In our July 2018 Newsletter, we highlighted the importance of online reputation management, tips on how to respond to customer reviews, and how to go about obtaining customers reviews. Today we’re going to dive deeper into the why behind the idea that business owners should respond to all reviews!
Acknowledging and responding to positive and negative reviews shows your customers that their input and feedback is valuable to the success of your business. It also displays that you believe in delivering a high level of customer service. When it comes to responding to Google reviews, not only are you building trust with customers, you are building trust with the Google search engine, as they only want to recommend businesses with high credibility. Below are tips for responding to reviews that will help you become more credible online.
Positive Reviews:
Show gratitude - thank your customers for taking time out of their day to visit your business and write a review
Invite them back in - give customers a reason to revisit. Perhaps inform them of an upcoming event, product release or special
Negative Reviews:
Be apologetic, sympathetic, and thankful - let the customer know that you are sorry for the poor experience they endured and thank them for bringing the issue to your attention. Make sure your customer feels heard.
Offer to take the conversation offline - invite customers to take the conversation offline so you can gather more details and prevent this from happening again. Provide contact information to someone offline who can handle the complaint.
When responding to reviews, whether negative or positive, always be timely and take no more than 24 hours to respond and keep your responses concise and to the point. When the going seems to get tough, remember that each and every one of these instances are opportunities for your business to grow.
