Reputation Management - Review Marketing

Does your business get great reviews every month?

If not, you can change that with immediate effect if you adopt a simple process and integrate it into how you interact with your customers.

Not only will reviews help you get found online with Google search results, they play a huge part in helping your business get chosen over your local competition.

First I’m going to show you why reviews are so important, and then I’m going to share a proven process that you can put into practice right away.

[custom_headline type=”left” level=”h2″ looks_like=”h3″ accent=”true”]The Importance Of Generating Reviews[/custom_headline]

Reviews help your business in two ways.

First, reviews help your business rise to the top of local Google search results when a new prospect searches online for what it is you’re selling.

Google factors in many criteria when delivering local search results and they are putting a strong emphasis on the following.

  • The total number of reviews
    • The more the better. Your business should shoot for several hundred. Over time you should expect to have more than a thousand. Never stop getting reviews.
  • The overall star rating
    • Make sure your business is above four stars. Four and a half stars, and above, should be your goal. Under four stars will cost you business.
  • How recent the reviews are
    • Make sure you have reviews coming in consistently every month. People don’t take reviews as seriously when they are more than three months old.

Google also likes to find reviews in more than one place. It’s good to have reviews on several websites like Google Maps, Yelp, Facebook and your own website.

Second, reviews are a major factor in helping your business get chosen over your top competitors.

Generally speaking, the business with the most reviews and highest overall rating will win the lion’s share of the new business in their market place.

Here are some statistics you need to keep in mind.

  • 92% of consumers read online reviews before selecting a business. (eTailing Group)
  • 86% of online users will be searching for a local business at some point in time. (Kelsey Group)
  • 90% of consumers say buying decisions are influenced by online reviews. (MarketingLand.com)
  • A one “star” overall difference in reviews results in a 5% – 9% change in revenue. (Harvard Business Review)

[custom_headline type=”left” level=”h2″ looks_like=”h3″ accent=”true”]The Simple Process To Use.[/custom_headline]

  • When you’ve completed the work for a customer review your work for them by asking one simple question like, “One a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your experience with us?”
  • If the customer gives you a high rating then thank them and ask for a review.
    • If you get a poor rating then ask the reason for it.
    • Use any negative information you learn to improve your business. This is great marketing research you can use to improve your customer’s experience, get more repeat business, get more referrals and drive your sales curve up.
  • Encourage your satisfied customers to share their review on Google Maps, Facebook or maybe another third-party site..
    • By default, you should share the review on your own website if it doesn’t get posted on one of the aforementioned websites.
    • Be careful about asking for people to give you a review on Yelp because Yelp frowns on that practice. If their software detects you asking for reviews they may suppress good reviews or find a way to penalize your business.
  • There are two ways to collect and share the reviews you get.
    • One is to share the link to your online review generating form. You can do this via email (the preferred method).
    • The second is to have them fill out a hard copy form before they leave your office. If they choose this option you can enter the review into the review generating form yourself at the end of the day. Some old school people prefer to fill out the hard copy form.

Sending bulk email campaigns to your email database is a great way to get the ball rolling at the beginning. One caveat is that you may get some negative reviews unless you’ve removed known unhappy customers from your email list.

In my opinion it’s always better to ask for a review face to face so you can have a better idea if you’re asking a satisfied customer for a review.

If you don’t already have an online system in place to help you generate reviews and strengthen you online presence then click here for more information.

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If you aren’t getting reviews every month it’s because you aren’t asking your satisfied customers for reviews consistently like you should. Requesting reviews is something you should be doing on a daily basis.[/content_band]

[custom_headline type=”left” level=”h2″ looks_like=”h3″ accent=”true”]Tips For Getting More Reviews[/custom_headline]

Make one person in your business accountable for getting reviews

Often times if you ask everyone to do something then no one feels accountable and no one follows through.

If you delegate the responsibility of asking for, and receiving, reviews to one person in your office you may have better success. Make the review process a part of their official job description and let them know it will be a part of their annual review.

Set monthly goals

Here’s a wise quote attributed to Zig Ziglar: “If you aim at nothing you’ll hit it every time.”

Without goals for building your reviews you’re probably not going to do very well. It will likely be a new process for your office staff, and it won’t get much attention unless you let everyone know that you’re serious about getting reviews.

The goals you set at the beginning are critical.

How many reviews you get a month will be determined by how many opportunities you get. So, if you are a dentist who sees 75 patients a week you will have more opportunities than a custom cabinet maker who finishes three jobs a week.

It’s all relative. Some business categories will have The key is to have a lot more good reviews than your local competition.

You have to start somewhere, and you can build from there. If you run a chiropractic practice maybe start with a goal of 10-15 reviews a month and steadily increase your goal over time until you reach what you consider to be a reasonable number.

Evaluate your success on a monthly basis

When you set your monthly goals then get with your staff to evaluate how you’re doing.

  • Are you asking for reviews on a daily basis?
  • How many of your customers are you asking for reviews? You should be asking every customer you believe to be happy with your services.
  • Are your customers following through? If not, why not and what can you do to encourage them to give you a review?
  • Is everyone on your staff supportive of your effort to get reviews? What can you do to get them working as a team?

If you don’t already have an online system in place to help you generate reviews and strengthen you online presence then click here for more information.

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Having good reviews about your business is very important right now, and the importance of reviews is only going to increase in the future. Reviews impact the success of your business.

Start the process of getting good reviews now, and you’ll help your business grow and succeed in this age of the Internet that we live in.[/content_band]

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