Have you got an online review strategy?

The way the world is today in regarding to online consumer reviews, customers nowadays have the power to seriously hurt or help your business. In the past, an discontented customer told about 10 people of their bad experience with your company.

It’s not like that anymore, an unhappy customer can leave a review on Facebook, Google, etc… where it can influence hundreds of other potential customers. As with all online data, reviews can remain seen for a long time, in fact a very long time – this can have an impact on your company right now and well into the future.

It’s important for every business owner to understand and have a plan in place to manage this new world of leaving reviews.

Research has shown if a company receives negative reviews, around 85% of potential customers/searchers will not do business with this business. On the flip side, if a company has positive reviews this will help the business – but unfortunately not nearly as much as the negative reviews will hurt it. In this same survey, about 43% said they would more than likely will do business with a company which has positive reviews.

It has been drummed into us that the solution to this relatively new business problem is to always provide excellent customer care/service. Whilst this is easier saying than done, but which should certainly be part of the equation, at the top level the actual solution should lie in the specific actions that a company takes. As they say, it’s the small things in business that really make the BIG difference.

Here are some simple ways in which you can seriously improve your chances of avoiding bad reviews and only gather positive ones. It is so important to really understand in detail how each of your customers perceive the service you provide.

A sound review and reputation management process should these elements:

1. Ask every single customer of their experience

Evaluating every customer will allow you to appreciate at both a detail and global level whether the system you have in place is working. The goal here is to continually enhance your customer’s experience.

 
2. Finding out which of your customers is unhappy

This will allow you to solve any problem quickly post-sale. This will give you the chance to turn them around into a satisfied customers which then may minimise the chance that they will go on to leave you a bad review.

 
3. Find out which of your customers are happy

Another goal is to find out and understand which of your customers who truly recognise you, your business and your work. These are the people who will speak out on your company’s behalf in the online social world and can become your promoters.

By asking them to leave you a review, these “promoters” are could be your best future customers. Finding out who they are may help you grow your company more effectively.

4. Track everything

 A company needs to consider the daily outcomes along with the long-term affects of their efforts. Do you think your customers will be coming back? Do you think they are telling others about you and your business? What do you think they will be saying?

This all sounds like a lot of hard work doesn’t it? If you were able to do this process manually it would more than likely not be sustainable in your business.

Automation - this is the key to success! To have a simple, automatic process in place will help you collect your customer’s feedback which you can then identify whether your customers are ‘happy customers’ – and those which may be neutral or those which may be unhappy.

What if we showed you a way in which you could solve the problems introduced by the way the new world of reviews is today - and all that’s needed is to enter single email addresses?

The Customer Feedback Centre takes a “feedback first” approach – this will help you automate the process of following up with your clients after a sale or visit, all by asking them for their feedback in a very simple, effective way.

This feedback is for your eyes only, and it then allows you to determine which customers are happy, and which customers are not so happy.

For all your happy customers, their feedback is captured and then published to your website as a testimonial for the world to see (this is optional). All your happy customers are then presented with links to your business review sites ie, Google, Facebook, etc… – these links make it very easy for them to leave you a positive review on one of the major online review sites.

For the customers who are either neutral or unhappy, you will receive an alert (via email) with specific feedback which then allows you to follow up with this customer to try and resolve the situation before they go on to leave you a negative online review.

This approach which proactively asks your customers for their feedback and then to identify whether they are happy, neutral or an unhappy customer provides you with the following benefits:

• Avoid your business receiving negative online reviews
  
• Get will be able to get more positive online reviews
  
• Capture and publish all your positive testimonials to your website
  
• Better search rankings and then conversions
  
• Receive more repeated business and referrals
  
• The Customer Feedback Centre allows you to ensure you touch every single customer The Customer Feedback Centre improves the experience for all your customers, and then you’ll become the type of business they will refer to not just their family and friends, but to the thousands of people online.