When it comes to running a Business, customer reviews play an integral role in shaping people’s perception of your product or services. Positive reviews help build trust in your company and can influence purchasing decisions in your favor. Many potential customers read reviews from review sites or Google reviews before making a buying decision. Reviews left by customers appearing more positive than negative can have a large impact on your business and help with search results.
If there are no customer reviews, people may assume that your product or service is poor and may avoid doing business with your company or product. If you have a local business and have good reviews and testimonials, new customers will see that as trust signals and will feel good about your business. The difference in sales due to reviews can add up quickly!
Luckily, there are ways to increase your business’s exposure while developing its reputation. This article will go over some strategies to gain more positive reviews and expose some tips on promoting them.
Your Business Deserves More Customer Reviews
So, if you’re looking to take your business to the next level and stand out from the competition, it’s important for you to start prioritizing and managing your customer reviews. I cannot stress enough the importance of how customer reviews directly affect your business. Not only do they give potential customers a glimpse into the experiences of others, but they also serve as a critical factor in local search engine ranking algorithms. Having a robust portfolio of customer feedback on review sites like BBB and Manta or any review site. It is always a good idea to create a listing on any review website that has active users and where users can also leave a review outside of the typical googler or yelper. You may attract new clientele that may have never heard of your business before.
Beyond that, positive reviews also serve as a testament to the quality of your products in a marketplace or services rendered and that can be a powerful tool in building trust with your target audience. Encourage your satisfied customers to leave feedback and respond to any negative reviews in a professional and constructive manner. Businesses that manage their online reputation use reviews to help them address any issues that they may have within their business and usually they start with an email to customers asking for a review. Reviews might not always be what we want to hear but they are an integral part of any company that wants to thrive in the internet era. Even though social media has made it easy to spread word-of-mouth information, one review can make a difference and there is value in getting product reviews on your Google Business profile or BBB that will help any local business.
It’s also a great way to hone your communication skills by asking questions and responding to comments or you can ask employees to ask customers for an incentive . While it may be tough at first, it is very important to stay on top of your Yelp reviews, Google My Business aka: Google Business Profile and other popular review websites like the better business bureau or a directory like manta. Review sites where your customers can leave reviews is a great place to win customers over, especially if you treat every comment as an opportunity to grow.
You deserve this kind of attention! After all, you spent time creating your products and offering your services, so why not let others acknowledge what they like about you?
Where Can I Get Genuine Reviews?
There are many scenarios in which a customer may feel compelled to leave a review. Here are a few examples:
- Exceptional Customer Service: If a business goes above and beyond to provide exceptional customer service, a customer may be more likely to leave a positive review. For instance, if a restaurant accommodates a customer’s dietary restrictions or a retail store helps a customer find a hard-to-find item, the buyer may want to share their positive experience with others.
- Quality Products or Services: Customers are more likely to leave a post reviews if they receive quality products or services. For example, if a hair salon gives a customer a great haircut or a SAAS software company develops a reliable and user-friendly product, the customer may want to let others know about their positive experience.
- Special Offers or Promotions: A business that offers special deals or coupons that are just to good to not get reviews from customers. For example, a restaurant that offers a free dessert or a retailer geared toward hunting that provides a discount to service members,may motivate customers to leave reviews.
- Unusual or Memorable Experience: Sometimes, a business may personalize or create a memorable experience that a customer feels compelled to share. For example, a hotel that offers a unique amenity, such as a rooftop pool, or a bakery that creates a stunning and delicious custom cake, may inspire customers to leave a review and share their experience with others.
You Should Ask for Reviews on Review Sites
It’s totally normal to be skeptical when you hear about people talking about your business. But asking your customers to leave feedback is an important tool in developing trust with your customers and should be part of your daily workflow for employees to prospective reviewers. There are quite a few local directories like Citysearch and review sites and organizations that you can leave reviews at. Here are some of the most common:
- Better Business Bureau (BBB)
- Tripadvisor
- TrustPilot
- Google Reviews
- Yelp Reviews
- Manta
- Angie’s list
Even if you are a SAAS company or software company you can get reviews like the G2 crowd on Trustradius and Capterra,
One way to get more reviews is by asking your clients what they like about your service and what they could do better, you show that you are aware of how their experience was and what you can improve on.
This also gives them the chance to tell you whether or not you helped make them happy, which is very valuable knowledge.
Additionally, by adding the option to give you a five-star rating through different mediums such as social media or online forums, it allows more exposure for your business and helps promote brand awareness since it is not uncommon for a review site to get over a million visitors. Another interesting way you can find consumers looking for you products or services is from content creation that speaks of a specific problem that you can solve.
