Managing Online Reputation can be Frustrating!
More people today rely on user ratings than they do on recommendations from friends and family. Think about this, when you visit a new city, do you ask your friends where a good place to eat is, or do you go on Google and search for a place? If you chose the latter, you are like the 84% of the population.
As a business owner, are you willing to alienate 84% of your potential customers?
All that money your company spends on advertising ultimately gets more people to research and investigate your company. If you have a negative reputation online, you are basically throwing 84% of that money into the fire.
Imagine if you are one of your potential customers; you just moved here from a different city and want to find a new dentist. The first thing you do is search for a local dentist on Google and find out what people are saying about them. Are you going to pick the dentist that has an overall star rating of 3 with 8 reviews, or are you going to pick the dentist that has an overall star rating of 4.5 with 120 reviews?
Managing your company’s online reputation can be frustrating and time consuming.
When a customer writes a negative review, they are saying “Don’t shop here!” because they feel they have been treated badly by the company. In today’s digital society, they are telling the world, not just their friends and family.
Yes, there are those customers, that no matter what you do, will never be satisfied. The best way to counter these reviews is to flood the review sites with outstanding reviews.
How you respond to reviews will show potential customers how they will be treated.
Blaming the customer that is writing the review only makes people think that you don’t take responsibility for your product or service. Own your mistakes, promise to do better, let them know that you care about their feedback and that you will look into the matter personally. Never offer a discount or gift publicly, this cheapens your business and opens the door for opportunists. Apologize, even if you feel you did nothing wrong, acknowledge the customer’s grievances (this is what most people want) and see if you can make things right.
Respond to all reviews (positive & Negative) with a thank you. When someone takes the time to give you a positive review and you don’t acknowledge it, it makes the customer feel unimportant.
There are two major reasons for using a Reputation Management agency like MySocialRep.com
1. You get higher ratings on review sites which:
a. Creates higher search results
b. Increases the likelihood of a new customer
c. Makes you able to outshine your competitors
2. You get Customer feedback which:
a. Allows you to see what you may need to change
b. Allows the customer to explain why they’re upset
c. Gives you a chance to make a situation better before they write a negative review
Derek Bachmann is the Cofounder of MySocilaRep and is a leading expert on Social and Reputation Management.
Leave a Reply