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Guest post by: Linda Mentzer Become an Author

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In the current Social media centric world, people look into the feedback of your company before doing business. Today, customers will look for reviews of your products, review of your services and review of your business before making purchasing decision. Therefore making reviews available and accessible is an important part of conducting business in an online world.

So the first important question is: What is the big deal about online reviews?

The universal truth is: if the customers don’t know you they don’t trust you. So when new buyers have crossed the purchasing phase, include a link to review, showing that you are in continuous effort of improving your products and services. A customer loves being heard. They admire something that values their opinion and act upon them. Receiving good reviews creates renewed zeal for customer service and builds brand loyalty.

How can we build online reviews?

The trick of receiving great online reviews is to never wait for them, instead ask for them. You can choose any option according to the kind of information you want to capture:

• Quick Surveys: At the end of any transaction, include a link for a survey that the customer can click and fill out. It needs to be short, with multiple options and should take no more than two minutes. You can either enclose a link to the survey form after the purchase has been completed or send a survey reminder through an email or offer some sort of reward for filling it out like a small gift or discount.

• Comment Forms: On your company website, blogs and even on social media pages along with surveys, include an area for comments also. Allow negative comments and allow users to comment on others comment. Initiating inter-customer interaction adds credibility to the company and gives an opportunity to portray a transparent image of your brand.

• Third-party reviews: Many customers today trust third party reviews rather than reviews posted on your website. Therefore ask your customers to fill out a form in Yelp as well as third party websites. After they do it do not forget to send them a grateful note accompanied with some incentive or prize.

This brings us to the last important question: How do we tackle Negative reviews?

Negative feedback spreads like wild fire. The technique to deal with it should be very specific with well thought out steps:

• Signup for daily email alerts through Google specific to your company.

• Do not lose your calm

• Send the discount or free gift to the reviewer as promised and return to change the course of feedback into positive.

• Look for the heart of the issue.

• Send an email to the reviewer privately and open other channels of communication.

• Be timely; never rest with the problem at hand.

Always use negative feedback to improvise your business operations and customer service. The more reviews you have the more transparent your company is. Be focussed and make continuous efforts to improve and you are bound to receive positive online reviews increasing trustworthiness among customers.

About The Author

Linda Mentzer is a published author and senior marketing manager for an information management company that has helped sell thousands of software products on a global scale. With over 11 years of experience in electronic marketing techniques, Linda has authored articles for several leading business journals, worldwide.

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