Are you confused about online review websites? Wondering what happened to reviews that disappeared? Not sure that reviews are impacting your business? Have tough negative review to handle? Post your questions below - I will do my best to help!
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Online Review Sites Provide Free Marketing Opportunities
Small businesses don't have tons of money to spend on marketing, so we tend to be very careful where that money gets spent and watch for ways we can maximize free sources of marketing.
Online review websites offer one of those opportunities!
The vast majority of people turn to the internet to research products, businesses, and services. No doubt you have a website to help get the word out about your business, but does it rank high in Google? When you type in your business' name, do you get more than one Google result that would attract potential customers?
Online review websites like Yelp, Yahoo Local, Google+ Local and many others give your customers a place to leave feedback, tips, and information for others interested in using your services or buying your products. These websites have set up a page just for your business by pulling information from public records or third party data aggregators. They have also made it possible for you to claim that page, update the information about your business, and even respond to your customers who have left comments.
Take the time to visit each of the major review websites for your particular industry. Many of these sites do not charge a fee for claiming your business' page and making updates.
You can also generate positive web content by starting a YouTube channel where you post instructional videos for your clients. Think about the common questions and concerns your clients have - can you do a video to help?
Social media sites like Google+, Facebook, and Pinterest are great places to promote your business and connect with customers and having a page on each of these sites generates another link to your business that will show up in search engine results.
Depending on the nature of your business, your staffing, and comfort with technology, many of the positive web content options can be used at no-cost to increase your standing on search engines and your presence as an expert in your field.
Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC, a company committed to empowering small businesses to use online reviews to increase their online presence, improve business practices, and market services or products. For more information on IRM's services and programs, visit www.impressionsrm.com.
Friday, January 17, 2014
Losing Customers? Pay Attention to Your Online Reviews!
How many options do you have for where you go out eat? How about for where you do your banking? Where you buy your hardware supplies? Who grooms your dog?
As consumers, most of us have plenty of options and businesses to choose from and we will go where we feel we get that combination of excellent quality combined with customer service. This also means we are fairly intolerant of poor customer service. As business owners then, we need to be stepping up our customer service to make sure we foster loyalty that will not only keep our current customers, but will attract others!
An infographic put out by Drumbi (a customer service company), shared statistics from a recent American Express survey that suggests that many companies are simply not listening to the customer feedback being generated.
How sad is that? They could have left angry and never said a word, but they made the effort to reach out to the businesses they frequented and they were ignored!
With almost 90% of consumers moving on to competitors after a bad customer service experience and about half of consumers giving companies only one week to respond to their questions before they choose to leave, now is the time to not only know what is being said online about your company, but also to be responding to your customers.
I was working up an initial evaluation of a company new to managing their online reputation and what stood out as I read through their many various #reviews was the number of times their customers posted questions they hoped would be answered by the company and the number of people who said something to the effect of "I'm posting this in hopes someone from (company XXX) will read this."
It left me wondering how many of those same people continued on with that company and how many gave up and tried one of the competitors.
We have a great tool in online review websites, IF we pay attention and IF we connect with our customers. Will you?
Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - a company committed to empowering businesses to manage their online reputations. For more information about the services IRM offers, visit www.impressionsrm.com or email Ann at impressionsrm@gmail.com.
As consumers, most of us have plenty of options and businesses to choose from and we will go where we feel we get that combination of excellent quality combined with customer service. This also means we are fairly intolerant of poor customer service. As business owners then, we need to be stepping up our customer service to make sure we foster loyalty that will not only keep our current customers, but will attract others!
An infographic put out by Drumbi (a customer service company), shared statistics from a recent American Express survey that suggests that many companies are simply not listening to the customer feedback being generated.
How sad is that? They could have left angry and never said a word, but they made the effort to reach out to the businesses they frequented and they were ignored!
With almost 90% of consumers moving on to competitors after a bad customer service experience and about half of consumers giving companies only one week to respond to their questions before they choose to leave, now is the time to not only know what is being said online about your company, but also to be responding to your customers.
I was working up an initial evaluation of a company new to managing their online reputation and what stood out as I read through their many various #reviews was the number of times their customers posted questions they hoped would be answered by the company and the number of people who said something to the effect of "I'm posting this in hopes someone from (company XXX) will read this."
It left me wondering how many of those same people continued on with that company and how many gave up and tried one of the competitors.
We have a great tool in online review websites, IF we pay attention and IF we connect with our customers. Will you?
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Online Marketing - DON'T Ignore Your Customers
I came across an excellent infographic today at Zendesk that gives spot on information on how some negative reviews end up being posted.
The part that really caught my eye was their statistic that 96% of online complaints were a result of double disappointments meaning that something had happened to upset the consumer and then, when they tried to get the matter resolved, they were wronged again.
These things happen to even the best of companies - a series of honest errors, a day where technology fails us completely, or the customer falls prey to a weak link in our system or staffing. It is frustrating to everyone, but when the customer goes public with his or her complaint, if we are paying attention, it can give us the opportunity to right the wrong... or wrongs as the case may be!
If you've checked out my website, you know that I advocate for very careful monitoring of reviews that are posted about your business for just this kind of situation. As soon as you know a negative post has been made, take action to reach the customer and work on mending those bridges. The longer you wait, the more people will see the negative review post and the more damage it will do.
If your business is one where you know your clients and have access to their contact information, the best thing you can do is to pick up the phone and call the customer with a personal apology. Work to determine where the problem(s) originated and offer a solution or recompense.
