Online Reviews Are Here To Stay

  One of the best ways for local businesses to increase customer loyalty is to receive consistently positive reviews from customers. As a local business owner or manager, you need to know about this reality. Like it or not, social media has empowered customers to call it like they see it. So how can a small, local business make the most of these websites and their often passionate community?
  According to a comprehensive post on ReadWriteWeb about getting the most from online review sites, business owners shouldn’t try to influence the reviewer. "Reviews are effective because YOU the business owner do not control them. A customer’s review needs to be about their actual experience with your business. Equally important is that you try not to get ruffled by a negative review." Remember that a moment of magic between you and your customer can often occur after there has been a moment of misery, so look upon a negative review as an opportunity to show your customer your willingness to go above and beyond to provide a great customer experience.
 Check out these fast and easy doable tips to put online reviews to work for your business from amazingserviceguy, Kevin Stirtz, a web marketing consultant who specializes in helping local businesses and nonprofits attract and retain more customers.

1. Respond to every review. Think of your online reviews as conversation starters. Someone has reached out to you, and when a person speaks to you, it’s bad form to ignore them. By engaging them you are affirming their choice to do business with you and developing a better relationship with them.
2. Always thank people for their reviews. When a customer takes time to give you a review, they are going out of their way. So thank them for their time and effort (even if the review is negative).
3. Wait before you respond to a negative review. Let the message of the review simmer in your brain before jumping in with a response. When you come back later you’ll have a much more even response. It will serve you better in the long run.
4. Never post a fake review. Forged reviews are truly a distraction that will not help your business. Your goal should be to give your customers such a great experience that they generously offer you wonderful reviews that encourage others to do business with you.
5. Leverage the power of an apology. The fastest road to a resolution is an apology. Your apology shows them you care and it tells them you’re willing to take responsibility for a solution. Most employees and businesses don’t apologize so your apology is bound to stand out.
6. Never threaten a reviewer online or strike back by posting threatening or even hostile comments. If an online review is so awful it warrants legal action then take your concerns to the website where the review is posted. Also, try to contact the reviewer through the website’s private messaging service, or simply ask (in your online response) that they contact you privately so you might discuss a resolution.
7. Be consistent. Your business should have a policy and procedure for handling complaints. Whatever you decide, be consistent about it.
8. Use online reviews to improve your business. The best thing about reviews is they are feedback direct from the people who matter most: your customers. So take their feedback seriously and use it to improve how you do and what you do.
9. Keep your attitude and message positive at all times. Don’t forget… When you respond to an online review, your purpose is to improve your customer’s experience.
10. Tell them what to expect. When you tell your customers what to expect then they have a ruler to measure you with. If you make it easy for them to define their customer experience, you’ll make it easy for them to talk about it.

Ultimately, the best way to get a steady flow of positive online reviews from your customers is to give them an experience they’ll want to talk about. The best way to do this is by going beyond what they want and expect from you.