A Rave Review is Good for Business, But A Bad Review Could Kill Your Business

Whether your business or brand offers a product or a service, the reviews that exist online are more important than you might think. 

Reviews by other customers often single-handedly determine whether a person becomes a customer or not.

According to research done by EarthWeb, 9/10 customers read the reviews before making a purchase. If those reviews are bad, they’re less likely to make that purchase. Reviews can be posted on Google, social media or consumer complaints sites and many people will check reviews on all sources especially for big ticket items. So, you need to monitor reviews that are left. 80% of people believe a 4-or 5-star rating is necessary, but only if there are over 200 reviews. 4+ star ratings with very few reviews are considered “a red flag” for customers since less ethical brands will post their own glowing reviews.

Potential customers also look at how a brand or business has responded to negative reviews in the past and form an opinion of the company based on this. A rude or unhelpful response is an indicator of poor customer service. The same can be said for simply not responding at all. This will often translate to potential customers forming a negative opinion of your company. 

We suggest, besides delivering incredible customer service, products, etc, regularly encouraging your customers to post a review about their experience with you, on Google and/or social media. This is important because customers are more likely to post a negative review of a negative experience than they are to write a positive review. Asking customers to leave a review won’t always translate into reviews but it will certainly result in more reviews than you’d have had if you had not asked.

Next, monitoring your reviews is everything. We’re not suggesting you hide or delete negative reviews and leave only good reviews. Not only is this unethical, but consumers will notice if there are too many glowing reviews and no neutral or negative reviews. Think of negative reviews as an opportunity for potential free publicity. If you respond immediately in an appropriately placating manner, offer a solution and follow through, the unhappy customer may well be inclined to alter their review. Not only that but others will see that you respond promptly and take complaints seriously – which will bode well for your reputation. Often the way a company responds to a mistake will override the mistake itself.

The trick is to remain public with all your correspondence (as far as possible) and respond promptly. Customers have stated they’re more likely to feel positively about a brand if they receive tailored or personalised messaging or responses. So copy pasting the same response or having an automated response is not the best way to go. A good rule of thumb is to respond within the hour. It sounds unnecessary however, think about it from the customer’s point of view. They’ve spent their money with you, they have a problem, and the longer you take to respond the more it looks like you don’t care. Other customers will notice these little things. 

So, reviews are super important, as is monitoring and replying to reviews – good or bad.

For assistance with monitoring your reviews, and any of your other digital marketing needs, let us at HashTag ME help. Let’s get you trending!