Most businesses these days have an online presence, and whether you have a website, social media pages, or an app, customer reviews are essential. They help customers decide if they want to do business with you, and they can also lead to increased revenue. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the importance of positive reviews and how they can help your business grow.
Positive Reviews Lead to Increased Revenue
Most customers these days consult online reviews before making a purchase or deciding to visit a business. In fact, a study by Harvard Business School found that a positive review on Yelp can lead to a 5-9 percent increase in revenue for restaurants. That’s why it’s so important to make sure you’re actively encouraging your customers to leave reviews and to respond to both positive and negative reviews in a professional manner.
What Makes a Positive Review?
A positive review contains a mix of valuable details, personal insights, and key observations. They should accomplish more than just praise the product or service being reviewed; they should also draw attention to what makes your product special or stand out from similar ones. Reviews that focus on facts, and features, and provide thoughtful analysis are often the best.
Commitment to the customer experience is the foundation of all successful businesses, and a positive review can be a great indicator of quality service. If a business commits to providing the highest level of service and offers fair prices with helpful customer service, this is typically reflected in great reviews. Ultimately, positive reviews provide the trust customers need to feel confident in giving their business to a particular company.
How Should You Respond to Negative Reviews?
Receiving negative reviews can naturally come off as concerning and stressful, but it’s important to know how to properly respond.
It is important to remain composed when faced with criticism; the customer should always be aware that you take their feedback seriously. Make sure that all interactions are polite, and if necessary, apologize for any inconveniences they may have encountered in a professional manner. Try not to rush through responses as showing interest in feedback can make customers more receptive toward changes and progress.
Additionally, don’t forget to thank the customer for taking the time out of their day to leave a review. In situations where responding directly isn’t an option or feasible, post an update on your website or social media accounts acknowledging the criticism and demonstrating what you are doing to improve or fix it. Most importantly, learning from your experiences with customers is key; use their feedback as an opportunity to grow and become better!
Reviews and Search Engine Optimization
Positive reviews can help improve your search engine optimization (SEO). When customers leave positive reviews about your business on popular review sites like Google, Yelp, or TripAdvisor, your business is more likely to show up in search results. And since people are more likely to click on results that have positive reviews, this can lead to more website visitors and potential customers.
Quick Tips for Receiving Positive Reviews
- In order to get more positive reviews (this should almost be unspoken) but start by offering excellent customer service and products or services that meet or exceed customer expectations. Something that you would think should be common sense isn’t always common.
- You can also remind customers after they’ve made a purchase or used your service to leave a review on your preferred method (be it Facebook, Yelp, Google, etc.).
- Focus customers on the platform that needs the most help. Often times we’ll set up an email to go out to clients and ask how their experience was. If they answer positively, we direct them to the platform we need reviews at. If they don’t, we direct them to let us know what we could have done better so those issues can be addressed.
If you’re not sure how to get started, our team at Dogwood can help. One of our specialties is in online reputation management and we can help you increase your positive reviews and improve your overall online presence. Contact us today to learn more.
