Customer review management is a marketing tactic used to engage your target audience in a conversation about what they think about your product or service. Online customer reviews are essential for building credibility for your business in this digital age. According to BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2023, it was found that 98% of people read online reviews for local businesses. This shows how important it is to pay attention to the reviews your business is receiving because your consumers most likely also notice them.
Censoring or faking your reviews can harm your business as this may appear disingenuous and not credible. To learn more about the importance of your online reputation read our related blog here. Instead, let’s dive into a few best practices for customer review management.
Customer Review Management Practices:
Highlight Good Reviews
As previously mentioned, reviews can be a powerful resource to persuade consumers. Use this to your advantage by highlighting good reviews on your website and social media. Having a section for testimonials on your website can help show viewers of your website a glimpse into the positive experience you want them to have with your business.
You can also use these positive reviews as a way to generate organic content for your social media. Creating posts quoting customer reviews allows you to amplify the effects of those positive testimonials.
Encourage the Completion of More Customer Reviews
Having a few reviews is good, but having a lot of reviews is better! The more reviews you have, the more credible your business will appear to consumers. When posting testimonials to your social media accounts or listing them on your website, include a CTA that prompts past customers to leave their own reviews, so you know how their experience was. You can also ask your customers for reviews through email and SMS marketing.
Not only will this influx of reviews help your business’s image, but it will also help you better understand what areas of your business your customers like and what you can improve on.
Learn Review Platform’s Flagging Process
Unfortunately, fraudulent reviews do exist and can affect your overall rating. That’s why it is important to understand customer review management in order to tackle such a tricky situation. To spot these types of reviews be on the lookout for multiple reviews from the same account, it could also be a very vague review and will oftentimes give either a one or five-star rating.
The best way to handle these reviews is to appeal to remove them from the reviewing platform. To do this look into the flagging and removal guidelines for review platforms. Some of the main platforms to consider are Google, Yelp, Facebook, and Amazon reviews.
Tackle Negative Reviews
Another important component of customer review management is learning how to handle negative reviews. These types of reviews are bound to pop up on occasion. While it may be difficult to stop them, you can plan a way to mitigate damage from them. Handling these reviews properly can help resolve customer issues and ease the mind of others that have seen your reviews.
When you come across a negative review, make sure that you respond in a timely manner so that the review is not sitting publicly unaddressed for long. Also, when responding make sure to use a friendly and personable tone.
This is also the time to take ownership of any issues and see what you can do to fix the reviewer’s experience with your business. To learn more about how to handle a negative review, click here to read our related blog.
Recap
There you have it! You should be able to implement these customer review management tips like a pro!
Online reviews are a crucial part of the way your brand is perceived by customers. Make sure you are encouraging more reviews and highlighting the positive ones. It is also, important to make sure you aren’t ignoring fake or negative reviews as that can do more damage than taking action.
If your company or organization needs help with its customer review management, do not be afraid to reach out and contact Corkboard Concepts today!
