6 Ways your business can get more positive online reviews
by Mr. Yellow
Positive online reviews can drive sales, improve SEO and help businesses build stronger relationships with their customers. In reality though, most customers are too busy or distracted to write and post reviews, unless they feel the need to complain about a bad experience.
If you want to have more positive reviews on the web, give customers a good reason to review your business by making use of these 6 tips!
Deliver exceptional service
You can’t expect people to make the effort to review your business positively if what you’re offering is not worthy of their praise.
Cutting corners on the quality of your product or service can jeopardise your whole online reputation. Satisfy your customers to the best of your abilities in a personalised manner and, if possible, go beyond their expectations.
Focus on customer experience
A customer-centric approach is always key. Pay attention to the whole customer experience your business offers, and adapt your services according to the wants and needs of your target customers.
Make your customers feel like they are valuable ambassadors to your brand. Creating and maintaining strong relationships with them is what will ultimately encourage them to give you a 5-star review.
Monitor your online image
Look at all the online reviews your business has garnered already, and capture an overall sense of your current online reputation. Even though it’s very time-consuming, it’s important to track and take note of every online comment or review your business gets.
If you can’t do it yourself, assign a member of your staff to manage your online reputation, or enlist the services of a reputable marketing company.
Bonus tip: Use social media outlets like Facebook and Instagram to ask your customers for feedback on your products or services, and re-post photos that they’ve shared promoting your business. Apart from giving your business wider exposure, this will encourage more people to post positive reviews.
Encourage customers to join the Yellow Club
The Yellow website can offer your customers the option to post reviews with rewarding incentives, and to contribute to free online promotion for your business on one of the Maltese islands’ most visited websites - what more could you ask for?
By joining the Yellow Club for free, your customers can give your business a high rating and a glowing review, visible to the thousands of other potential customers who use the website on a daily basis.
Respond to reviews
Whether they are positive or negative, respond to all reviews. Being responsive in all situations will encourage more people to post reviews - possibly positive ones to counteract the negative feedback. Thank those who post positive comments and reply professionally to the negative reviews.
Acknowledge the reviewer’s bad experience with your business, be transparent about you or your staff’s criticised errors, and finally explain how you will apply a remedy that will ensure those mistakes are not repeated.
Just ask
Asking first hand might be the most obvious yet effective option, but only if the time is right and the situation is appropriate. Suggesting it at the end of a successful sale, or making a review request on a contact card might be the most effective yet subtle ways of going about this.
As long as you ditch the sales talk and empower customers by being straightforward and honest with them, they will probably be more than happy to spread the word.
Collecting positive customer reviews is challenging, but not as complicated as you might think. In case your team needs to brush up on their skills, undergo a Customer Care Course from the Institutes listed on Yellow.
Discover local and visit yellow.com.mt - we’re positive that you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for!