One of the most important reasons for any small business in Belleville, IL to have an online presence is getting reviews. Reviews not only serve as a form of feedback on the services or products a business provides but also affects a business’s overall reputation online. In this blog post, we would like to discuss more about these reviews, how you can go about getting more, and how you and your team should handle them.
Having Access to Business Listings
Before you even begin to start focusing on managing your reviews online, it is important to ensure that you have your business listings claimed. Your business listings are where your reviews will be shown among other information about your business. While it is important to have access to as many of your online listings as possible, we recommend focusing on Google & Yelp if your focus is on reviews.
Monitor Your Reviews
It is crucial to set aside time to check up on the reviews that your business is getting online. Make sure that the reviews are not spam and make sure that the reviews have been responded to by your business. Many platforms like Google and Yelp feature an alert setting to let you know when new reviews come in. If you fail to monitor your reviews, you could end up having a number of bogus reviews on your online profiles that could damage your businesses reputation online. Failing to respond to reviews will also hurt your businesses reputation online.
Encouraging Positive Reviews
Focus on encouraging satisfied customers to leave reviews for the services and products your business provided them with. You could do this from word of mouth, but another way to do this is through a follow up email or social media post. Make it as easy as possible for your customer to leave a review by providing a review link. Most platforms feature a link on your businesses profile you can send that will link straight to the reviews. Be sure to follow the guidelines set by each platform regarding generating reviews when you start to encourage your customers to leave reviews online.
Highlighting Positive Reviews
You can use your positive reviews in other ways to boost your businesses online reputation. Showcasing these reviews is a great way to show that your customers’ feedback matters to you. You can create a testimonial section or page on your website to show them off. You can also show off your positive reviews on a social media post. Rember to stay professional when showing these positive reviews.
Responding to All Reviews
Make sure that your Belleville, IL business is responding to not only positive reviews but also negative ones as well. Any kind of feedback from a customer is valuable so it is important to show that your business cares about striving to improve by listening to your customers. For positive reviews you can always just thank the customer for their positive review and add additional remarks as needed. With negative reviews, focus on addressing the customers’ complaints and apologize if it is necessary. You may also try to offer the chance to resolve their issue offline.
Staying Professional in Responses
We would additionally like to focus on the importance of keeping your responses to reviews professional. Make sure that when you are responding to reviews, especially negative ones, to avoid arguments and being defensive. Focus on trying to find a resolution to the issue. When you go to respond, think about how your business will be perceived by what you say.
Addressing Fake Reviews
With how easy it is to use platforms which you can leave reviews on, your business could receive a bogus review at some point or another. It could be spam from a bot, or a bogus review left by someone with malicious intent. Someone could leave a review even if they were never a customer or are making a false remark about your business. Thankfully, many of these platforms like Google and Yelp feature ways to report reviews for being bogus.
If you own a business and need more advice on ways to manage your online reviews or are looking for a company who can do it for you, call Hometown Market Group today. Our team assists many different businesses around Belleville, IL and the surrounding areas manage their reviews and online reputation each day. Give our team a call today to learn more information on more services we can provide you.