In situations where you do not have the ability to call the customer, be sure you reach out to them as soon as possible on the public forum where they posted the negative review. Don't go into great detail in your response, but let them know that you have heard their complaint and that you'd like to try to make it right. Ask him or her to contact you and make sure you provide both an email address and a phone number that you will personally check.
Be very careful when you post publicly - remember that your audience is no longer just the person who was wronged. Your audience is now that person and everyone else who is reading along - every potential customer deciding if he or she should use your services or turn to your competitors. It is always in your best interest to be kind!
Hopefully most of this is common sense to you and you can relate to your customer having experienced the double-whammy as a consumer yourself when things just don't go right.
Keep an eye on maintaining excellent customer relations, monitor all of the major review sites closely, and be quick to make amends and you should be able to avoid a customer service fiasco!
Ann M. Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - an online review managing and monitoring service for businesses new to review websites. If your business is needing assistance handling negative reviews or monitoring the high number of review sites, please check our website and program information at
These things happen to even the best of companies - a series of honest errors, a day where technology fails us completely, or the customer falls prey to a weak link in our system or staffing. It is frustrating to everyone, but when the customer goes public with his or her complaint, if we are paying attention, it can give us the opportunity to right the wrong... or wrongs as the case may be!
If you've checked out my website, you know that I advocate for very careful monitoring of reviews that are posted about your business for just this kind of situation. As soon as you know a negative post has been made, take action to reach the customer and work on mending those bridges. The longer you wait, the more people will see the negative review post and the more damage it will do.
If your business is one where you know your clients and have access to their contact information, the best thing you can do is to pick up the phone and call the customer with a personal apology. Work to determine where the problem(s) originated and offer a solution or recompense.
In situations where you do not have the ability to call the customer, be sure you reach out to them as soon as possible on the public forum where they posted the negative review. Don't go into great detail in your response, but let them know that you have heard their complaint and that you'd like to try to make it right. Ask him or her to contact you and make sure you provide both an email address and a phone number that you will personally check.
Be very careful when you post publicly - remember that your audience is no longer just the person who was wronged. Your audience is now that person and everyone else who is reading along - every potential customer deciding if he or she should use your services or turn to your competitors. It is always in your best interest to be kind!
Keep an eye on maintaining excellent customer relations, monitor all of the major review sites closely, and be quick to make amends and you should be able to avoid a customer service fiasco!
Monday, January 13, 2014
Legit Reviews or Manipulated?
A friend sent over a question last night asking if I'd ever heard of a company she saw advertised on TV that claimed it could remove negative Yelp posts off of the first page of website search results. As a business owner, I understand the appeal of being able to make negative review posts go away, but I am always wary of burying problems when you have the option of getting them out in the open, so I did some investigating.
This particular company plans to have its own review websites where the businesses that they serve can manipulate the feedback that is left so that only positive reviews are seen. Then, this company hopes to flood Google, Yahoo, and Bing with many of these sites so that they will show up when the customer searches for the business they want to investigate and it will result in the negative Yelp link being moved to the second page of Google's search results.
In theory, this will work whether the business is trying to bury Yelp posts or Foursquare or Insider Pages or any of the legitimate review websites. Sound a little shady to you? Well it sure does to me!
Most negative review posts are based on a misunderstanding or honest mistake made by one of the parties. Now don't get me wrong, sometimes these reviews have roots in some pretty big and pretty ugly problems at these businesses and sometimes there are people who complain just to complain, but the most common negative reviews can be resolved with some good customer service and that is what most people are seeking when they go public with their experiences.
That being said, while negative reviews sting and can harm your business' online reputation, the answer is most definitely NOT to bury the reviews, but to contend with the issues. Fess up if the mistake was yours. Make changes if your business is having repeat problems. Do some extra staff development training if your employees are not meeting customer needs. Change your product line and services if they are not what your customers are asking for. Reach out to your customers if there have been misunderstandings and work to mend bridges!
While there are times we'd all like our problems to just go away, don't fall prey to these kinds of shady companies who will try to play the system and ignore the problems. It can and will come back to bite! Your reputation will soar if you work to reconcile with unhappy clients and let the review sites serve both your customers and your business!
This particular company plans to have its own review websites where the businesses that they serve can manipulate the feedback that is left so that only positive reviews are seen. Then, this company hopes to flood Google, Yahoo, and Bing with many of these sites so that they will show up when the customer searches for the business they want to investigate and it will result in the negative Yelp link being moved to the second page of Google's search results.
In theory, this will work whether the business is trying to bury Yelp posts or Foursquare or Insider Pages or any of the legitimate review websites. Sound a little shady to you? Well it sure does to me!
Most negative review posts are based on a misunderstanding or honest mistake made by one of the parties. Now don't get me wrong, sometimes these reviews have roots in some pretty big and pretty ugly problems at these businesses and sometimes there are people who complain just to complain, but the most common negative reviews can be resolved with some good customer service and that is what most people are seeking when they go public with their experiences.
That being said, while negative reviews sting and can harm your business' online reputation, the answer is most definitely NOT to bury the reviews, but to contend with the issues. Fess up if the mistake was yours. Make changes if your business is having repeat problems. Do some extra staff development training if your employees are not meeting customer needs. Change your product line and services if they are not what your customers are asking for. Reach out to your customers if there have been misunderstandings and work to mend bridges!
While there are times we'd all like our problems to just go away, don't fall prey to these kinds of shady companies who will try to play the system and ignore the problems. It can and will come back to bite! Your reputation will soar if you work to reconcile with unhappy clients and let the review sites serve both your customers and your business!
Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - a company committed to empowering businesses to manage their online reputations through monitoring and responding to customers on online review websites. For more information on IRM, it's services and programs, visit www.impressionsrm.com .
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