Online evaluation management (known as ORM, or Online Reputation Management) is the most important piece of any modern marketing plan. It’s of prime importance to pay close attention to negative reviews because 72 percent of consumers trust online reviews just as they would a personal recommendation. Unfortunately, it’s extremely unlikely that most businesses will have perfect reviews.
Negative Reviews Can Happen Anytime
Years ago, angry customers would report these negative reviews to their friends and family, or perhaps even to the police, if they found it vital. These days, they have a much more convenient platform than ever, with a much wider reach than any old system and that would be the Internet.
Reviews are inevitable in today’s age of business. No matter how streamlined, how convenient, or how competitively priced your services might be, people will invariably be displeased with these at certain points.
If a customer does inevitably end up posting a negative review to an official site like Yelp, your business must respond. If a review is totally false, this is a terrific way to deal with it and request a communication channel using a customer support agent. If it’s a legitimate complaint, you must address it directly.
Work on Your Happy Clients
Customers may write negative reviews of your work either knowingly or unknowingly. It turns out that, sometimes, they will still refuse to modify or remove their review even if it the situation has been addressed to their satisfaction.
One popular strategy for dealing with this type of review site is to just drown out the bad ratings with the good ones. This leads to having numerous positive stories that are more compelling than the negative.
Ask your satisfied customers for online reviews, but do not recruit people from Craigslist for a few cents each. It does not matter how much money you invest, in the long run, the quality is always going to be low. The key, rather, is to focus on your current customers, who appreciate what you offer as a business and will spontaneously give it away.
Let Angry Customers Rant
When we’re upset with a company, we want it to be known. Some people advise their loved ones not to shop from a certain firm anymore while others use the Internet for airing out their complaints. To overcome this, it is beneficial to have a system where people can vent their anger without negatively impacting your reputation.
One idea is to create a two-part survey that can be taken separately by those who are pleased and those that aren’t.
Give your customers a promotion card that has an attractive offer for posting a positive review online, such as a free meal if your business is a restaurant.
Give an unhappy or disgruntled individual a different business card that has your business contact information, such as your own email address. This will give them a chance to get their issues off their chest without negatively impacting your online reviews or ratings.
These reviews will enhance your reputation and help reduce the number and visibility of negative reviews.
Conclusion
Reviews of your business are part of the current business world. How well you handle negative feedback encountered during the course of the day will greatly affect your company’s ability to survive and succeed in a crowded marketplace.
You can either ignore negative reviews at your peril, or you can take a shot at addressing them. Which one will you choose?
