Online reviews have become critical to digital marketing success. When a customer is torn between two service providers, the one with the most positive reviews is likely to win out. That means your business needs a strategy for soliciting and responding to online reviews – both positive and negative. Here are a few simple ideas to get you started:
- Claim your pages on Google My Business, Facebook Business, and Yelp. Digital marketing is no longer a one-platform industry! Maintaining a presence on each of these important review platforms will make it easy for customers to find your business, leave reviews, and learn more about your services.
- Reach out to satisfied customers. Not every customer will instinctively share their experience with your business on Yelp, so you may want to develop a modest review outreach strategy. Follow-up emails, automated thank you pages, and discount offers are all good approaches, as long as they are not intrusive or manipulative.
- Always respond! Customers are more likely to leave reviews for responsive businesses. This is especially true for businesses that leave satisfactory responses to negative reviews. That means adopting a ‘customer is always right’ stance and offering meaningful, courteous answers to complaints. Turning a negative review into a returning customer is the ultimate example of great customer service.
- Consider paid strategies. If your business is struggling to attract positive online reviews, you may want to consider a paid review platform. In some cases, that can mean offering customers compensation for reviews, but more often it entails licensing a platform that automates review solicitation.
As a Google Premier Partner digital marketing agency with access to valuable insights on Google’s preferred practices, GrowthEngine Media can help you attract meaningful, sincere reviews that highlight your business’s customer service and encourage new customers to reach out for more information.
