Your online reputation can make or break your business. Positive feedback helps establish trust with potential customers, positioning your business as the right choice in a competitive market. Conversely, negative feedback can mean the difference between a won and lost sale.
People trust other people more than your business. An expensive ad will never impress your prospects as much as a glowing 5-star review, and while negative feedback is guaranteed, positive reviews often have to be asked for.
Therefore, remaining passive in review response management is a missed opportunity, whether your business is small or enterprise-level.
After responding to over 1 million reviews, we’ve gathered multiple online reputation tips to transform how you connect with customers, help you generate more authentic feedback and give your business a competitive online advantage.
Let’s get to it.
- Ask every customer for a review. Every... single... one.
- Make it easy. Ask via text/SMS.
- Stick out your neck. This is no time to be self-conscious. Negative reviews are assured. Positive reviews have to be requested.
- Review request campaigns. Set up request campaigns and tailor the language to help get the kind of reviews you need.
- Consider the context. If it’s a product review, give them a week to use it. If it’s a haircut, ask them while they’re cashing out.
- Define a process. Train employees to consistently capture accurate contact info.
- NAP (Name, Address, Number) alignment. Make sure all of your business listings show the same and correct information.
- Monitor for malvertising. Protect your reputation by keeping an eye out for fake listings of your company.
- Listings management. Invest in a reputation management partner to monitor and maintain your listings.
- Be patient. It may take as long as 30 days for customers to leave a review. Don’t abuse your list.
- Respect repeat customers. We recommend at least 60 days between requests.
- Show don’t tell. Use video marketing to authentically showcase the voices of your happy customers and make your ads more persuasive.
- Automate, always. Make it as easy as looking up how many reviews came in that day.
- Avoid human error. Automate to avoid burnout or distraction.
- Employ AI. While AI can make responding more efficient, reviewing responses before publishing is crucial.
- Create convenience. Use direct links that will land customers in the right place to leave reviews, quickly.
- Target review requests. Ask for reviews at key lifecycle stages in the buyer’s journey. The more engaged your customers are, the more likely they are to leave positive reviews.
- Experiment and optimize. Try different review request campaigns and reporting to find the best strategy for your business.
- Customize everything. Use personalized messaging in SMS and leverage industry-specific review platforms (if relevant).
- Utilize email. Put review links in your email signature.
- Embrace the ancillary. Generating more reviews will also raise star ratings and reduce the percentage of negative feedback.
- There is an ideal number of reviews. It's more than your competitors.
- Stay in compliance. Ensure your reputation management strategy is risk-free and in line with review site and FTC policies.
- Keep it current. Prospects (and Google) want to see recent review activity.
- GBP Questions & Answers. Maintaining your Google Business Profile Q&A feature is essential and another way to interact with potential customers.
- Think short-term. Set monthly goals for getting new reviews.
- Think long-term. For new businesses - start with getting to 100 reviews. Then 1000.
- Think big picture. Regular review management should be part of an overall customer service strategy.
- Stay timely. Review frequency improves local organic search visibility. Start with 20/month.
- Reviews drive business. Great reviews can help generate leads and eventually more customers.
- Control the narrative. Daily attention to customer reviews eliminates highly visible, festering negative feedback for prospects to see and use as proof to look elsewhere.
- Learn from reviews. Use reviews to make constructive changes and manage your business more effectively.
- Encourage happy voices. More happy customers exist. Otherwise, you’d be out of business. Harness their influence.
- Passive measures. Utilize QR codes at the point of purchase, on receipts, or on business cards to share your Google reviews link.
- Be an authority. Ratings/reviews translate to trustworthiness and consumer perception and should be a focus of any online reputation management strategy.
- Showcase positive feedback. Create a section on your website to show off happy customer reviews and testimonials. You can also highlight positive reviews by sharing them on social media.
- Mind the store. Volume and frequency display a strong customer service focus.
- Respond to every review. No response is a response - and never a good look.
- Respond on socials. Respond to any mentions, direct messages or comments across your social media pages.
