If you’ve been in business long enough, you’ll understand why reviews are important for your business. Reviews can make or mar your business reputation, so you must gather as many positive reviews as possible and properly manage negative feedback.
When everyone is connected online, your business and brand also must be positioned properly online. The good news about having your brand online is that it gives you greater visibility. But, being online also gives reviews wider visibility. So, if you have positive reviews online, it’ll reach a global audience; the same would happen if you have negative reviews. This is why it’s essential to build a strong brand reputation online by being so great at what you do that no one would be able to complain.
Here’s why online reviews are important for your brand:
Brand Authenticity
A typical pattern of consumer thinking happens before any purchase – checking reviews. The average consumer, no matter how excited, would first check for reviews before actually buying a product or patronizing a particular brand. The mindset behind checking for reviews is to verify if the brand is authentic. In a time when there are lots of bots, click baits, and scam sites, it’s important to stand out as an authentic brand. If you have good reviews online, you’ll pass the authenticity test with internet users.
Funny enough, having only good reviews also appears fishy. The old saying “too good to be true” describes a brand that only has good reviews. Scam sites always have positive reviews, and that’s what makes internet users wary. Although it’s essential to have good reviews, you shouldn’t be too shy of bad ones – display a mix of good and bad reviews, and you’ll appear more authentic.
Proof of Expertise
In business, it’s said that the loudest are the quickest to get seen – this means that your marketing gives you visibility. But your expertise sustains your visibility and scores you repeated patronage. It’s not enough to be loud; you also have to be good at what you do. And the best way to prove that you’re good at what you do is to have more positive reviews from past customers.
When the reviews you receive online praise aspects of your brand such as responsiveness, qualitative product or service, potential customers are likelier to patronize you because your expertise is “humanly” proven by actual customers.
Organic Conversion and Sales
A shortcut practice online is that brands and businesses often buy reviews and pad their sales figures to “convince” potential customers. But this often results in having bot reviews and an inorganic customer base that’s hard to convert. It’s easier to get genuine sales by having genuine reviews of your brand online.
With genuine reviews online, internet users just surfing through are more likely to follow and patronize your brands. This means that you’ve successfully won an organic follower and also made sales. You prove your brand authenticity and trustworthiness through reviews, which often translates into more sales.
How to Manage Bad Reviews Online
No matter how efficient your business or brand is, you’ll eventually have to deal with negative reviews. Either internet trolls and fake customers spread bad news about you, first-time customers experience a glitch in the system, or your genuine customers have something to draw your attention to.
Here’s the thing; bad news travels much faster than good news, which means it’s often easier to spread bad reviews than good reviews online. Many trolls, negative minds, and blogs would love to capitalize on bad reviews, and you definitely don’t want them picking apart your brand due to bad online reviews. This is why it’s so important to be able to manage bad reviews and, at worst, turn them into “negative publicity” that’ll work well for your brand. Here’s how to manage bad reviews online:
· Respond Promptly
Your best bet in managing a bad review is to reach out to the reviewer quickly and try to resolve the issue privately. Don’t make the mistake of sounding condescending or invalidating a customer’s or online visitor’s experience. Always respond politely and promptly to any negative review, and offer to resolve it privately. Your quick response and private offer will help you contain the spread of the bad review, and it’ll also help you connect personally with the reviewer.
· Fix the Issue and Give Incentive
A bad review shouldn’t be seen as a death sentence or as a bad egg trying to ruin your brand’s reputation. Think of bad reviews as alarms drawing your attention to issues you need to fix. If there’s a glitch in your system, fix it, apologize to the affected user, and offer a mild compensation. Your compensation could be a discount or a renewed offer. If you’re dealing with a troll, however, politely respond and give them an offer. This way, you’ll disarm the lie and also get a customer.
· Make Updates and Ask for an Updated Review
Once you’ve successfully rectified issues that led to the bad review, make announcements about your changes. This way, potential customers will have a balanced view of your brand – proving your responsiveness. Once you’ve resolved the issue privately, ask the reviewing customer to provide an updated review to reflect your changes. An updated review usually means that the bad review will be deleted and rewritten in your favor.
Final Remarks
Having a great reputation online is important for your brand. Besides the sales and authenticity, reviews also draw attention to you. You just have to know how to convert such attention to more sales and growth for your brand. At Evolution Business, we have experts that can properly position your brand or business online, and we can help you handle the negative reviews as well.
