Key Takeaways:
- Responding to reviews builds customer trusts and fosters customer loyalty
- The more 5-star reviews you acquire, the stronger your brand will be
- Responding to negative and neutral reviews is as important as responding to positive reviews
- Review management services ensure you stay on top of review responses without having to do any heavy lifting
If there is one thing that’s certain about last year, it’s that the pandemic, a heated election, and economic upsets drastically changed the way we do business.
Many brick-and-mortar businesses were forced to shut their doors, others ran at partial capacity, and several businesses even adopted an e-commerce model for the first time ever.
Popular domain name and web hosting company, GoDaddy, even reported a 48% increase in its e-commerce products from Feb to April alone.
As the economic landscape significantly changed last year, customer service and reputation management became more important than ever before.
This post will take a look at the top lessons learned this year, based on our most popular content from last year.
1. Responding to reviews is critical to the success of your business
Brands can’t control what people say about them online, but they can control how they respond. And, responding to reviews in a timely manner is nearly as important as what customers say about you.
Why? Failing to answer reviews may cost you the customers you worked so hard to get as well as new customers. Because acquiring new customers can cost five times more than retaining a current customer, it’s important to grow the relationships you’ve already made.
Additionally, responding to reviews paves the way for a strong foundation with your customers, builds trust, and shows them that you genuinely care about their experience with your company.
2. 5-star Google reviews matter
Another critical lesson learned last year is 5-star Google reviews matter. The more 5-star Google reviews you get, the higher Google ranks you in local search results. Additionally, high star reviews allow you to benefit from “near me” searches on Google.
But, that’s not all.
Stats show that Google reviews also dramatically affect consumers’ purchasing decisions. The average consumer will spend 13 minutes and 45 seconds reading reviews before making a decision, and 91% of young customers trust online reviews as much as recommendations from family and friends.
3. Review management services help you build a loyal customer base
Another reason it’s important to respond to your negative and positive reviews is that it fosters customer loyalty. And, loyal customers are worth their weight in gold to any business.
According to the Temkin Group, loyal customers are five times more likely to forgive a bad brand experience, five times more likely to purchase repeatedly, four times more likely to refer new customers to a brand, and seven times more likely to try a new offering from a brand.
Leveraging customer feedback in the form of reviews is a smart way to boost customer loyalty. Review feedback helps brands understand how their customers are feeling, offers an opportunity to show off customer service skills, and communicates to customers that you are willing to put in the time to build an ongoing relationship.
4. Companies must respond to both positive and negative reviews
Not only is it critical to respond to positive reviews, but brands must also pay equal attention to neutral and negative reviews.
Responding to all reviews shows you care about all your customers, not just the ones singing your praises. It also creates consistency across channels, which boosts the strength of your brand.
One of the best things you can do for your brand is to establish a pattern for responding to reviews in a timely, positive, and professional manner. If you need extra help, look into hiring a review management service.
Hire a review management service to help you today!
It’s no secret that review management can be time-consuming. To keep up, reviews response must be immediate, consistent, and transparent. While it’s difficult to stay on top of monitoring, managing, and responding to reviews, it’s essential to your brand.
Instead of falling behind, look into a review management service. A review management service is a dedicated team of review management professionals that respond to customers on behalf of a business. This way, business leaders can focus on doing what they do best: growing their business.
Need help with review management? Contact Let Us Respond today!