What is customer review management?
Managing customer reviews on the web involves staying on top of what people are saying about your brand and responding to comments in real time on sites like Facebook, TripAdvisor, Google My Business and Yelp. If you care about what people are saying about you, customer review management is a must. Keep reading for more on how monitoring your online reputation can help keep your company on top.
Provide strong customer service.
A complement to social media management, managing comments posted about your company online allows you to answer users’ questions and make sure they’re getting the customer service they deserve.
Responding to comments shows that you’re listening. These days, it’s easier than ever to comment on a brand or share your opinion on a product or service online. Did you know that 80 percent of 18 to 34 year-olds have written an online review? Whether the review is positive or negative, it’s essential that you respond as quickly as possible. The worst thing a brand can do is ignore customers’ comments.
What should you do if an issue comes up?
The more popular a brand becomes, the higher the risk of polarized opinions. Some people will have nothing but praise and may even become ambassadors for your brand online, while others won’t hesitate to criticize you. Customer review management helps you see the big picture so you can participate in the conversation in an intelligent, appropriate and constructive way. The goal is to diffuse any potentially problematic situations quickly and redirect communication to the right person when necessary.
Reacting quickly is the key to success. You don’t have time to lose. People have high expectations. They generally expect a response within 24 hours (and sometimes even less).. Not only that, but 89 percent of consumers read companies’ responses to reviews.. Show that your company is listening and cares about customer satisfaction.
Did you know?…
Ignoring customers when they share their dissatisfaction online is never the solution. Au contraire, il faut tenter de renverser la vapeur. When a company responded to a negative comment, 46 percent of consumers said they were satisfied with the response, and 22 percent even posted a positive comment about the company afterwards!
Why do you need it?
Having a good online reputation is crucial for the growth of your business. A study supporting this was recently conducted by Edelman on the relationship between consumers and brands. Here are the results:
→ Create and maintain a bond of trust. The study found that 81 percent of consumers said that trusting a company was a major factor when making a purchase. Building trust takes time and to maintain it, you need to keep an eye on what’s being said about your brand at all times. Neglecting this bond of trust between you and your consumers will jeopardize your marketing communications.
→ Promote your brand values and beliefs. More than 70 percent of consumers consider things like an organization’s values, reputation and environmental footprint before purchasing a product or service. A total of 64 percent of consumers said their beliefs influence their purchases (Belief-Driven Buyers), a number that’s jumped up 13 percent in one year. In other words, there’s a growing trend toward consistency between consumer beliefs and purchases.
→ Avoid (or properly manage) a crisis.
Managing reviews and preparing for a potential crisis are crucial for any company. With proper prep work (using a pre-established protocol), you can avoid panic and roll out a response to a potentially damaging situation.
Stars count!
→ 57% of consumers will do business with a company if it has 4 or more stars.
→ Just one extra star on Yelp results in a 5% to 9% increase in sales, according to a Harvard Business School study.
→ Only 13% of consumers will consider doing business with companies that have only one or two stars.
Managing social accounts and customer reviews: the winning recipe
- Planning
- A well-defined tone and style
- Consistency of messaging across platforms
- Answering questions and expectations
- Quality above all
How does it work?
- Determine the state of play. Once we have access to your accounts, we look at everything that’s ever been said about your company online.
- Create an official account on platforms where your company isn’t present. If an online account has already been created (which can happen when a customer leaves a review on a platform where you haven’t set up an account), we can claim the account in question.
- Reclaim the company name online We create consistency by making sure, among other things, that the company name and address are the same across all platforms in order to optimize SEO. Multi-platform consistency helps search engines find your company. We also respond to previous reviews to get things back on track.
- Update the company profile. We update all company information and add the best images available so that the profile properly reflects your brand.
- Set up an evolving FAQ section. Based on existing questions and comments and all information available to customer service representatives, we develop frequently asked questions that we continue to update and improve over the course of the mandate. This working document will also be used to manage your social networks, where applicable, so we’re killing two birds with one stone!
The objective? Optimize all potential entry points in terms of both information and visuals. No matter which door the user chooses to enter through, they will find the most accurate and up-to-date information about your brand.
Five steps to optimize your profiles
- Is the name of the company written properly?
- Does the address appear the same everywhere? (Street and St. aren’t the same thing!).
- Do the photos show your business in the best light?
- If the business is a restaurant, is the menu up to date?
- Are your business hours accurate?
Checking in daily. Just like when we manage social media accounts, we become the voice of your business online and respond on its behalf. Referring to the FAQ document, we manage incoming reviews, respond to comments, take note of those that are constructive and pass them on to the right people internally. And we work in close collaboration with the social media management team to ensure consistency across all brand messages and communication channels.
Google My Business listings
A Google My Business listing is a summary of your business that appears directly on the search results page (the listing that appears at the top right of the screen on Google).
La fiche Google My Business, c’est pratique pour :
→ Manage, update and better control information about your brand, including your address, phone number, business hours and the link to your website. For example, you can adjust your business hours during holiday periods, which is useful information to have for interested customers.
→ Boost your visibility on search engines and Google Maps, significantly improving your presence in local search results.
→ Interact with your customers by responding to reviews and questions directly on the platform, which allows all users and potential customers to benefit from these interactions as well.
→ Measure your performance. How many people called you directly from the search results? Are people reading your reviews? Booking online? This information can help you improve the listing and make life easier for your users.
The first page of Google is a coveted position! Updating and optimizing your Google My Listing is a smart and effective way to boost your visibility.