As a business owner, online reviews can have a significant impact on your ability to draw in business from the local community. Regardless of your industry, if you’re hoping that the local community will hire your business and use your services, you need to have a positive online reputation. A large part of this is maintaining good online reviews. There are many different platforms that customers can use to leave reviews about your business, with Yelp and Google being some of the most popular. Keep reading to learn more about online reviews and how to focus your efforts to maintain a positive online reputation. If you’re in need of reputation management or professional marketing services, Boston Web Marketing can help. Contact us directly by calling (857) 526-0096 to learn more about the services that we provide.
Are All Online Platforms Equal When it Comes to Customer Feedback?
Maintaining a strong customer relationship is vital to retaining customers in the long term and building a name for your business. This is true for companies of all sizes and industries. Although SERP rankings are vital to ensuring that customers can find your business online, your online reviews can have just as much impact on whether a potential customer will move forward with your company from a lead to a conversion. There are many different ways that customers can leave feedback for your business including directly on some websites, search engines like Google, and social media platforms.
Should You Delete Negative Online Reviews?
Advertising your business online comes with many benefits, but it also exposes you to the potential of receiving negative feedback publicly. Every business is bound to receive bad reviews, regardless of whether they are justified or a true reflection of your business. It may be tempting to remove negative feedback, however, most marketing professionals would advise against doing so. Over-regulating your online reviews could make it appear like you have something to hide. Responding excessively to negative reviews online to defend your business can also reflect poorly on your reputation and appear unprofessional. Instead, it is best to offer a neutral apology and offer a point of contact to discuss complaints privately between you and the customer.
How to Get Customers to Leave Reviews Online?
If you’re just getting started and hoping to grow your business, online reviews are important. There is no harm in asking customers to leave reviews on a variety of platforms, as having customer feedback is always valuable to your company image, even if it isn’t on the platform of your choice. It can be difficult and uncomfortable to ask customers to leave a review about their experience with your business. Here are some creative ideas to incentivize customers to leave reviews about you online:
- Offer a promotion/discount to customers who leave a review about your business online
- Print a QR code prompting customers to leave a review on their receipt
- Automatically redirect customers to an online review platform after checkout
- Conduct a giveaway where customers must leave a review to enter
Contact Boston Web Marketing for Professional Reputation Management Services
If you’re struggling to get customers to leave reviews, manage current reviews or are unsure how to respond to poor feedback about your business online, Boston Web Marketing can help. Our marketing experts understand that reputation management is a core marketing concept that requires effort and expertise to properly manage. That is why we offer reputation management services for clients who are looking for help building a positive online reputation. For more information or to get started call us today at (857) 526-0096.