Most companies do not realise how big an impact reviews can have on their reputation and sales. This is why many companies neglect review portals. Not only are you missing out on sales, but you can also cause great damage to your company if you don't use the right strategy for your review management. The right handling of reviews can be a real sales booster without you having to pay for it. Before you invest money in expensive marketing campaigns, you should ensure that you optimise the most important basis for potential customers' decisions, namely your reviews.
This is how important ratings really are
Online reviews are important for building trust and attracting new customers. When deciding where to eat, what to do, where to go or what product to buy, almost everyone reads reviews to make a decision. If other customers rate your products or services well, they are more likely to try you out for themselves. Why you should definitely endeavour to get reviews:
1. good ratings build trust
Valuations are extremely important, especially for start-ups and new businesses. New businesses can have a hard time competing with mainstream businesses, whether it's a brick-and-mortar business, a cutting-edge tech service, or something in between. Online reviews show customer approval and prove that your product or service works and that your business can be trusted. You gain authority, credibility and approval. This is the springboard you need to rise to the top of your industry.
2. always be one step ahead of the competition
No matter what business you're in, you know that you need to win over your target audience before your competitors. If you collect reviews faster than your competitors or constantly work to get new reviews, you'll maintain that advantage. According to a study conducted by the Harvard Business School study an improvement in the average rating by one star (on a standard scale of 1-5 stars) means an increase in sales of 5 to 9 %. There is no easier and cheaper way to increase sales.
3. ratings ensure better visibility in the search engines
Investigations by Search Engine Land found that companies that appear on a Google search results page (SERP) tend to have more reviews. Since Google itself offers the possibility to rate companies, it seems logical that Google will first suggest the locations that have the best ratings. Google reviews should therefore be given special importance in your review management.
4. reviews are the most valuable form of advertising
Word of mouth is every company's best friend, because no other type of advertising has such a high conversion rate as a personal recommendation. After all, who would recommend something to a friend if they weren't absolutely convinced? If you do a good job and your customers recommend you to friends and family, it's like high-quality advertising that you never have to pay for. Online reviews are the internet version of word of mouth marketing. Research has shown that 78 % of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. In some cases, such as when customers share their adverts with their friends via Facebook, an online review automatically becomes a personal recommendation.
5. learning from mistakes and problems
Not all reviews are positive. Even if you take great care to satisfy every customer, you will inevitably receive some negative reviews. However, not all negative reviews are bad. This is a good opportunity to recognise and fix problems in your business. 95 % of negative reviewers said they would return to a business if their complaint was resolved. If there's a problem, it's certainly better to find out and fix it as soon as possible before the same thing happens to other customers. You can find out how to respond correctly to negative reviews and even generate an advantage for your company in the following section.
React to negative reviews and use them to your own advantage
Even the best companies get negative reviews. First of all, you should keep calm, because nobody will turn away from your company because of one or two negative comments. However, if you react rudely or even disrespectfully, it's a different story. You may find it difficult to remain calm, especially if the reviews are insulting, so be sure to take some time before writing a reply.
Do I even have to respond to negative reviews?
Ignoring a negative online review is almost as bad as posting an explosive response. Firstly, the evaluator feels completely justified in his anger because you do not react and thus admit that he is in the right. Secondly, other customers and potential customers will wonder if they can expect the same outcome if they have a bad experience. Nobody wants to buy from a company that doesn't take care of the buyer in the event of a problem. By not responding to a bad review, you may be signalling to current and future customers that you really don't care about customer service and that situations like this are not uncommon for your business.
How to write the perfect response to a negative review
As in real life, most customers who complain online just want to be heard. Before you try to get to the bottom of the problem, show that you really regret that a customer didn't rate your company favourably. And if you apologise and explain the problem, you can change a customer's mind and turn the negative into a positive! In fact, 33% of negative reviews turn positive when you take the time to respond to disgruntled customers.
1. Without contradicting the interviewee, explain why his or her experience is rare. If appropriate, include some of your company's strengths in your response. Responding to negative reviews can be a great way to turn the tables and put your business in a positive light - while making the customer feel heard.
2. Never use pre-written responses that you use across the board for every bad review. You or employees responding to negative online reviews should use your real and full name and state your role in the organisation.
3. To avoid a lengthy discussion that everyone can see, you should always endeavour to give a well thought-out answer and then continue the discussion of the problem offline, by e-mail or preferably by telephone.
Below is an example of how to respond to a negative online review. A guest complained that the service in a restaurant was too slow and the waiting time for the food was far too long.
