Consumers don't buy so much as a toothbrush anymore without Googling its brand online. The internet perhaps is becoming an astute source of information. Customers are increasingly heading to the internet these days, especially when it comes to purchasing something or to get information about the items they are going to purchase.
This is making it necessary for all types of businesses to manage their online reviews and reputation. Google your name or company brand and what you will find is exactly what your consumers found when they searched about your company and you over the web. It's true that you cannot stop bad review posting on the internet, but this does not mean that you cannot do anything for removing these reviews.
Customer originated reviews are a powerful way to gauge the quality of products and enterprises can actually benefit from recommendations as these can serve as free advertisements for the business. Negative reviews, on the other hand, can harm your reputation very badly even when it's not your fault. Obviously you cannot please everyone at all times while operating a business.
There will always be some customers with unrealistic expectations who are difficult to handle. We all know reputation in such a competitive world is hard to gain and once gained, it's hard to maintain. A single negative review has the ability to ruin your years of reputation in minutes these days. If left ignored, they can preserve additional negative comments too.
How do you then handle negative reviews online? It's obvious that you cannot choose what potential customers are reading about your business, but you can lean the impression in your favor in the form of positive content. Nevertheless, the first thing is to respond in a timely manner and proactively on comments whether it is positive or negative, vividly showing customers that you take their complaints seriously. Always give a polite response addressing the concern and carefully respond to each comment.
Furthermore, you need to ask your customers questions in order to understand the importance of the reviews. The very first thing you should do is to educate yourself about the importance of customer reviews. In case your industry does not get a lot of reviews, never ignore those bad one or two reviews because those can have a dramatic impact on your business.
Lastly, apologize to your customers. By all means, you should not resort to developing fake reviews as this could be far more damaging if the lie is uncovered.
Instead of creating contrived reviews, apologize in a polite way acknowledging the occurrence of the problem and giving a solution to your customer. It’s quick, effective, and less painful than you think. Alongside this, show gratitude to your customers; say thank you to the customers who took the time to post their feedback.
Show your appreciation that can help you regain trust and respect. If you found it is difficult to manage your online reputation, you can take help from third party services that can save your lots of time and grief. Choose reliable and experienced online reputation management service provider who understands your business needs and maintains your reputation over the world-wide-web.
Your expert in home service based businesses.
Tommy Mello is a successful entrepreneur, inventor, writer and speaker. He is CEO of four self- started business including a nationally recognized garage door service company. As a leading authority on branding and market recognition, Tommy aims to help other service businesses reach their full potential.
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