Promote Your Business: Reply to Reviews

You can promote your business by knowing what people are looking for when they write and read online reviews about your products and services. After all, sites like Yelp, Foursquare, Google+, Trip Advisor, and the multitudes of other review websites wouldn't be popular if they weren't meeting the needs of consumers!

Why Online Review Sites?

When consumers visit online review websites, they are typically looking for information on a business' products and services to help them decide who to trust and what to buy. As a consumer, they look for:

• High star ratings - Better than 3 stars on a 5 star rating system and preferably 4 stars or higher is the goal. After all, why would anyone go to a 2 star business if the same services are offered by one with a 4 star rating?
• Current reviews - Businesses and products change over time with new owners, new employees, and different service offerings as well as product upgrades, so people look for recent reviews for the most current information about a business. 
• Quantity of reviews - When there are only 2-3 opinions on a business, that doesn't tell the consumer much about quality. Having upwards of 20 reviews is necessary to give a good picture of your business.
• Obvious quality - Reading reviews that talk about the quality product or customer service will go a long way to impressing the consumer, but even more so if that customer service is apparent because the business is interacting with the reviewers!

Replying to Reviews

Replying to reviews is not a difficult thing, but it requires you to be monitoring your reviews so you can respond promptly - preferably within 24-48 hours. 

• Replying to positive reviews shows that you have connection with your clients. Consumers are looking for businesses that care about their customers and studies have shown that 89% of people are willing to pay more for better customer service. 
• Replying to negative reviews may seem a bit more daunting, but this too can greatly improve your reputation on online review sites. Consumers want to see that you are willing to address issues of customer service and what better way to advertise your quality service than to directly respond where customers are researching you?

Online marketing is critical in today's market and you want the best information on the websites where your customers are researching. Promote your business by interacting with your client reviews and watch your ratings soar!

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