The quality of your small business’s local reputation is an extremely important component of your marketing plan. As your business grows, and interacts with more customers, you’re going to develop either a positive or a negative local reputation. If your customers have a great experience with you, they may continue to use your business, but there is no guarantee that they will tell others about how great you are. If they have a negative experience, customers are much more likely to stop doing business with you. They are also likely to tell many others not to do business with you through word of mouth, and through review sites like Yelp, Google’s business pages, and Angie’s List. According to Forbes, “A word-of-mouth recommendation is the primary factor behind 20% to 50% of all purchasing decisions.” If your business isn’t handling customer care, or complaints correctly, then your reputation and the future of your business may be at stake. Empowered Pulse can monitor your online reputation for you, and offer damage control, as well as positively influence the conversations customers are having about your business online.
How to Create a Positive Local Reputation
In order to create a positive local reputation you want to be active about getting your customers to review your business. Make sure that you have claimed ownership of all the review site pages you want to receive reviews on first. To encourage your customers to help with reviews, take these steps: Give them excellent service, confirm that they felt they received excellent service, and then ask for the review. Happy customers are willing to do this if you ask, and if you make it convenient for them.
How to Handle Complaints Effectively
An unhappy customer with an unresolved complaint is bad for business, but the unhappy customer that publicly complains about that unresolved complaint is worse. Complaining customers with first hand experience with your business will come off as reliable to other potential customers, whether their complaint is valid or not. The best way to handle any negative reviews, or comments about your business is to always respond. When responding to reviews, be aware of the dos and don’ts. BizTraffic states that the dos include: responding quickly, being professional and courteous, being brief and factual, acknowledging complaints, and including contact info. The dont’s include: do not give excuses, do not include business name or website, do not agree to any problems or take fault, do not get emotional, do not be degrading, and do not tell the reader of the review how they should interpret the situation. You want to simply acknowledge the complaint and offer a way for the customer to contact you for resolution. This goes a long way towards establishing trust with future customers even if the complaining customer no longer wishes to use your business.
You can remain in control of your online reputation! The future of your business will be related to how you plan to handle happy and unhappy customers. Let us help shape the public perception of your business or organization.
To learn more about our reputation management services, contact us.