Did you know there are 2.60 billion active Facebook users, and they often use Facebook to check out businesses and review products? In fact, stats show that 78% of American consumers have discovered products to buy via Facebook.
Not to mention, 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 70% of consumers are more likely to use a local business with positive reviews, while 40% of consumers said they would avoid local companies that have negative ratings.
In short, Facebook reviews play a huge role in swaying consumers to either purchase from your brand or turn somewhere else. As such, brands should do everything in their power to elicit recommendations from happy customers and to respond to negative feedback.
This article will provide an overview of:
- How to enable your reviews on your Facebook page
- How to respond to Facebook reviews
- Risks of not responding to negative reviews
Let’s get started!
How to enable recommendations and reviews on Facebook
The first step in capturing new conversions from Facebook reviews it to make sure you turn on Facebook Recommendations. When your Recommendations are activated, Facebook users can rate your business and publish public Facebook business reviews.
Here’s how to activate Recommendations:
- Login to your Facebook account and navigate to your News Feed.
- Click on “Pages” in the left menu.
- Select “Page Settings,” located on the bottom left of your business Page.
- Find the left menu and click “Templates and Tabs.”
- Click to the right of “Reviews” and turn the tab on.
Once you’ve completed this process, users can post reviews on your Facebook page.
How to respond to Facebook reviews
It doesn’t matter whether customers leave positive or negative reviews. Both types of reviews warrant a response from your trained reputation management representative.
When you respond to customer praise and concern, it shows you care, establishes your brand voice, and helps increase customer engagement interactions. Let’s discuss how to respond to negative and positive reviews.
Here’s how to respond to a positive review:
- Thank the customer. If someone is endorsing your brand, take the time to say thanks. Thank-yous go a long way in establishing customer loyalty.
- Invite the customer to share. Asking brand advocates to share positive reviews on their personal Facebook pages is a stellar way to boost brand awareness.
- Offer additional insight. Give reviewers more reasons to engage with your brand. Tell them about a promotion, offer a discount code, or inform them of upcoming events.
Negative reviews are a little more tricky but require a rapid response. Here is some advice for responding to negative reviews:
- Validate the concern. One of the first rules of customer service in any setting is acknowledging and accepting that your customer has had a negative experience. Validation opens the doors to move forward toward a resolution.
- Restate issue. Show the customer you understand the problem by reiterating their case. Use a few keywords from the review that describes the situation.
- Address concern. Let the customer know you are committed to helping them resolve the concern and take steps to make things right. If the issue is large, get contact details and take the conversation offline.
As you respond to negative reviews and turn poor customer experiences into positive ones, ask the customer to alter their Facebook review.
What happens if you don’t respond to Facebook reviews correctly?
Not responding to customer reviews is a dire mistake some brands make. When you don’t respond to reviews correctly, you lose the opportunity to engage with customers and promote further engagement.
Additionally, you risk losing control of your online reputation. Customers might assume you don’t care about them and may look for business solutions elsewhere.
Finally, you lose out on customer win-back opportunities. Often, a poor review is just a cry for help with resolving an issue. If you give the customer your undivided attention, it provides an opportunity to turn that disgruntled customer into a brand advocate.
Start tracking your Facebook reviews
One in every three users utilizes Facebook to find recommendations and reviews, making capturing Facebook reviews a smart way to engage customers and drive conversions.
Take the time to turn on your Facebook Recommendations and assign a dedicated person to review management. For extra help with reputation management, check out Let Us Respond, a professional and intuitive Facebook monitoring service, today.