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Online reviews posted on sites like Google, Facebook, Yelp, and TripAdvisor play a vital role in consumers’ purchase decisions. As a result, it is crucial to incorporate online review management as part of your overall marketing strategy. By effectively managing reviews, you can protect and improve your online brand reputation, enhance your search engine performance, and foster brand trust among existing and potential customers.
What is Online Review Management?
Online review management is a business process that involves monitoring, analyzing, responding to, and generating customer reviews across various business review sites. Its main goal is to support a company’s marketing strategy and improve overall business performance. Research has found that 72% of customers won’t take action before they read reviews. Furthermore, 94% of people say a negative review has convinced them to avoid a business. Therefore, whether you’re managing a small business or an enterprise-level organization, online reviews directly impact your business reputation and revenue.
Managing Online Reviews: 3 Foundational Strategies
To help you navigate the world of online review management, here are three essential strategies you should know:
1. Respond to Online Reviews
“Why respond to reviews?” is a question frequently asked by businesses in the digital landscape. Success in managing online reviews begins with the commitment to becoming a responsive business. By promptly addressing customer feedback and concerns, brands demonstrate their dedication to customer satisfaction and foster meaningful engagement. To achieve this success, it is important to know how to respond to both negative and positive reviews.
When responding to positive reviews, make sure to thank the reviewers for taking the time to share their feedback. Personalize your response and reinforce the customer’s positive experience. On the other hand, when responding to negative reviews, address valid feedback and remain empathetic to show your business cares about its customers. Avoid delays in responding as the sooner you can address the customer’s concerns, the greater your chances of resolving the situation.
For companies with multiple locations and profiles across various review websites, responding to reviews can be a challenge. This is where reputation management software comes in handy. It helps businesses stay on top of what customers are saying by simplifying the process of monitoring and responding to reviews. ReviewTrackers is a reputable online reputation management software that allows brands to consolidate their operations and effectively manage online reviews.
2. Use Reviews as Marketing Assets
Online review management can work hand in hand with your overall marketing strategy. Reviews provide social proof, which inspires trust in consumers who are researching businesses online. Incorporating reviews into your marketing materials, such as your website, Facebook business Page, or search ads, can significantly impact the results of your marketing efforts.
One effective way to utilize reviews as marketing assets is by using a website review widget. This widget allows you to embed or display online reviews from your review profiles on your own website. It can improve your conversion rates, decrease bounce rates, and enhance your ad quality scores. Additionally, it is important to keep an eye on your company’s local listings, as they often include reviews and unsolicited feedback. Use local listing management software to ensure your listings are complete, accurate, and up-to-date. Whenever possible, showcase your happiest customers’ reviews by featuring them on your listings.
3. Ask Customers for Reviews
Many businesses mistakenly believe that reviews will generate organically over time. However, this is not always the case. Your online review management strategy can have a greater impact if you proactively ask customers for reviews. Email is one of the most effective channels for requesting reviews, with up to 70% of reviews coming from post-transactional review request emails. Other channels you can use for review requests include SMS, customer satisfaction surveys, review landing pages, and review request automation software.
When asking for reviews, keep the process simple and make it easy for customers to write and publish their reviews. However, it is essential to avoid incentivized reviews and refrain from buying reviews. Not all review sites allow businesses to request reviews from customers, so make sure to comply with each individual review site’s guidelines.
Online Review Management Tool: Your Key to Marketing Success
Successful brands and marketers have learned to manage online reviews in ways that attract customers instead of driving them away. By utilizing an online review management tool, you can effectively monitor, analyze, respond to, and generate customer reviews across multiple business review sites. This tool will help you protect and enhance your brand reputation, boost your search engine performance, and foster trust among your customers.
With the focus keyword phrase “online review management tool,” you can optimize your content for search engines. Incorporate the keyphrase in your introduction, headings, subheadings, and throughout your content using the bold tag. By following the strategies and approaches outlined in this guide, you can leverage the power of online reviews to drive the success of your marketing efforts. Remember, online review management is a continuous process that requires dedication and commitment.