Dear Mr Mustermann,
I am very sorry to hear that you were not satisfied with the service in our restaurant [Admitting the problem and apologising]. Our aim is to offer every guest an exceptional experience. As we were fully booked on the day of your visit, you unfortunately experienced longer waiting times [Explanation of the problem in connection with a positive characteristic: The fact that you are fully booked makes your company shine in a different light]. We appreciate your helpful criticism, which will enable us to further improve our service in the future. We would be very pleased if we could convince you of our service on your next visit [Show that the criticism was helpful and that the problem will not occur again in the future, ask for a second chance].
Yours sincerely
Mrs Mustermann, Managing Director of Musterrestaurant
Your response turns this actually negative criticism into a positive one. With your response, you have not only shown that you care about the well-being of your guests and that criticism is very important to you, but also that your restaurant is well frequented and that the problem should be rectified in the future. In this way, almost every negative review can be turned into an advantage for your business.
What to do if a rating is unjustified or a lie?
Of course, you don't just have to accept fake reviews. If you know for certain that a review is not true or that it is a fake review (e.g. from a competitor), you can first report the review to the relevant review portal. In most cases, the reviewer will then be asked to provide proof of their purchase or visit. If they are unable to do so, the review will be taken offline. This process can take a while, so it is important that you do not leave this review uncommented on the Internet. If it is obviously a fake review, make it clear that the reviewer is not a customer of your company and that they are welcome to contact you to clarify the matter.
If it is a genuine customer who accuses you of things that are not true, try to clarify the problem with the customer personally. Only after you have done everything in your power to persuade the customer to adjust the review to the truth or to delete it is it advisable to go to a lawyer.
So that it doesn't happen in the first place: Prevent negative reviews
Why do customers actually write negative reviews? Believe it or not, customers don't actually want to give a bad review - they want excellent service, a good product or service and reliable delivery. So when bad feedback is given, it is usually justified.
The most common complaints are poor service (52%), problems with products (31.4%) and policies they disagree with (16.6%). When it comes to voicing these complaints, most customers do so to inform other consumers or to give them feedback. Only in the rarest of cases do people want to harm you, and you should always bear this in mind.
To avoid negative reviews, please note the following points:
Be your own customer
When was the last time you shopped in your own shop or tried to access your own services? Think you're doing a good job? Until you put yourself in your customers' shoes, there's no way to be sure. Regularly testing your organisation's performance from an outsider's perspective is a sure-fire way to identify any issues your customers may have that could lead to negative reviews. Go through the whole process - place an order, speak to customer service, wait for delivery - and fix any issues that are causing you inconvenience.
Ensure good accessibility
None of us are perfect and even the best run companies in the world sometimes get out of hand. The key is to be well prepared when problems arise by making yourself easily accessible. By giving your customers the opportunity to talk to you about potential problems, they can direct their frustrations to you. If there are no or slow/inadequate ways to reach you, the likelihood of a negative review being left increases. And in this review, the issue of poor availability is likely to be added to the agenda. Every company should have a customer service team that is easy to find and reach - be it a call centre or an online chat. Communication is everything.
Respond quickly to problems
Giving your customers the opportunity to get in touch with you is great, but if they have to wait 48 hours for a response, that's not good. Up to 95% of dissatisfied customers will return if you resolve the issue quickly. It is therefore essential to not only have on-site support, but a support system that is well staffed and functional.
Be personal and authentic
Customer service isn't just about solving the customer's problem, it's also about representing the brand in the best possible way. If you send your customers pre-generated template responses, your customers will not feel heard or valued. Regardless of whether the problem is solved or not, this can lead to negative feelings towards you, which can result in a negative review. Personalised responses are key to customer service success. Make your customers feel understood, valued and well looked after.
Listen to negative feedback
It's not enough to just collect reviews - you need to respond to the feedback you receive. Customer feedback is one of the most important tools for improving your company and avoiding negative reviews. If you get recurring complaints, do something about it to prevent this in the future.
Positive reviews are sales boosters if you react correctly
If a customer leaves a five-star review, it can't get any better and there's nothing for you to do, right? Yes there is, responding to a positive review is an easy way to connect with satisfied customers, which benefits both your brand identity and your personal relationship with that customer. Potential new customers can also benefit if you keep the following things in mind.
Why you should always respond to a positive review:
1. Out of politeness. After all, if a customer were to pay you a compliment in real life, you would also say thank you. Your customer has taken the time to do you a favour.
2. By responding to the review, you can also talk to these people and engage in subtle marketing. By actively creating positive conversations about your brand and engaging with you, you can encourage others to join these conversations and create more buzz and visibility around your business. You can emphasise other positive features of your company to convince potential new customers.
3. Although this point is not yet one hundred per cent proven, it should not be ignored: By responding to Google reviews, it could be that Improve your rankings and thus ensure more visitors to your website.
How to respond correctly to a positive review:
Step 1: Say thank you
Thank the customer for the positive review and for taking the time to write it. Make sure that the reviewer knows that there is a real person behind your response by thanking them for a specific statement, for example: "We are very pleased that you enjoyed our tomato soup so much".
