It is no longer possible to overstate the importance of online reviews for a business. More than ever, customers are taking the time to post their views (both good and bad!) and these rants and reviews have the potential to make or break your business.

With a recent survey claiming that 90% Of Customers Say Buying Decisions Are Influenced By Online Reviews taking the time to find new ways to connect with potential customers can make a significant difference to your business’ bottom line.

However, this does not mean that you have to constantly glue yourself to your computer! By putting in plan some proven tips and tricks to boost your online reputation you can take big steps towards generating some of the positive reviews that you need.

Below we have identified some of the best ways to create goodwill with your customers:

Tip No. 1 – Take a Close Look at Your Review Capabilities

There is simply no excuse for not taking advantage of the FREE listings which are available to you. Social Networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google + offer the ideal way to open up lines of communication with customers, whilst online directories such as 118.com, Yell.com, FreeIndex and Scoot offer a great way to obtain a free listing which will allow customers to leave reviews.

Once a profile is created, you can update settings to ensure that when new reviews are posted. Monitoring existing reviews and customer feedback is also a good way to see how the staff is doing across many or a few business locations.

Tip No. 2 – Pay Attention!!

Whilst there may be a very strong temptation to ignore any positive reviews, it is crucial that you respond to all reviews, regardless of whether they are complementary or not as this can make an excellent impression on all future prospects reading reviews.

Furthermore, the addition of negative reviews to a listing is likely to stay visible for years, therefore it is important to deal with any issues quickly and provide resolution for the customer. As long as the majority of reviews aren’t negative, people will value the business’ professional approach and responsiveness.

Tip No. 3 – Make the Most of Your Reviews

Take advantage of any positive reviews by them on your website and/or Facebook page.

A great example of this would be Surrey Driving Force. Driving schools operate in a highly competitive market and therefore finding ways to stand out from the crowd greatly increase your chances of new customers opting for you over your competitors.

Further Information

If you’d like to speak to us regarding how we can help you generate online reviews, give us a call on 01883 372488 or contact us via Facebook and we’ll be happy to talk you through your options.

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We understand just how important the reputation of your business is to you. Both in regards to helping to grow your business and also for your own personal pride, the reputation of your business can prove to be one of your most powerful assets or one of your biggest liabilities depending on how positive it is.

With potential customers placing more importance on reviews than ever before, especially if they are new to your products and services, this is an area of your business that must not be overlooked.

Building Your Online Profile 

Your ‘Google My Business’ profile (which helps to generate your listing on Google Maps) is arguably the most important online profile you can establish for your business. This is in no small part to the fact that when someone takes the time to leave a review, it will be displayed in Google’s search results. This can be extremely positive but what should you do if someone decides to leave you a poor review?

Don’t Overreact!

The first and most important bit of advice we give is to not overreact! Whilst the receipt of a bad review can seem to be quite personal, the facts are that so long as you don’t receive too many, a bad review is not the end of the world. In fact, it is widely acknowledged that many customers are believed to be mistrustful of businesses that have flawless 5* ratings – as it can be difficult to believe that anyone is really that good! As such, a small number of poor reviews can actually add an air of realism to your profile.

Please do not resort to drastic steps such as deleting your account, changing all of your details or setting up brand new profiles. Establishing an effective online presence can be tricky enough once, never mind twice!

Always Respond To The Review

Always take the time to respond to a negative review but just importantly, always remember to ‘take the high road’ wherever possible. However tempting it may be to give people a piece of your mind, this is very unlikely to be constructive and is very likely to damage your reputation far more than the review will. Just as the review can be viewed by everyone, so can your response.

It’s really important to answer in a professional way. If you feel that an apology is necessary, then, by all means, include one in your response. Try and provide some type of context to the original review as a benefit for future readers and wherever possible, encourage whoever left the review to continue the conversation privately (via phone, e-mail, DM etc) in an effort to resolve the situation rather than continuing the conversation in public.

Use The Review To Help You Improve

Whilst it is not certain that all negative reviews will be warranted, it is possible that they have some merit. Can you use the negative comments as a way to improve your service? If similar comments keep appearing from different people, perhaps a particular area of your business could do with refining. It’s important to keep a level of perspective and whilst we fully understand that no-one will ever enjoy receiving a poor review, don’t worry too much if one appears on your profile.

Need Some More Help

Would like to find out more about dealing with bad reviews? Give the Footprint Digital team a call on Tel. No. 01883 372488 today.

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