How to Leverage Customer Reviews to Boost Your Business

How do you handle customer reviews for your business? Learn how to manage customer reviews to protect your business’s reputation.

Did you know customer reviews for your business influence your customer decisions, strengthen your credibility, and significantly improve your search rankings? A review is much more than just a comment from a customer; it’s a testament to your reputation. It also serves as a tool prospective customers use to research your business and determine whether or not they want to choose you for their services.

Customer reviews are powerful—and they can work for you or against you, depending on whether they are positive or negative. However, with the right approach and response, even a negative review can serve to make you look good. Keep reading to learn more about the impact of customer reviews and how you can use them to enhance your marketing strategy.  

Why Customer Reviews Matter to Your Business

Think about your own customer experiences. Chances are you have been online to read Google reviews when deciding on a business to use. If you get to a business’s listing and find low stars or negative reviews, and then you find another business providing the same service with full stars and glowing reviews, it’s a no-brainer as to which one you will choose, right?

Keep this in mind as you consider the power of customer reviews for your business. It’s a good practice always to request reviews from your customers to build your reputation online. You can set up an e-mail autoresponder that goes out to all of your customers, making it easy for them to share their testimonials with you, or place them directly on review sites like Google.

How Should You Handle Negative Reviews?

It’s inevitable. Some customers will not be satisfied or will have a complaint about your business. Perhaps there was a problem with their service, or you were slow to respond to their needs. Or it may just be a disgruntled customer who is perpetually unhappy and makes it a regular practice to leave negative reviews online. In either case, there are steps you can take to protect your business reputation:

• Respond quickly and positively to any negative reviews. Whether it’s a Facebook comment or a Google or Yelp review, you will have the option to respond with a comment.
• Create plenty of positive content pieces, blogs, and other posts, with the purpose of counteracting any negative content.
• Continue to ask for reviews from each and every customer, especially the ones who seem extra happy with your services. The more reviews you have on the internet, the less likely one bad review will have an impact.
• Put in place a defensive strategy with a review monitoring tool or service that can keep tabs on all of the comments and posts about your business. This will enable you to respond immediately and keep your stellar reputation intact.

Professional Reputation Management Can Keep Your Business on Top

For some businesses, monitoring their online reputation seems like an overwhelming task. You can turn to our experienced team for reputation management services designed to make your business look the best it can to your prospects. We can monitor all of your social media profiles, online review sites, directories like Angie’s List, as well as your website and all hashtags related to your business. When damage control is necessary, we will be there to put our expertise to work for your business.

Connect with us online now to schedule a consultation to ensure your customer reviews are benefiting your business’s reputation and bottom line.

What impact are customer reviews having on your business? Find out how to maximize your business’s reputation online.