By now, you should know online reviews are important to your business. A few stats to back that up: A survey by BrightLocal Consumer Review revealed that 68% of potential customers have more trust in a company with overwhelmingly positive online reviews. Another recent survey by Cone Research shows that 4 in every 5 consumers choose not to purchase from a company based on the negative reviews they read online. Since online reviews are so important to your business, Smart Link Solutions believes every business must take a proactive approach in managing your company’s online reputation. Here are some tips for proactive management of your online reputation:
Active Monitoring
Keeping a close watch on all review platforms where your business is listed is the first step in being proactive. Exactly what sites you need to monitor depends on where your brand is present. Do people talk about you on social media, on forums, or on review sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor? Do you even know? Don’t worry, there are solutions to help. A good reputation monitoring tool removes most of the heavy lifting. It notifies you when a new review is found and allows you to track all the top platforms from a single dashboard. Robust reputation management software saves you time so you don’t have to jump around from review site to review site to check for new online reviews of your business.
Promote Your Positive Reviews
Make the most of every five-star review for your business by re-publishing/cross-posting those positive reviews on your website, social media channels, and other websites. This helps on multiple levels. Testimonials are one of the best ways to promote your business. It can also counteract negative sentiment, and by following SEO best practices helps push down negative content in search engine results.
Respond to Reviews – Quickly
Don’t let negative reviews sit for days without a response. New reviews are the reviews shown at the top of the page and can be seen by hundreds or thousands of people without your response. A quick response to a negative review demonstrates to the public that you’re a company that cares and pays attention to detail. There’s also strong evidence that shows Google favors businesses that actively engage with their customers online. To be clear – the companies that respond to their online reviews also tend to be the same companies that are near the top of Google’s search results.
Generate New Reviews
Given two products with similar ratings, consumers are more likely to buy the product with more reviews (Psychological Science, 2017). Online reviews build trust, so the quality and quantity of your online reviews on Google, Yelp, and Facebook matter. A high volume of online reviews from both new and old customers can help your online visibility and even increase conversions from search traffic.
Make sure you have a process in place that consistently prompts your customers to leave an online review. Whether it be at check-out, as customers leave, or via email or text. Whatever method you use, make sure it’s as easy as possible for them to leave a review.
Wrapping Up
Monitoring, responding, and generating new reviews needs to be a part of your business’s regular processes. Be proactive and take action today. Smart Link Solutions provides a robust solution to monitor, respond to, and acquire more online reviews. Whether you want us to do it all for you, or you just want the tools to do it yourself from a single platform – we have your answer. Contact us today for a free consultation and an expert recommendation based on your business and budget.