How to Respond to Any Customer Review | Above the Fold, Regina, Sk.

Responding to Reviews is Key

Customer Reviews….you love ’em or you hate ’em, but either way every business gets Reviews. And that’s a good thing!

Customer Reviews can improve your search results by 10%!

Customer’s seem to share their opinion from every direction. Facebook. Google My Business. Indeed. Yelp. Glassdoor and dozens more.

Think of Reviews like a phone call from a customer. If a customer called with a concern, would you ignore it? Hang up? Put them on hold for more than 24 hours? Responding to customer reviews promptly is critical to capturing your 10% search result improvement.

We get asked “how to respond to Reviews” a lot, so we decided to do up a quick video. Listen below for our tips on responding to positive and negative Reviews.

How to Respond to Customer Reviews

How to Respond to Positive Reviews

Say thank you.
- Your mom was right! Be sure to say thank YOU!
Be sure to mention your business name.
- This will help increase the likelihood that the Review will appear in search results when looking for your business.
Add a marketing message.
- This is a great chance to reinforce what your business accomplishes.
Invite future business.
1. Ask the Reviewer to share their experience with family and friends, or return for a future purpose.

How to Respond to Negative Reviews

Apologize and empathize.
- As soon as you can, apologize with the customer.
Add a marketing message.
- It’s ok to mention what your business does and strives to achieve.
Keep it short. Be sure not to mention your business name.
1. Keep your response short and simple.
Direct the conversation to someone offline.
- Always, always, always give the Reviewer an offline contact.

Where to Find Reviews

In Canada, there are approximately 20 Review sites. They include:

Avvo
Caring.com
Cars.com
Citysearch
DealerRater
Edmunds
Expedia.com
glassdoor.com
Healthgrades
Houzz
indeed.com
Kudzu
OpenTable
Rate MDs
SureCritic
TripAdvisor
Vitals
Yelp
Zocdoc
zomato.com

In addition to these, many social sites and Directory sites also include the ability to leave a Review.

An Easier Way

Managing Reviews from a number of different sites can be time-consuming, frustrating and likely to cause error. It is estimated that managing your online reputation takes approximately 300 hours per year. Here are three ways you can manage your online reputation:

DIY

You can manage your online reputation on your own. Here are a few quick steps to get you started:

Create email alerts for your business name, your name and all of the products and services your business offers.
Create email alerts for your competitors and the products and services they offer that you want to monitor.
Review the emails daily to be sure you are responding as quickly as possible.
Monitor trend data for industry keywords.
Create Listings on all relevant sites being sure to return each time business information changes. (holiday hours, sales, etc.)
Add your competitors to your list of “Watch” pages in Facebook and other social channels.
Respond to Reviews on each Listing and Review site.

With a Little Help

Subscribe to an automated service that will scan keywords, competitors, social media and media mentions for each of the key terms you define. There are a few subscription app services available. We shopped them all, and chose ReputationManagement for its ease of use, cost effectiveness and comprehensiveness. We also chose ListingSync to keep all of our Listings in sync.

If you decide to shop the app, be sure to look for:

Use and popularity in Canada
Central repository to respond to Reviews
An overview of your business Listings
Competitive data and monitoring services
Analysis of sentiment
Includes proof of performance reporting
Ability to generate Reviews, and most importantly
Ability to pre-screen and respond to Reviews before they are publicized.

Hire a Reputation Management Expert

Hiring someone to manage your online reputation is similar to hiring someone to build your website or create content for social media. Owning and managing a business is an already busy task. Hiring someone to actively monitor and manage your online reputation will help you focus on the job of growing your business.

Large firms and media monitoring services can be hired for 1000’s of dollars each month. Some of the firms to compare include BrandWatch or Meltwater. Above the Fold, yours truly, is a local option providing all of the service at a fraction of the price. If you’d like to learn more, please start by visiting Review Management and drop us a note to discuss further.

Managing your online reputation could be one of the best things you do for your business this year (and next!). Start today by completing a FREE online assessment. The assessment will determine if:

Online information about your business is consistent.
5-Star Reviews from your customers will improve your search rank.
Social Media posting is leading to conversion.
Website visitors can find you and easily use your website.

    
 
 
         
   Jessica Dunn 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Above The Fold Regina took our existing website and transformed it into a beautiful, easy-to-navigate space where our members could find things quickly, with little effort. It was a speedy process, with prompt daily progress chats. They were in tune with what we were looking for and offered suggestions of what we didn't even think about! Highly reccommend this business to tackle this daunting and overwhelming piece of your business. They crushed it out of the park!
  
 
        
   Eliza D'Oro 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. I just went through the process of building a website in 5 days with Barb.  It was daunting to me to stay on track when there were so many factors involved, many which I did not understand!  However, she and her team were always there to answer questions, and the process was pretty slick with the back and forth process.  Would highly recommend!
  
 
        
   Adam Morrow 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Very knowledgeable and pleasant to deal with. Would highly recommend
  
 
        
   Ekta Dasadia 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. I recently completed a digital marketing course here, and I can’t recommend it enough! The courses are well-structured, and there's so much to learn. Barb is incredible – she’s always there to help, guiding you whenever you get stuck. It’s not just about the course material; she takes the time to sit with you and solve any issues you encounter. Beyond the learning, it's an amazing networking opportunity – you'll meet people from various industries, which really enhances the experience. It's a truly wonderful course and a great investment for anyone looking to excel in digital marketing!
  
 
        
   Nancy Logan 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. I recently had the pleasure of using Above the Fold, and I couldn’t be happier. From start to finish, the experience was top-notch.

Barb was prompt and professional She was incredibly responsive. She answered my questions quickly and handled everything with professionalism. The service that was provided exceeded my expectations. She went above and beyond to help me understand everything that she was doing, so I am able to handle everything on my own going forward.

Thanks so much!
  
 
        
   chrissie engel 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Above the Fold was a great assistance and went above and beyond to ensure things were working better for my business. Really appreciate the extra mile that was put in.  Thank you!
  
 
        
   Paddy Thompson 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Top notch ! The best there is in this biz in my opinion.
  
 
        
   Sharla Shaw 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Barb and her team are wonderful. They go above and beyond for their clients and they are fantastic at what they do! You will not regret reaching out to them for your marketing needs!