It’s time to roll up your sleeves, do some research and find out which industry-specific directories that match your business, feature customer reviews of local businesses. Identify which customer review websites match what you’re offering and implement the review acquirement plan to meet the review guidelines of those local directories.
To get started, Google reviews from your competitors. For instance, search for “tutoring reviews” brings up results that showcase the most popular review sites for tutoring services. To filter the list to show a targeted location, include the name of the city in the search engine. The next step is to create business profiles on the review sites such as Yelp and Foursquare, so customers can start adding their reviews.
Responding to Negative Reviews
When a business receives a dissatisfied review, the impact can ruin a business rating. Even if you have several 4-star and 5-star reviews and one negative review, it can tarnish the company’s online reputation and influence potential customers to question the business’ customer service. Do not ignore negative reviews and let them sit unanswered, acknowledge the negative review by responding professionally and offering an apology.
Important Tips When Responding to Negative Reviews
- Respond promptly to the unfavourable reviewer, so the customer doesn’t feel slighted.
- Apologize for the unsatisfactory experience, remind them that you honour their business and want to alleviate the situation.
- Tell the customer that you’re willing to reimburse the purchase or offer a discount if they choose to come again.
- Do not get defensive. Always be polite and courteous.
- End the response on positive note, by repeating that their patronage is appreciated and the business’ goal to rectify the situation.
In more unfavourable and unsettling reviews, try to move the exchange from a public review website to a one-on-one conversation. Respond to the unsatisfied reviewer by asking politely to speak on the customer service phone line or chat messaging system. Once the situation is solved, thank the customer for taking the time to solve the problem and recommend taking the original review off the review site and replace it with a new review that talks about the steps the business took to reprimand the problem.