Preventing Negative Reviews and Promoting Your Business

If you have been reading my blog, you are already familiar with some strategies for handling negative reviews, but what are you doing to prevent those reviews in the first place?

Preventing Negative Reviews

When customers feel like they have no place else to vent, they will turn to social media and review websites to tell their story. Your best line of defense is to provide your clients with a way to tell you what they are experiencing before they even leave your business.

Some strategies:

• Think about the time your clients spend at your business - Who do they see right before they leave? Could that person be trained and equipped to ask the customer for their feedback and any thoughts for improvement before they leave? Could you assign one of your staff this specific purpose?
• Be proactive - If you notice that something is not exactly as it should be (a meal is served late or missing an item, an hotel room is not ready when it should be, etc.) and approach your customer before he/she has a chance to think to complain. Offer to make it right - a gift card, a reduction of their bill, etc.. 
• If your business has a closer relationship with clients, consider a phone call follow up after the person's visit. Ask if the service and/or product they purchased met their needs and ask if they found their visit acceptable or if there are ways you could better serve them.

People are impressed when a business shows its concern for the comfort and satisfaction of its customers. Think about your specific situation and ways you could head off negative reviews. You will find that your attention to detail will not only avert cranky reviews, it will also likely lead to some very happy clients willing to promote your business through positive online reviews!

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Negative Reviews Create Business Growth Potential

Negative reviews can be painful, but if you use them correctly, they can give you the information you need to make changes, meet customer needs, and provide exactly what you need to grow your business!

The Power of Negative Reviews

Negative reviews:

• Provide customer feedback
• Alert you to issues needing addressing
• Give you an opportunity to mend bridges
• Give you clues to the changing needs of your customers
• Give you a chance to show the quality of your customer service

Of course this doesn't mean that getting a negative review is fun or should be sought, but they are also not without value. 

Handling a Negative Review

Steps to take:

1. Respond to the reviewer preferably within 24 hours of the post expressing your concern and desire to mend bridges and resolve complaints. 
2. Look for any patterns or similar reviews - for example, if you see three reviews about the cranky service technician you have on staff, it's time to do some re-training of your employees to make sure they are serving with a smile. 
3. Take action - make any necessary changes to your business or practices.
4. Monitor your reviews for any new feedback.
5. Ask your happy clients to write reviews to solidify your online reputation.

Negative reviews smart, but you can be smart about them by paying attention, responding, and making any necessary changes to help your business grow. 

Online Reviews - When It's Not Your Fault

Negative online reviews are tough to swallow, but especially when you know it is not your fault.

Negative Reviews for No Reason

One New York restaurant wanted to know why they were getting negative reviews that claimed they were slow in service even though they had hired plenty of people and did excellent training for their staff. They found, from examining video tapes of their waiters and clients spanning the last 10 years, that average times people spent at the restaurant almost doubled, but it wasn't because of anything the restaurant did or could do. It was because their customers were playing on their smart phones!

The data was clear - no doubt about it! It is not their fault.

How should you handle negative reviews?

You might be in a similar situation. You might have all the proof in the world to show that you are right and the reviewers are wrong. What should you do about it?

Start interacting with your online reviewers. One study on negative review posts showed that 1/3 of reviewers who posted a negative review went back and posted a positive review when they received a response from the business. The study also found that more than 1/3 of that group removed the original negative post!

Take control of your online reputation by paying attention to reviewers and responding to both their positive and negative reviews.

Web Marketing - Getting Great Reviews

#onlinemarketing #webmarketing #onlinereviews #onlinereputation

Yesterday's blog was about how your web marketing and business improvement can benefit from negative reviews, so it seemed right to touch on getting great reviews too.

Everyone wants positive reviews - what better way to promote your business than to let your happiest customers share their experiences?! The problem is that most of your customers do not understand the huge value online reviews are to your web marketing.

While I'm sure you could take the time to explain to your customers at great length (and no doubt to the point of boring your clients) the impact of your star-ratings and reviews to attract new customers, give you a higher ranking in Google, and solidify your online presence, that might not be the best way to gather new reviews.

Here are some tips to get your customers talking online:

• ASK! As you are finishing up with your customer, ask him or her to write you a review. They may have never thought to do so, but if you let them know you need and value their feedback, they will be much more likely to head over to Yelp, Foursquare, Yahoo, Google or any other site and leave you a note.
• Put something in the customers hands. Whether it's a business card that says on the back, "Leave us your feedback on our Google page" or a message on the printed receipt, you want the client to leave your business with something that reminds him or her when they put their keys and paperwork on their kitchen counter, that they were going to leave you some feedback.
• Consider offering a small incentive. You never want to give people the impression that you are paying them for their feedback, so keep it small and indirect - a drawing instead of something they will for sure be given.

Your most impressed and your least happy customers are going to write you reviews. By using the above tips, you should be able to get a nice share of your average customers to leave feedback too. This will give prospective consumers a well-rounded view of your business and it will provide you with the kind of feedback you need to serve your clients even better - the best in web marketing and business improvement!

IRM works with you to provide the level of support you need.
It's all about saving you time while promoting your business online.
www.impressionsrm.com

Online Marketing Ideas: Grow Your Reputation

Building your presence online through claiming your review website pages, monitoring for new reviews, interacting with your clients online, and generating new reviews is one of the most effective means of local online advertising.

People turn to Google to find businesses and to research their quality as well as the quality of the products they provide.

Taking an active role in managing your business' online reputation will help you keep the customers you have, attract new clients, and grow your presence online.

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.

Got Reviews? - Online Marketing Ideas

Here in the Midwest, it doesn't seem like it, but summer IS coming and summer means more people are traveling and exploring new vacation spots with their families. This also means that small businesses need to focus on their online marketing ideas to attract those summer vacationers.

Picture how the typical family decides how and where to spend their vacation monies.

We've been driving for hours and we are all getting hungry...

• "Hey Hon, we are coming up on Eau Claire. Look up what they have for Mexican restaurants."

The dutiful spouse opens up his smart phone and...

• "Looks like we've got Azul, Cancun... OH LOOK! Tacos Juanita is a 4.5 star one! Let me look at what the reviews have to say..."

Now, I've been to Eau Claire and all three of those restaurants are great places to eat. So how can the other restaurants compete when Tacos Juanita has 29 reviews and a 4.5 star rating that jumps off the screen at the customer?

They, like every restaurant, hotel, and business that hopes to attract tourists need to have reviews and solid star ratings. When consumers have choices, why wouldn't they opt for the business everyone is talking about and everyone recommends?

There are many strategies for generating reviews, but the most important one is to ASK! People love to be asked for their opinions and they love to talk about the places they love. So, what are you waiting for? Start asking your customers to write reviews today!

Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - a company committed to empowering business to manage their online reputations. For more information about the services IRM offers, visit www.impressionsrm.com or email Ann at impressionsrm@gmail.com.