Several authors stress the importance of customer reviews and in some cases, it seems as if the power and reach of customer reviews are overrated, but it is not. Customer reviews are so important that they now determine business reputation and image. The interesting thing is that you can steer the course of your business image and ensure that it favors you.
You may not be able to tell customers what to say about you but you can turn the tide to favor you. Unsatisfied customers are often too quick to hit your review page to express their disappointment. The lag in service that resulted in the disappointment could be minor but it does not matter. What matters is the fact that the customers’ negative responses could have a reverberating effect and you don’t want that. Unfortunately, potential customers/clients consider these reviews before making a purchase decision. They use these reviews to evaluate the services you offer and you don’t want a negative review to tarnish your image, do you?
How You Can Manage Customer Reviews
Your customer reviews can be managed. You definitely want to ensure that you steer the course of the reviews to favor you, that is what managing customer reviews connote.
One way to effectively manage your customer reviews is by responding or replying to those reviews. To respond or reply effectively to your reviews, you must be able to keep tabs on the reviews. You need to monitor all the reviews given across the internet in various platforms on your business. If your business is being reviewed in several platforms, you might have a lot of work to do here. This might mean jockeying from one review platform to another and it could be a lot stressful and time-consuming.
You can also consider getting an automated email response across the entire platform to keep tabs on your reviews or responding through a centralized point. It may also be easier to use a single platform for your review. A platform like Wiremo is very effective, robust and reliable for reviewing. It has features that make it easy for customers to leave reviews and for you to keep tabs on those reviews.
It does not just end at being notified of your reviews, you need to respond to the reviews. Every one of them; both positive and negative! Responding to your reviews portrays a positive image of your business. Even if the review you are responding to has a negative tone about your business, responding to the review conveys a positive picture or image of you. Giving an adequate response to a negative review goes a long way to cancel the effect of the negative review and could even improve your business image.
By responding to your customers’ reviews, you are simply showing them that you care and that you are always available to improve the service. When you respond to your customers’ reviews, you build trust with the customers and this would definitely result in an improved business image. The result is usually more positive reviews and improved sales and business growth.
The response or reply does not have to be lengthy. It could be as short as the word “thank you” and it could also be long. But make sure you are precise and direct to the point. More so, it is important to address the issue of concern and provide a solution when necessary.
Evidence on the Effectiveness of Responding to Customer Reviews
A study conducted by Harvard Business Review goes a long way to confirm the power of responding to customer reviews.
In the study, tens of thousands of hotel reviews and responses from TripAdvisor were examined and the reviews were rated from 1 (terrible) to 5 (excellent). The analysis showed that hotels receive about 12% more reviews and their rating increase by up to 0.12 stars on the average when they start responding to reviews. The 0.12 increase in review became significant in platforms like TripAdvisor because of the rounding up of the reviews. For instance, reviews of 4.24 are rounded down to 4.0 while reviews of 4.26 are rounded up to 4.5. This slight change has a strong effect on customers’ perception. Furthermore, other external factors were eliminated to ensure that the resulting effects were caused by customer reviews alone.
Several other studies confirm this effect and show that businesses can improve their image by responding to customer reviews. This will also help businesses to identify issues with their businesses and address them. Businesses will get to know what customers always want and appropriate them.
More so, Wiremo was designed with enhanced features to help you keep tabs and respond to reviews as much as possible. You can take your business to a greater pedestal by appropriating the features made available to you.