- Think about the next customer. Your reviews have two audiences, prospects and customers.
- Higher volume. Higher ratings have a slight positive correlation with review volume. More reviews = Higher rating
- Widen your net. Reviews are more important than proximity for local competitive SEO in 2021. (source: Moz)
- (S)eize (E)very (O)pportunity. For SEO, volume, frequency, star rating, and response times are review metrics that influence local ranking. Don't obsess over any one at the expense of the others.
- Hand over the keys. The average local marketer spends 17% of their time managing reviews. Do the math. (source: Brightlocal)
- Shoot for the stars. World-class local businesses achieve <10% negative reviews (3 stars or less).
- Don’t get filtered out. Google will hide your listing for “best of” searches if your rating is <4.0.
- Be speedy. Turn review responses around fast. Set a goal of 24 hours.
- Spread the love. Responding to only negative reviews risks elevating their visibility on your reviews page.
- Consider it a conversation. Reviews are often a near-real-time feedback tool. Don’t leave them hanging.
- Take it offline. When responding to negative reviews, empathize - but don't accept responsibility publicly. Request further discussion over the phone or via email.
- Be vague but direct. When responding to negative reviews, be specific to the issue at hand, but avoid using SEO phrases or keywords.
- Look for patterns. While one complaint shouldn’t cause an overreaction, a trend of similar feedback requires a deeper review.
- Stay composed. It’s human nature that unhappy customers are more motivated to leave reviews than happy ones. Keep personal reactions out of public view.
- Pick your battles. Take a break before responding to a review that hits below the belt, or bounce the situation off a colleague.
- Consider the consequences. Review responses are forever.
- Turn it around. Every negative review is an opportunity to show the world how seriously your business takes good customer service.
- Call in a ringer. Third-party vendors won’t take anything personally and will ensure your responses are always measured and on-brand.
- Be gracious. Your customers aren’t obliged to take the time to leave a review. When they do, especially when positive, acknowledge that effort.
- Encourage feedback. Ask for reviews on your website or social media pages. It’s a great opportunity to reach customers when they are engaged and boost your reputation.
- Pay it forward. Thoughtful responses to positive feedback are more likely to encourage the voice of other satisfied customers. Positive voices are influential.
- Blog frequently. Maintaining an active blog helps showcase your industry expertise and engage with customers. By establishing yourself as a resource, you establish trust.
- Define a brand language. If there are catchphrases or selling points you deliberately work into marketing, put them in responses, too.
- Be the brand. Mention your business name and products in review responses whenever possible. But be tasteful.
- Social proof. Lean into the persuasive power of social proof by combining your company’s messaging with customer testimonials to build trust.
- Use names. When available, always personalize responses with the customer’s first name.
- Use Staff names. Use your team member's name in review responses anytime they are mentioned by a reviewer. It adds a personal touch and makes your responses feel more authentic.
- Avoid screen names. Don’t include internet screen names or first initials in responses. If you don’t have their first name, work around it.
- Show them you’re listening. If a review references a specific experience, good or bad, mention it in the response. Acknowledging customer feedback gives your business credibility and makes your responses more authentic.
- Route appropriately. If your business has multiple GMB listings by department (i.e. automotive service vs. sales), your Google review management strategy should include a system to route reviews to the correct recipient.
- More feedback. Consider asking for feedback in the comment section of your best-performing ads. To get more reviews, you have to take every opportunity to engage with your customers.
- Know your platforms. Because Yelp does not allow review solicitation, the scores are usually lower. Facebook calls their reviews “recommendations”. Be aware of fundamental differences between popular hotspots.
- Gain the inside track. An active review management strategy is still not adopted by most local businesses. Be the early adopter and leader in your space.
- Consistency is key. Stay consistent with your online reputation management strategy efforts.
- Adapt as needed. Continuously monitor your online reputation and adapt as needed.
- 2024 is a great year to get started.
Phew. That was a long one. But admittedly a lot of fun to write. Thanks for reading.
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*Originally posted on March 31st, 2021 and updated on April 24th, 2024.