As a small business owner, you depend on positive reviews of your business to build trust and credibility in your products or services. But how are your reviews integrated into your overall business and marketing strategies?
Why reviews matter. Reviews and testimonials are the stories on the street that build trust in your brand—objective, third-party evidence that underscores all of the ways you and your business fulfill your promises.
From books and appliances to restaurants and vacation homes, we don’t like to waste our time or money. So it’s no surprise that 95% of us read product and service reviews before buying online or engaging with a new service provider. According to one survey, 58% of consumers are willing to pay more for products with good reviews.
Ask for reviews and testimonials. A great time to ask for a review from your client or customer is right after they do business with you.
Send a follow-up email thanking them for coming to see you or purchasing your product. Ask them if they’d be willing to leave a review for you on Google or write a testimonial that you can include in your marketing materials.
Another way to collect reviews and feedback is to send a short survey form with three to four questions. Make at least one of the questions an open-ended question to allow for feedback.
When asking for reviews or testimonials, great questions to consider include:
What brought you in? What made you decide to do business with us?
What was your experience like?
How did you feel after doing business with me/us?
Any recommendations about how we can improve?
Do you have any additional feedback or recommendations that you’d like to share?
These questions can help you map out your client’s journey from problem to resolution and identify potential problems.
Look for and analyze those word treasures.
As you collect reviews, start paying attention to trends, patterns and common words your audience is using to describe your business.
Is there an opportunity to turn a positive experience into a case study?
Can you fill a content gap by discussing a particular issue that you’re seeing more frequently among clients? For example, maybe you’re a coach and you notice that more men are hiring you for coaching because they’re feeling lost in their career. Is there a trend/common issue that you could speak to?
Create a spreadsheet or a Word Cloud to help you keep track. (Here’s a free AI Word Cloud generator that I used while playing with this idea with some of the reviews I’ve received. Final image created in Canva.)
Address service weaknesses. By collecting and analyzing content, you can figure out what is working for your audience and what areas of your business need to be improved.
For example, let’s say you own a salon. The customer is thrilled with how you cut and styled their hair, but are put off by a rude receptionist. They dread calling for an appointment but making online appointments is a cumbersome process. Imagine if you never knew this was happening!
Fix content gaps. Comments and specific words will also help you tweak your content should you notice that people seem to be walking away with misconceptions about your business (whether good or bad). You could address a common misconception in a blog, email or social media post.
Use their words. Sometimes a client will describe your business in words that you think are genius and perfectly express what you’ve been trying to communicate. Integrate those words into your website and other marketing to better clarify how your product or service is making a difference in people’s lives.
Share social proof.
If a client leaves you a glowing review, post it on your website and share it on social media. Make your testimonials easy to find.
If you’re fortunate enough to have a client tag you and share a positive review about your business on social media, awesome! Share their post to your feed and thank them by name for the kind review. This simple grassroots strategy can be even more effective at influencing others to check out your business than creating a branded graphic with the testimonial.
Respond to reviews. When someone takes the time to leave a review, say thank you. Use their name. Tell them you look forward to seeing them again. By nurturing your current client relationships, you save time and money. Plus, your thoughtfulness can lead to additional word-of-mouth referrals because your client feels seen and heard.
“It costs five times as much to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one.” ~ Kahlid Saleh, CEO & co-founder of Invesp.
Okay, so what do you do about negative reviews?
No one likes to receive a poor review, but sometimes these can benefit you in the long run, helping you make improvements in your business.
Of course, a harsh review won’t feel good, which is why it’s a good idea to have a strategy in place.
Before you respond, wait until you’ve had a chance to cool off. The last thing you want to do is get into a war of words with the unhappy client or customer. It will only make you look defensive, confrontational and difficult to deal with.
Yikes! For example, I was reviewing VRBOs last fall. One of the townhomes I was researching had several negative reviews, but the reviews didn’t bother me as much as the owner’s response.
A few people complained that the unit wasn’t clean or something in the unit wasn’t as it was described. The owner responded by lambasting them. The whole time I kept thinking, “If I have a problem while I’m staying at this guy’s condo, he’s going to be a challenge to deal with.” Frankly, I was a little afraid of the guy! I quickly moved on.
If you made a mistake on your end, apologize and let the person know that you are addressing the issue (as long as you do plan to address the issue). For example, in another VRBO review, a previous occupant said the wifi wasn’t working. The owner said, “I’m so sorry! I wish I’d known about this and we would have immediately sent someone over to fix the problem. I apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for staying with us.”
As a rule, don’t get emotional (I get it. Negative comments about something you’re deeply invested in stings. Wait to respond when you’ve calmed down. Nothing good comes from matching anger with more anger because guess who the loser is in this kind of situation?)
Stay professional. Some complaints may need to be addressed offline. Tell the person who left the review that you would like to discuss the matter with them over the phone and/or issue a refund. Ask them to call you or reach out to them by email. This shows you care and want to take proactive steps to manage the situation.
We’re all human and mistakes happen. Apologize, do what you can to remedy the situation, and move on. (And keep in mind, there are some people out there who will never be happy no matter what you do.)
If someone leaves a negative review on your social media platform that’s fake, untrue and/or goes against the rules of the platform, you can report them and have the comment removed.
Remember, prospective customers aren’t expecting everyone to be happy. And by seeing a few neutral or one or two complaints that were addressed, they can get a sense of how a business is going to respond if their experience doesn’t go as planned.
Nurture community.
There’s nothing quite as powerful as human-centered marketing and connection when it comes to building your social proof.
In addition to celebrating positive customer reviews, announce public acknowledgments like chamber of commerce or best of awards, etc., and include the digital award badges on your website.
If you do business with other companies, include their logos on your website. Also, include business partners and affiliate logos on your site.
Ask respected, third-party influencers to review and if possible, endorse your products.
Provide high-quality, helpful information on your website using your optimized keywords to help your website rise in the search engines.
How do you make reviews work for you?
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