Step 2: Use a little marketing in your answer
Your response is public and will be read by others, including future customers. A positive review is a great way to bring in some marketing! For example, if the customer mentions that the salad tasted so good, you can mention that the salad is grown in your own garden and the dressing is an old family recipe. This allows you to emphasise other positive characteristics of your company. Use your customers' templates!
Step 3: Invite the customer to take further action
You can draw the customer's attention to a promotion in your company or make a further suggestion based on the things they have particularly praised. Examples: "If you liked our tomato soup so much, you should definitely order another one. [Product XY] try" or "Did you know that you can still order from us free of charge until 31 January?"
Below I will show you an example of what a very good response to a positive evaluation could look like:
"Thank you for taking the time to rate our restaurant. We are very pleased that you were so satisfied with our service. Our staff attend training courses several times a year in order to provide you with the best possible service. From 15 February, we will also be offering our guests a lunch menu and we would be delighted to welcome you back soon!"
How easy it is to get positive reviews
It is not particularly difficult to get positive online reviews.n In fact, the strategies are quite simple, but require some diligence and consistency in implementation. But it's definitely worth it!
1. ask your customers for reviews
While this tip may seem obvious, few companies do it. Most consumers make a dozen or more purchasing decisions in a day. How many of those businesses have you asked for a review? Probably not even half. If you know your customers are satisfied with your product or service, ask them to leave a review. Make it easy for them. For example, you can send an email asking for a review a few days after the purchase. Make sure you send the email at the right time. If you send it too early and the delivery has not yet reached the customer, it is unlikely that they will remember your email and leave a review after receiving the product. The right timing is required here. Give the customer enough time to test the product. The time of day also plays an important role; it is not particularly likely that a review will be submitted during working hours. Also inform your customers why reviews are so important for your company.
2. incentives for customers to leave reviews
If appropriate, offer a small token of appreciation, such as a voucher or discount, for leaving a review. Make it clear that you are rewarding satisfied buyers for the time they invest in providing feedback on their experience. Be aware that a good review should not be a prerequisite for receiving the gift. In some industries, this is even prohibited. A bad review should also be rewarded, even if this is extremely unlikely. A dissatisfied customer will not be interested in either a discount or a voucher. This method is not permitted for all evaluation methods and should always be used with caution.
3. reward employees who collect reviews
Educate your employees and team leaders on the importance of providing an excellent customer experience and teach them how to effectively ask for reviews. Be prepared to reward your employees for every review they post.
Is it worth buying ratings?
It is admittedly very tempting to take the quicker and easier route and buy reviews. This is especially true for companies with few positive reviews and one-star ratings. After all, a surge of new positive reviews can quickly bury negative feedback, right?
It is not without reason that there is a growing market for companies that want to buy Google reviews. There are countless providers who promise "5-star reviews with fully completed profiles and realistic accounts with photos". There are even companies that offer reviews written by "100% real people or real users". These users are supposedly from more than tens of thousands of different cities around the world, with local IPs and native users and multiple languages to choose from. So yes. Nowadays, your business can easily buy great reviews for less than 10 euros.
But should you do that?
When you buy ratings, you must first consider the risks and consequences:
Buying Google reviews violates the guidelines
Google has made it clear that reviews should reflect a person's actual experience. Google has a very good Algorithmwhich can recognise most fake reviews. Fake reviews are identified on the basis of certain patterns, formulations, locations and countless other parameters. Many other portals also have such mechanisms. The consequences? The deletion of all fake reviews or even exclusion from the platform and the simultaneous loss of all your genuine, positive reviews.
You no longer have control
Even if you can specify names or even entire review texts for some service providers, you ultimately have no control over what content the provider actually publishes as a review. It can happen that poorly translated reviews are written (providers of such services are usually based in Asia), which are of course immediately recognisable as fake reviews. It can also happen that services or products are rated that you do not even offer.
A fatal confession
If you are thinking about buying reviews, admit to yourself that something is not working properly in your business. Take this opportunity to think about why your satisfied customers are not rating you or why you are getting too many bad reviews. It's high time to make a change!
Why too many good reviews hurt you
85% of consumers look for negative reviews to make informed purchasing decisions. And this figure rises to 91% for consumers aged 18 to 29. Why? Potential customers are looking for the worst-case scenario. You want to know what can go wrong before you make a decision. Too many (or even exclusively) positive reviews look fake to most interested parties, so you should definitely be careful here, because no company has a satisfaction rating of 100%. And that's not a bad thing.
Conclusion
Good review management is the best foundation for successful online marketing. Reviews will play an increasingly important role in the coming years, so you should definitely not lose touch here. A good strategy ensures more sales and new customers with relatively little effort and without a large investment. And in a natural and sustainable way that will benefit your company for many years to come.