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.
- 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.
- 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:
Power Up Your Business with a Free Google Listing
Listings are a crazy, powerful tool for customers to find your business. Don't miss out on the free webinar!
Sherry Knight
Here I am trying to build a brand and along comes Barb McGrath showing me how to focus growing that image! Wow, it has been a wild ride – each time we meet I learn something new I can apply. It is exciting and daunting, all at the same time. Barb is there each step of the way and slowly, I am learning what I need to know in order to build that brand.
Thank you Barb! You are so knowledgeable and also such an inspiration – marketing in the digital world is different. Yet, knowing that and working with the digital world are so very different when it comes to branding and marketing.
Michelle Sellars
Barb and her team are AMAZING!!! Their expertise and knowledge have brought my business to a whole other level. Thank you for everything you have done for me and my business!
Mark Melby
Barb is well versed in the digital world and knows what is currently working in the social media arena. Our visit and discussion around communication and it’s importance was very enlightening and informative. Highly recommend talking to Barb!
Stephanie Cory
Barb is awesome to work with! She really understands our business and is very attentive to our needs. I’d recommend her services to everyone looking to grow their business’ online presence. Thanks for everything Barb!
Karen Wotherspoon
Barb makes the world of digital marketing easy to understand for those of us who aren’t so technologically savvy! Its obvious she has tons of knowledge and is passionate about her work.
Gary Weisbrodt
Comprehensive marketing knowledge delivered in an easy to understand way.
Luke Rossmo
Barb is exceptional in her domain. Her unique approach is invaluable and leads to increased exposure which leads to increased business. She is also very approachable and genuinely cares about her clients. She also effectively conveyed information in a way that allowed me to understand.
Roxanne Brown
I’m looking forward to incorporating all of the great suggestions that I got to help move my company along in the area of social media.
Robyn Michon
I came to Barb feeling frustrated with my marketing. It always felt like a guessing game. Barb has empowered me by showing me how to use data to purposefully decide where and how to market my services.
Nadine Howard
Barb has been a life and business saver for me! Building an online presence for your business isn’t easy and takes precious time, but Barb helped me tremendously! She knows what she’s doing, and so great to work with! I highly recommend her. I’ll definitely continue to work with her on an ongoing basis!
Angie Hicks
Barb brings you decades of marketing smarts combined with a deep understanding of how to use the latest digital tools to make sure you’re seen online. Get her in your corner!
