Reviews are important for businesses. Most people read reviews before they decide to purchase anything. It’s true especially if the transaction happens online. It’s not easy to trust businesses for the first time. The only way for people to be more confident about their purchases is by reading reviews. It’s even more important for multi-location businesses. Each location needs to be popular, and the success of one doesn’t necessarily translate to the success of all franchises. Therefore, it’s important to have positive reviews for all locations to boost the business. Online reputation management is one of the ways to receive more positive reviews.
Online reputation is important since most people will believe what they read. They don’t have any other means to determine if the company is of top quality. They will rely on the reviews, and they have to be generally positive. Otherwise, most people will decide against pursuing their transactions. The problem is that some companies play dirty. They also spread negative information about the company that adversely affects online reputation. It’s important to not only spread positive reviews but to also prevent negative reviews from spreading. If inaccurate, it could lead to false impressions about the business.
Sign up for different platforms
Customers can leave reviews across different platforms. It includes Google, Yelp, Facebook, and many others. Having a verified account across these platforms will make it easier for anyone to leave reviews. In Facebook, it’s easy since the official account page will be multi-functional. It’s where people can leave reviews and conduct other transactions. For Amazon, the goal is to set up a seller page and use it to highlight positive reviews. After registering through these platforms, it’s easy to accept and respond to different reviews.
Be responsive
People like it if they feel close to the business. They know that the company is responsive enough to their needs. They will patronize the brand if they can feel that there’s an effort to make them feel satisfied. Therefore, regardless of the nature of the reviews, there should be a response. For positive reviews, saying thank you would already suffice. Not everyone would go out of their way to leave a review. The fact that these customers said something good shows that they were happy with what they got.
For people who left negative reviews, it’s also crucial to respond to them. They might have valid concerns, and businesses need to address them. If these reviews were inaccurate, responding is also important. They might create a false narrative and it affects how people will view the company. It’s crucial to set the record straight. Even if not everyone believes in the explanation, the response is already a good indicator. It shows that the company is willing to go further in cleaning its record. There’s also nothing wrong and apologizing to the customer if the concerns are valid. There should also be a promise to do better in future transactions.
Make it easier to leave reviews
When people want to leave reviews, they should do it without having to go through a lot of processes. If they chose to leave reviews through Facebook, they shouldn’t have a hard time doing it. If they want to review the product as soon as they bought it from the website, it should also be possible. Another strategy is to send them an email as soon as they received the product. Surveys show that most customers are willing to leave reviews. The problem is that they don’t know how to do it, or businesses don’t make it easier for them to review. Even the app that the company uses to sell products should also have a feature for people to leave reviews or rate the company. Optimizing the website for the mobile device you service would also be useful in simplifying the process. Even for people who are always on the go, there wouldn’t be a problem in leaving reviews.
Take reviews seriously
People need to leave reviews since it will positively affect the business. It’s better than not getting any review at all. It also shows that people are willing to say something about the products and services sold. However, it’s not enough to only highlight these positive reviews. There should also be an effort to improve the products and services based on the reviews left by the customers. Some of them might have excellent suggestions that can drastically improve the business. Some reviews came from loyal customers, and they deserve to get heard. Changes based on these suggestions will make the customers feel special. They know that the company treats them well, and values their voices. Of course, it’s impossible to address all the concerns and respond to all the suggestions. However, there should be an effort to gradually change the business to make it more suitable to the needs of the target audiences.
It takes time but online reputation management services can help
Expecting the business to be popular online overnight isn’t realistic. Other companies also focus on getting positive reviews for their multi-location businesses. Competing with them is a challenge. However, constant efforts to improve the business in making people leave more positive reviews are steps in the right direction.
The good thing is that there’s no need to go through the entire process alone. There are agencies offering online reputation management services and getting their help would be necessary. They understand the need to receive positive reviews, and they can make people say something good about the business. They also know some strategies to highlight these positive reviews. They can also help in damage control. If there are negative reviews, these agencies will help stop them from spreading. Reputation management is also one of the many aspects of digital marketing. Going through all of them is important for the business to increase its online visibility. Finally, the company should track the progress of the strategies used. Changes should happen depending on the success of the strategies. There should also be clear metrics in determining if the campaign is moving in the right direction.
