The Power Of Review Management
Word of mouth always has and always will be one of the most powerful tools in marketing. And online reviews are the modern day word of mouth. Consumers love to hear past customers’ experiences with you before committing to buy themselves.
If your products and services worked for the 50 people who shared their 5-star experiences, a shopping consumer assumes it will work for them too. Reviews build trust, your brand’s reputation, and ultimately, your sales. Review management is key to boosting your sales and building momentum for your business.
What is Review Management?
Review management is the process of gathering and leveraging reviews for your marketing strategy. You must entice happy customers to rave about your products or services. Give them an easy and attractive way to do so. Manage any negative reviews. And highlight your positive reviews for everyone to see.
Powerful Benefits
Reviews build trust. And building trust is key to closing more sales. Even better, you don’t have to spend time telling leads why you’re awesome. All you have to do is open the door and let your satisfied customers do the talking.
Reviews are powerful. At least 82% of consumers read reviews for local businesses before making a purchase. They are looking for signs that your business is a great investment. Were other people satisfied? What was their experience like? Do they recommend the products or services they purchased?
The answers your customers give to these questions hold the power to convince a lead to commit and buy from you. But they also hold to power to convince a lead to steer clear of your business with a negative review. Much of review management is getting satisfied customers to write a review. But it will also require monitoring and managing negative reviews to keep up your brand’s reputation and understand where your company may need to improve.
3 Quick Tips: How to Get and Use Reviews
People need to read an average of 10 reviews before trusting a local business. The more reviews you can accumulate, the better. Even if some are negative, which is bound to happen at some point, reviews serve to inform a consumer’s buying decision. Here are a few quick tips to help you get and use online reviews for your business.
#1: Choose the platform(s) you will focus on.
Before you make a strategy for how you collect reviews, you’ll have to choose where you should collect reviews. Where are your customers searching for reviews? A few examples include: Google, Yelp, and Facebook. But there are many more. Is there a review platform specifically for your industry? You can even use a software that helps you integrate multiple review sites at one time.
#2: Create a simple process to collect reviews.
Yes, reviews are important. But you don’t want to spend all of your time gathering reviews when you could automate this process. Here is one simple way to do this:
Choose the platform you want to receive reviews on.
Create an email template asking a recent customer to leave you a review on this platform.
Set up this email to automatically be sent to a customer within 7 days of their purchase (or a more appropriate amount of time)
Set up a follow-up email (optional)
#3: Monitor and manage incoming reviews.
What will your company do when a customer reviews you? How can you leverage incoming reviews to grow your business? Here are a few ideas.
Comment on every review. This shows your company is engaging and actively communicating. Create a canned response that makes this process simple and fast.
Acknowledge and respond to negative reviews. Some companies have a manager respond to apologize and offer assistance. Some businesses offer a refund or discount. How can you show your customers you care about their success, even when they have a bad experience? Consumers are watching to see how you will respond. Your response reflects how you will treat them.
Share your positive reviews everywhere. Once you have your positive reviews: let them work for you! Share them on your social media, website, proposals, wherever you can to build trust with potential future buyers.
Use Review Management in Your Marketing Strategy
Your customers know you are awesome. Let them tell others why your company is worth their investment. Many marketing strategies require your company to create persuasive copy and designs. But online reviews do the talking for you by sharing a personal recommendation. Boost your sales today by leveraging the power of online reviews for your business.