Online reviews are a cost-free way to gain exposure for your business and start building credibility. There are specific review sites that b2b companies use and b2c businesses use. It is usually pretty easy to create a profile page, as it normally starts with a short company bio and you submit to verify you are a real business. It is important to note that you want to keep in mind the general SEO practices of NAP ( name, address, phone), make sure it is consistent with your google business profile and foursquare business profile.
There Are Many Different Types of Review Sites Available
Recent studies Recent studies show that as much as 50% of buying decisions are made due to trusted reviews.
It is no surprise then that people flock to read them and how users share their experiences online and take notice when they see an “F” rating. It is also no secret that most business owners and marketers try hard to get as many positive customer reviews from customers as possible.
But what if there were negative reviews? How would you respond to those?
We talk about why it is important to have both good and bad customer reviews for your small business and what you can do to encourage more positive ones.
We will also talk about some simple ways to see how well known this practice is and whether or not it works.
You Should Read All of Your Online Reviews
Only read the the reviews that matter to your business, complaints made about the business that are fake or negative are not what you should spend a lot of time on. Simply respond in a professional way and dispute with review site like Google or Don’t focus only on negative comments, those are going to hurt your business!
There is an incredible amount of valuable information in online review sites for every business. Positive customer reviews tell you what people want from your product or service and help you determine if you need to make changes or not. They also give you insight into how well you are doing with your company and your career.
Reading positive reviews will show you where your customers have problems and what could be improved and fixed, which is very helpful in keeping your business thriving.
It may even inspire you to make changes yourself, so that your clients feel like things are being addressed.
Respond to Reviews
Even if you’ve done nothing wrong, negative comments will hurt your business. That is why you should always monitor your online reputation with the top review sites: Google, Yelp and Facebook.
Business owners deal with bad reviews constantly. It can be hard to hear what people have to say about your company and its services.
But they are an integral part of marketing your business, which is why you should listen to them.
Online reviews help your potential customers find out more about you and what you offer, which is key in creating trust.
With so many online platforms offering free ways to review your service or product, it is not too difficult to access these reviews.
It may also help you determine whether or not you need to make changes to your offerings or run special promotions to get more feedback. It is not allowed to entice customer reviews with freebie or gifts but you can incentivize your employees.
As well as giving you insight into how well your business is running, negative reviews can actually do you some good.
They may give you ideas for improvements or even tell you where you could cut costs. Either way, listening to all sides is important.
Just because someone didn’t like something doesn’t mean they wouldn’t pay money for it! A few negatives isn’t going to change that.
So don’t take any negative reviews seriously – instead look at the reasons for the comment and see what you can do to fix those.
Encourage Reviews From Customers and Clients
Even if you already have lots of positive feedback, when you ask customers to leave a review it can make a big difference in your business.
By asking their colleagues or friends whether they could find what they needed or wanted from you, they may write a review.
Some people feel more comfortable writing business reviews than talking about you directly, so using question-and-answer sites like Google, Facebook or Tripadvisor is a good way to gather information.
Having a solid review system and strategy is something most small businesses do not have in place. Having a customer service strategy is also one of the most important things a business can have. But that is usually only face to face, it should be a seamless addition to your review management strategy.
Google and other search engines use consumer reviews as one of several pieces of data in their ranking systems. The better your ratings, the better your SEO and the higher up you’ll appear in search results.
Optimize Your Website and Social Media Presence
Even if you’re already running a successful business, online reviews can play an important role in helping people find you. To rank higher in local searches for businesses near me, focus on getting more Google reviews and optimizing your Google My Business listing
If you are doing some things well in person but your website is not as optimized as it could be, you could be leaving money on the table. Some easy and most noticeable changes you can make are site speed. Take a look here at[ page speed insights] and see how your site performs on desktop and mobile. Customers leave sites in seconds if your site takes forever to load and they are in the discovery stage of finding a service or product. You can start by optimizing images on your site and clearing out cache.
Your potential customers can look up products and services all over the internet, so making sure your website is easy to navigate and clearly shows what it is you sell.
It’s also worth noting that most people use google mobile for their search, so make sure your site is mobile friendly. This is a great place to check if your website is mobile friendly. https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly
Just having your site speed up and being mobile friendly can make a big difference to your online presence and could mean the difference between new clients and no clients on a weekly basis.
Conclusion
We mentioned it before, leaving negative reviews and fake reviews can have disastrous effects on your business’s reputation. It is not only unprofessional but also unethical but some do not wish to say positive information and accredit a business for the good it does.
That is why every business should make reputation management a priority like customer service within the business. They go hand in hand and can each help the business tremendously.
