No matter how annoying negative reviews can be, specifically if personal about staff or condemning of a product, they are not usually bad for business and can be a bonus to your company’s online presence.
Therefore, before pressing delete, read on to discover how to make the most of your 4.5-star rating.
Guarding what your brand represents
Think of how disappointed you would feel if, as a consumer, you discovered that the genuine review you warmed a chair to write about a product or service had been deleted.
Consumers like assisting other impending customers in deciding whether to buy. They also feel like supporting brands by growing their service – this often means that because they’d like to patronise you again, they want you to do better.
It can be displeasing if a business is indisposed to reviews – don’t forget the old saying “the customer is always right”? That being said, do not be in a hurry — when you get a feedback, nicely and carefully respond, following your brand values.
Although it may be luring to respond rudely to bad comments, avoid it. When you do this, present and future customers will see you have tried comprehending your customer’s review and are glad to build a mutual relationship with them. A true existing customer may even feel obliged to drop more positive feedback to even up things if they see a somewhat negative review.
Appearing honestly captivating online
Unfortunately, some businesses and service providers play dirty and give false reviews. They tell family, friends, and staff to boost the scores and even go so far as to pay freelancers, even if they’ve never been a customer, to write reviews for the business.
The draw of a business with myriad 5-star feedback and a perfect review sheet instantly feels questionable now that consumers know this treacherous act.
A true mix of reality helps the consumer take a balanced view of whether or not they would like to purchase from you. Nobody’s perfect, after all. Neil Patel describes this as your customers seeing what is likely to happen in the “worst case scenario” and how you handle it.
Search engines love feedback.
In a recent study, Moz.com found that third-party feedbacks highly contribute to ranking factors – nearly 50% influence. In 2020, review ratings and the number of reviews a company had were recorded by a collection of Search Marketers as number 8 in significance in their annual review of local search ranking influences.
Hence, collecting as many reviews as possible from a different selection of customers makes sense. Don’t be afraid of constructive feedback.
Asides from being a gift for content marketers, reviews are useful for process advancement and product growth. A speedy and meaningful way to collect earned media that can be used on social media, your websites, blogs, and newsletters is through reviews.
Next steps for your marketing strategy
Ensure reviews are part of your ongoing marketing strategy to employ its power.
Evaluate on:
◾ Platforms you can collect reviews on. Could you include more?
◾Which platforms can be used to broadcast a demand for reviews?
◾How you can motivate your customers to leave feedback.
◾What your internal processes are for replying rapidly and correctly to reviews?
◾Where you can share your feedback publicly.
◾How you can measure the impact of feedback on on-site traffic.
