So, it’s almost the weekend and you want to try out a new restaurant for dinner. But, you’re a little hesitant to try a new one in South Tampa you know just opened because you don’t know much about it. How is the service? Is the food good? What about pricing and value?
If this sounds like a typical scenario, you do what three in four customers do before choosing a restaurant: research online reviews and then determine whether or not to dine there.
This commonplace situation begs the question: what are others saying about your company? Your marketing plan may include captivating content, engaging videos and a strategic retargeting campaign, but if it doesn’t also focus on online reputation management your company could be missing out on additional business opportunities.
Reviews are important for both businesses serving consumers directly and for those who serve other businesses. For both, the fact is that many organizations overlook the importance of online reputation management as a marketing strategy. If this is the case with your company, the following statistics from Status Labs should prove enlightening.
- 85 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family.
- 83 percent of buyers trust recommendations from online users over advertising.
- On average, consumers spend about 14 minutes reading reviews before making a purchasing decision.
- 58 percent of executives believe that online reputation management should be addressed, but only 15 percent actually do anything about it.
“Any business can make themselves look good by hiring a great marketer to build them a shiny new website and design sleek marketing materials,” says Kristen Thompson, Lead Marketer, Marketing Direction. “Before online reviews and social media came along, consumers had few ways to tell how amazing a business really was. Now, in just a few clicks, consumers can see what many others think of a business based on their star ratings and comments.”
Strong Reviews are Critical
Strong reviews are critical to a company’s success for a number of reasons, not the least of which is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), i.e. your company’s ability to be found online. Say you are searching for ‘restaurants near me.’ Google decides which search results to return based on your geographic location and those restaurants with the highest ratings and most reviews.
Are you committed to making reputation management part of your marketing strategy, but are unsure how to start?
- First, find out what people are saying about you. Watching customer comments on individual social media and review sites costs less but is labor-intensive. A more effective method is to utilize a social listening/reputation management platform such as Yext, BirdEye, ReviewTrackers or BrightLocal. Tools like these pull customer comments and ratings from multiple sites into one place.
- Take charge of your online reputation. If you have few reviews and you get a few new bad ones, your overall rating drops rapidly. Having a large number of reviews mediates this risk.
- Ask customers to leave a review. Data suggests that two out of every four customers would be willing to leave an online review if asked to do so. If you aren’t asking your customers to leave reviews, you are missing an opportunity. The most effective means is to email customers a direct link to Google, Facebook, Yelp!, or others and ask them to leave a review. And ask them again and again. We find that asking nicely three times (one ask and two gentle reminders) usually does the trick.
- Always respond to customer reviews and ratings, whether they are positive, negative or neutral. Thank customers for great reviews and ask customers who provide less-than-great reviews to reach out to you offline about why they didn’t feel their experience was worthy of a high rating. This shows other potential customers reading the reviews that the business cares and is addressing complaints.
- Respond to all reviews within 24 hours. This demonstrates to Google and customers that you are on top of things.
“One of the best things business owners can do is handle their reputation management themselves rather than delegating it to an employee,” states Kristen. “If owners must delegate, they should still review the results frequently. Being involved allows owners to keep a finger on the pulse of their business and can assist in identifying trends and pain points.”
What should you do about a negative review? ‘Hug your haters,’ says business strategist Jay Baer.
Kristen emphatically agrees. “It’s just as important to respond to the negative as well as the positive reviews. Thank the customer for taking the time to leave a review, acknowledge that you use all feedback to help improve your service and ask the customer to email or call you with more details.”
There’s no better testament to a business than having high ratings and positive customer comments. “As a marketer, I rarely recommend my clients tout hand-picked customer reviews or testimonials,” says Kristen. “I recommend they point customers directly to Google, Facebook, Yelp! or others, as consumers see these as authentic recommendations.”
