As we begin the New Year, it is clear to everyone that the COVID-19 pandemic. Which has contributed to one of the most challenging business environments in history that also affect online review management. Cities dependent on travel and tourism, like Las Vegas, New Orleans, and Orlando faced an imminent crisis. With hotel occupancy, restaurant bookings, and live events shuttered and visitors – usually in the millions – dwindling to a few intrepid travelers.
Even cities seemingly resistant to mass tourism have felt the bitter sting of the pandemic. New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami saw rising unemployment, rent defaults, personal and commercial bankruptcies soar in 2020. Local economies are still struggling mightily, despite efforts by the local and national governments to blunt the economic impacts. With stimulus packages, enhanced unemployment benefits, tax deferrals, and other initiatives.
So what does this mean for business?
Fewer customers and clients, with fewer dollars to spend and much more competition. The winners who will survive 2021 understand that the difference between good and great is made online.
Customers are increasingly savvy and look to the online reviews first before making a purchase or choosing the best service provider.
In 2021, if you own a business, you need a strategy for online reviews, and you need one immediately.
Things Business Owners Should Know About Online Reviews
In this digital era, online reviews play a big role in consumer’s life in terms of judge businesses because before your potential customers even go to an online or physical location.
They read online reviews before purchasing on websites like Google, Facebook, Tripadvisor, and many more.
It’s important to understand that online feedbacks from the customers aren’t just a way for them to express or share their opinions about a product or service after and before purchase.
The question is always in the mind of customers and sellers or service providers that “How important online review to people?”
The answer is Very Important. The fact is most of the consumers go the online feedbacks before a service or business.
Get Online Reviews for Your Business
Most people are probably wondering how to get online reviews for the business. It’s actually a lot easier than you might think if you follow these steps;
Look, getting reviews from customers is not only the goal because they are human with feelings and they write what they feel about your product or service.
So, in order to avoid their negativity towards your service or product give the best quality whatever you selling. Happy clients are a way of your success.
Keep in mind that your industry better than someone else. So, start setup profiles and claim ownership from top sites like Yelp (which has 214 million reviews). Claim Ownership of Your Business Yelp, Facebook, Google My Business, etc.
How to Create a Strategy for Monitoring Online Reviews
What you don’t know can be used against you. If you are not actively monitoring online reviews, you will never know why someone did not call or follow up on your advertising or marketing.
Online monitoring is essential for understanding what people are saying about you or your company.
Effective online feedback monitoring will enable you to see trends that may suggest it is time for more training, or personnel changes, or new business practices.
There are a variety of online software tools available for monitoring online. BirdEye, Grade.us, ReviewTrackers, Trust Pilot, Podium all offer solutions for monitoring online reviews in real-time.
Set aside ten minutes every day for checking new responses. Depending on the volume of reviews for your business, subscribe to alerts that will update you each time a new review is posted online.
How to Create a Strategy for Responding to Online Reviews
Monitoring is only the beginning. It’s what you do with the reviews you get that really matters.
Online reviews have become a staircase of success to all the brands online. You can find it all over the web to check whether people are liking the particular brand or not. Today, reviews have become more accessible with the proliferation of mobile apps. On top of that, the addition of readily visible service or product ratings in search results.
It’s far easier for customers to reach out to your brand on the go and make a quick decision about whether they want to take their business service and products.
There are three kinds of online reviews: Positive, Neutral, and Negative. Most businesses think they only need to worry about negative. Wrong!
The most important reviews are from people who have had a positive experience with your business and also can improve business with a good SEO strategy. These are the customers who will shop again and tell their friends and family.
These customers are your brand ambassadors, your cheerleaders, and your strongest advocates. It doesn’t take much to make them feel appreciated.
A simple “thank you” will do. Don’t miss the opportunity to show appreciation for the people who took the time to tell the world that they like you and your business.
Neutral and Negative Reviews
Neutral is neither positive nor negative, but these also deserve a response. Try and encourage more detail, publicly or privately. So you can find out how to convert these reluctant fence-sitters into five-star phenoms.
Negative response hurt. Try not to take it personally. Everybody and every business have a bad day. Detailed negative feedback can help you better understand what areas of your business can improve. Is it time to update the menu? Replace the receptionist? Ditch the delivery man? It’s negative feedback that offers these insights.
Of course, there will always be some negative reviews that are mean, obnoxious, and cruel. Not every review is deserving of a response, and few are worthy of a debate. Consumers are sophisticated enough to distinguish between constructive critical feedback and hateful speech.
It is up to the people tasked with review responses to distinguish between these feedbacks and prepare an appropriate response.
Set aside time every day to review responses. Timely responses make a huge difference, especially when dealing with negative. As there still may be time to resolve the issue and update the review.
Responses are not just for the benefit of the person who left the reviews, it is for the hundreds and thousands of people who may see that review in the future.
Think long-term and strategically about your responses, because they have more impact than you think!
Strategy for Getting The Positive Online Reviews
It often seems that customers and clients are quick to turn to Yelp or Trip Advisor or Google to leave a bad review. But rarely make the effort to praise good service or a positive experience, because that is their reasonable expectation.
It is a challenge that every business must deal with: how do you get your happiest customers to leave a positive review?
There are a few ways to attract more positive. The first is to send an email or text requesting a review very soon after the customer interaction. While the business is still top of mind for the customers. The second piece of advice is not to give up after the first request.
As a parent, I know that I need to ask my kids to do their chores or clear the table several times before they listen. Your customers need a reminder or two, as well. We are all busy and have lots of competing priorities, and leaving a review online is usually not at the top of the list.
We usually recommend at least three attempts. The third is to stress how important customer responses are to your business. Most people don’t realize what business owners know, response can make or break your business. Be honest, tell your customers it’s been a challenging year and you need their support. and ask for it!
For businesses that aren’t sure whether their customers will leave a good or a bad review, there is a way to start with a brief survey question, such as “would you recommend company x to friends or family?” If the answer is positive, go ahead and ask for the review, if the answer is negative, it’s probably best not to ask for it.
Hire an Online Reputation Management Company
You wouldn’t hire a lawyer to perform a facelift and you wouldn’t hire a plastic surgeon to file a lawsuit. We hire experts to do the things we don’t have time to do or we don’t do well, and the same rules apply in online marketing.
If you want to avoid these types of hassles then all you need is an experienced online reputation management company that will definitely help to monitor the reviews; will provide professional responses to positive, negative, and neutral reviews; promote positive reviews to the business sites that matter the most, and minimize or eliminate the impact of damaging reviews.
All this process for less money than you can probably imagine and certainly for less than the impact of a less than stellar rating on top sites like Google My Business, Amazon, Facebook, Yelp, Trip Advisor, Better Business Bureau, Yellow Pages, and many more.
