Mastering Reputation Management: Responding to Online Reviews

Hello, Reputation Management: Online Reviews is crucial for local businesses and today I’m going to show you how to master reputation management by effectively responding to online reviews, both positive and negative. At our digital agency, we handle a multitude of reviews, sometimes as many as thousands a month. I’m going to share some tips that will guide you on how to best reply to both good and bad online reviews.

Responding to Positive Reviews in Reputation Management

You might wonder why it’s necessary to respond to a good review. Say you get a five-star review from your customer, and it’s glowing. Do you just leave it alone? In the realm of reputation management, it’s really worth it to take the time and write a personalized response.

Here are four steps to respond to these positive reviews:

1. Thank the customer: Whether it’s for their time for writing you that review or for just visiting your business, you want to make sure you say thank you.
2. Mention the business name: This helps the review show up in your search engine results.
3. Include a bit of marketing: Whether that’s highlighting a special or just glowing about how great your business is, you want to make sure you highlight something for your future customers to see.
4. Invite the customer to do something: Whether that’s coming back to the business or spreading the word.

Responding to Negative Reviews in Reputation Management

It’s important to respond to negative reviews. Replying shows that the business isn’t just sweeping their problems under the rug; they’re actually taking corrective steps to ensure that the situation doesn’t happen again. This is a crucial part of reputation management.

Here’s how to respond to negative reviews:

1. Apologize and sympathize: Make sure that the customers feel heard.
2. Include a bit of marketing: You can spin the situation so that your future customers will see that the negative experience is not the standard for the business.
3. Keep it short and sweet: Don’t go into too much detail. A rule of thumb is three sentences. That should be plenty of time for you to get your point across.
4. Provide an offline contact: Make sure that you provide the customer with someone offline who can handle their complaint. This will prevent a lengthy public back-and-forth between the customer and the business.

Encouraging More Reviews

While you can’t make a negative review go away completely, there are many customers who have had great experiences. How do you get them to leave a review? Essentially, it’s simple: just ask. Businesses can ask those great customers to leave a review.

Thanks for watching, and I hope I’ve given you some helpful tips on how to handle those good and bad reviews. Remember, if you’re getting overwhelmed with your own reviews, give us a call. We’re here to help with your reputation management needs.