to request valuable feedback from that person.
This type of feedback is unique because it speaks to your support and your ability to solve customer’s problems, and while a majority of your positive reviews will speak to your products and services, these opportunities to highlight your customer relations really can stand out.
Take advantage of the happiest situations
On the flip side of the sentiment coin, if you have an experience with a customer where they are left exceedingly happy (and are happy throughout the entire experience), you should certainly talk to them about leaving a review. A well-written anecdote from a very happy customer can go a long way.
Not only will it help others who read the review realize that it is genuine feedback, but it will paint a picture of a positive experience that can be the thing that convinces customers to choose you over your competitors. A lot of businesses make people happy, but if you can show that you make customers exceedingly happy in a differentiating way, you’ll succeed.
If you’re doing to interact with the negative, take the high road EVERY time
But you are not going to win every battle with customers – and especially on the Internet. Therefore, you should expect that negative feedback will come up every now and then and have a plan to respond to it.
First things first: It can test every last bit of your patience – especially when you’re facing a customer who has left a less than honest review, but you have to do keep your cool and refrain from responding to negative reviews in an emotional way. While it can be a very good idea to set the record straight when an irate, disgruntled customer (one who was likely impossible to please in the first place) leaves a 1-star review, you have to do it in a tactical way.
People on the Internet generally know a troll when they see one, so for the most part, if there’s one or two negative reviews with long, emotional stories attached to them amongst a collection of positive reviews, people will ignore them.
However, if you feel that it’s important to respond, do so professionally and focus on the facts, not emotion. And do not continue to respond if they reply to you – one polite and professional response can make you look good. A long running argument can drag you down to the level of the disgruntled customer and turn people off.
Beware if incentivizing positive reviews
While the goal for your online reputation should be to accumulate as many positive reviews as you can, it’s also important to ensure they are genuine. This means that you should avoid two practices: Buying reviews and incentivizing reviews in unethical ways.
First, if you have been approached with the offer of purchasing thousands of positive reviews for your small business for a surprisingly small amount of money…don’t do it. Besides being wildly dishonest and unethical, you are doing something that most users of the Internet can see through because the reviews are poorly written. Further, if your small business has 100,000 reviews and your competitors all average about 1,000 each, people are going to quickly realize that something is amiss.
Next, the idea of incentivizing positive reviews is a controversial one. In many cases, it is expressly outlawed by sites like Google and Yelp, and in others, it can be a complex gray area between accumulating honest feedback and encouraging feedback that could be less than honest because the reviewer gets something out if it.
Generally speaking, you should not offer discounts or deals for people who leave reviews for your company, so if you do decide to incentivize reviews, our advice is that you proceed with caution and make sure you fully understand the terms of service for the platform you’re encouraging reviews on to avoid any negative outcomes.
Are you happy with your online reputation? Have you ever had an issue where one or a few negative reviews greatly affected your business? Let us know your stories and tips for maintaining a positive online reputation in this thread!
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