Here at Smart On Hold we know that the reputation of a business along with word of mouth and how people and your potential customers see you are the most important campaigns of all.
Word of mouth … This used to happen in person, when people caught up with friends after having a good experience (or a negative one). This is now mainly all done online and to a much bigger audience, not just within their friendship group. Your word of mouth advertising now comes from your customers in places such as Facebook, Google+, YELP and other online reviewing platforms.
These platforms are all great and give your business a boost of Marketing for free – but how do you handle and control these platforms for business and more importantly your reputation? Because, no matter what business you operate, the chances are there is a reviewing platform ideal for your customers/clients to be talking about you and their experience with you on.
Online Reputation Reviewing Platforms … So, Who Do They Benefit?
They are great for you as a business owner, as it allows for some SEO benefits, online Marketing and interaction with your clients BUT they also benefit your customers/potential customers as well as “consumers are becoming increasingly reliant on online reviews to research companies and make purchase decisions,” said Fred Mather, General Manager of The Americas at Trustpilot.
You have to admit that when looking for a hotel, restaurant, car or any other purchase that you have a look and “Google it” to see what peers (who you really don’t know), say about what you’re thinking of purchasing. Trust Pilot informs us that the “majority of consumers (88%) saying reviews help when deciding what to buy and who to buy from” …
How are you helping them decide that they should buy from you and not your competitor when simply going through and searching online for the product or service they need? What is your online reputation saying to your potential customers?
What Can You Do?
So, now you know the importance of having and gaining reviews online here are some important things to do to make sure that you get your online reviews organised starting today:
1. Social Media: see our previous post, but make sure that your business has your profiles set so that it’s easy for your customers to tell others about your great service; if it’s too hard then people will not do it meaning your reputation is going to go nowhere online.
2. Are you asking them? Nobody really goes out of their way to leave a review, unless asked too. Here at Smart On Hold we ask our customers for a review shortly after we interact with them so that we are top of mind. Send your customers an email thanking them for their business and directing them to the review/social site you would like them to review you on. The easier the better.
3. What’s in it for them? Can you give them something as a thank you once they have left you a review? Maybe a small store credit so they can shop with you again or another thank you of some kind? An example is a competition – we give all of the customer who leave Smart On hold a review an entry into our current competition. What could you offer them?
If you’re keen to get a review system set up, but are not sure where to start you can ask our team for help as we have successfully set up our own Smart On Hold review site and gained over 100 reviews this year alone; take a look on our home page where we have our most current reviews updating in real time.
You can call our team on 1300 467 646 if you require any more information.