Online reviews are the cornerstone of reputation management. They reflect on your services and products, providing social proof to your customers. If they are good, they act as word of mouth that inspires confidence in a prospective buyer. If they are bad, however, your customers will likely avoid your business. As such, managing your online reviews and ensuring that they are positive should be a top concern for your marketing department. In this article, we’re going to outline a few rules on how you can make the most out of online reviews for your Rockford business.
Request User Reviews
If your product or service is good, many customers will be happy to leave you a positive review — but they need to know that it’s an option. You can do this through email, at the end of your sales funnel, or on social media. As your userbase grows, so does your review count, which will compound over time and serve as a marketing instrument onto itself.
Monitor the Reviews
As your marketing efforts grow, your client base becomes more diverse. And, as we all know, it’s impossible to make everyone happy. This means that you might get some less-than-perfect reviews from your previous customers. While this may seem like a giant issue at first, it could actually be a hidden gem, because you can acquire a ton of data and insight into how you can improve your products and better target your prospects.
Schedule Your Request for Reviews
Reviews should be generated on a scheduled, scalable basis, because their power is cumulative. For example, you could have a campaign to request reviews through emails from clients that you expect have been reasonably happy with your business. Or, you could publish a request for reviews on your website in order to get a general feeling for how different segments of your user base feel about your product or service.
Never Use Fake Reviews
Fake online reviews are generally a bad idea. If we leave the ethics aside, they may help you get your foot in the door, but they are actually against FTC regulations. On top of that, review sites are getting better at spotting and removing fake reviews, and they may also penalize you if you are caught using them (and the penalties can be quite harsh). Don’t worry — real, positive reviews should start to come in as you reach more customers.
Resolve Any Issues Before Asking a Customer to Review Your Business
If your customers are having a set of issues with your product or service, it’s important to find a way to let them know that you are aware of these issues, and that you offer solutions. If you can do this before they leave a review, you will eliminate a plethora of problems further down the line. Identifying these issues can be done through customer complaints, or negative reviews that start popping up for your business. This is a short-term solution, however. On a long enough timeline, you’ll want to iron out these issues before the products or services reach the market.
Rockford Online Directory Listings Management & Reputation Management
Are You Interested in Finding Out More About Online Listings Management and Online Reviews in Rockford?
If you are currently interested in harnessing the power of online reviews, we are here to help. We offer online listings and reputation management services in Rockford that will help you get the most out of your online presence. Contact us today if you have any questions, or if you would like to find out more about our pricing and services. Our friendly customer support team is always ready to help.