6 Reasons Why Responding to Reviews Online is a Good Idea!
There is nothing wrong or devastatingly world ending if you get a negative online review. The secret lies in how you respond to it. Still not convinced? Look at the six most convincing and fundamental reasons why you should always respond to online reviews of your business.
Online presence of your business speaks for itself before you can because it is what’s available for your potential consumers before you could even try saying something. If it’s a salon or spa service a potential customer is looking for, more than 97% of the time, they are likely to check you out on the internet before even contacting you.
As the world has incessantly changed into a global hub that has made everything available at the touch of your hand, the importance of the online presence of businesses is not new. Nowadays, no business can survive without having an online presence.
Online presence of your business speaks for itself before you can because it is what’s available for your potential consumers before you could even try saying something. If it’s a salon or spa service a potential customer is looking for, more than 97% of the time, they are likely to check you out on the internet before even contacting you.
Local SEO has made reaching out to potential customers easier. However, it has become trickier. Up to 40% of your potential customer make up an opinion about your business, before even contacting you, after having read your online reviews.
Reasons why responding to online reviews is a good idea
According to a local consumer’s survey, users leave an online review because they trust it more than word of mouth. If online reviews help bring you more traffic by consumers having their opinions formed even before visiting your website or social media page, you should seriously consider how to respond to Google reviews.
1. It improves the local SEO rankings
Nowadays, businesses are all about improving their local SEO in order to reach out to a more relevant and increased number of potential customers. Google itself claims in the “My Business” policies page that the local SEO rankings rely significantly on the number of online Google reviews your business has.
However, what’s interesting is that, not only online consumer reviews play a part in shooting up your local SEO rankings, but the responses you give to those reviews also matter.
Google asserts the importance of businesses responding to online consumer reviews by highlighting that responding to online consumer reviews to help up your reputation. When potential consumers see how you have responded to an online review, they already form a soft corner for your business in their hearts.
2. Builds a relationship of trust
Responding to online consumer reviews makes your business appear more engaging and interactive. Consumers perceive your business as the one which takes into account its customers seriously.
It significantly matters for building a relationship with the consumers and potential customer base. Who doesn’t like to be heard? Who doesn’t like to be taken into account when they suggest or give feedback about something? Everybody!
Therefore, if you want to impress your potential consumers, set your customer service strategy straight by including attentive responding to online reviews.
3. Increases your financial gains
You are in business to serve your customers. You work for them, and you come up with creative and ingenious ideas to impress your potential consumer base. Then why not take advice from the same people?
Your business is expected to make more financial leaps if you turn an attentive ear to what your potential consumer base is trying to tell you. If they want a service to be continued, listen to them, respond, ask a question, dig further, and you might be able to do exactly what they require. Thus, turning your business idea into the most financially giving one.
4. Responding to reviews adds credibility
More than half of your customers decide whether to contact you or not based upon the set of online reviews and your responses to it. It is because the online reviews from the previous consumers’ show how you have been with them. How good or bad was your service or product? Online reviews, for them, is literally a window of past deciding what’s in the future for them.
Utilize this opportunity for establishing your credibility. Potential consumers who witness you dealing with the online reviews get impressed by your ways. They perceive you as the business that loves and cares about their customers; and most of all, they consider your genuine.
Businesses who do not reply to online reviews – negative or positive – are perceived as cold-hearted ones. Consumers might even think your business is a ghost business as your online presence matters a lot in this day and age.
5. Aids in customer decision making
For the reasons of establishing your business credibility and trust among your consumers, responding to online reviews is an effort that augments your chances of having increased sales.
Decision-making process of a consumer is significantly based upon his or her perception of credibility and experience translating into the degree of trust. Therefore, it aids in the decision-making process if you have been successfully able to gain trust of your potential customers by having an impressive online presence.
Your website usability and seamlessness might be other factors that provide you with genuine potential consumer traffic, but easing the decision-making process of your consumer brings you more sales.
6. Reflects commendable customer service strategy
Consumers love you if your customer service strategy is impressive and satisfying. It shows how much you care about your consumers and how much you make them a part of your business.
Include attentive responding to online reviews in your customer service strategy if you haven’t already. It boosts your business by gaining the trust of your consumers. Even when recommending through word of mouth, happy consumers do mention how helpful your customer service strategy is.
It significantly boosts your marketing and reputation. Consumers assume that at the other end, the customer service people are there to listen to the reviews. It makes them more comfortable in giving your business an online review; thus, increasing your business' credibility.
Conclusion
The reasons speak for themselves. Online reviews are an integral part of the online presence of your business. If you respond to them, you are declaring yourself as a business that values its customers – and there is nothing more than gaining the trust of your consumers.
So, we hope we have been able to convince you to start devising a strategy for responding to online reviews because it is the best thing that can happen to your business.
Cheers!