By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2011-02-24 21:46:45 | Word Count: 664
Know how you’re being reviewed. If you’ve never taken the time out to access this information, try it now. Type your business name in Google and see how it turns out. You’ll probably first notice that the top links in the search window are reviews. Are the results from the reviews the response you expected? Would you have hoped for something greater? Are there any negative comments? Try analyzing the conclusions that may be drawn by potential customers if they were to come across the same reviews that you are seeing now. Here’s a little FYI.
Realize Customer Protocol
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Customers, namely potential customers, rely more heavily on reviews now than ever before. This is not necessarily voluntary. A simple Google search of your business’s name offers the customer immediate access to opinions of others about their experience at your business. Customer reviews, particularly negative ones, have more weight on the decisions of potential customers than you can imagine. It seems that customers find truth and validity in these negative reviews. Imagine that just 1 negative review can deter as many as 100 potential customers. It is your responsibility to turn this around.
Do Your Part
You can start by reviewing notifications. Know what is being said about your business and who is saying it at all times. If or when there is a negative review, address it. There is no pro-activity in gathering data to do nothing about it. Find out what went wrong with the reviewers experience at your business. Do what you can to right the wrong. Use whatever means necessary. Offer a coupon; allow the reviewer a voucher that would hopefully get them back into your establishment where you can potentially sway their judgment. Offer incentive for proof of good reviews such as reward or discounts. Be sure to respond to negative reviews in a timely manner to prove importance of customer service.
Micro-Manage
This is the tricky one. You are probably swamped with managing the day to day operations of your business. You have a full plate. There’s inventory, and staff, and overhead, and maintenance, time management, and quarter goals, and the list goes on and on. The last thing you may seem to have time to micro-manage would be the reviews online from customers. The catch is you don’t have time not to. Maintenance of the reviews could potentially affect every other aspect of your day to operation. If the negative reviews accumulate you run the risk of diverting new customers and losing returning ones. Less customers means less need for inventory, staff, overhead, maintenance…you get the point. You must micro-manage your reviews. Gather data, track trends, assess incentives, strategize conversions and gain positive feedback. It is more essential than you can possibly image and the results of said maintenance prove positive return.
Try not to be overwhelmed. We are well aware that taking in all of this information can be mind blogging, to say the least. Don’t be alarmed. We are here to help. Contact our team of professionals at Optimum7 and we’ll get well on your way, today! Call us at 1-800-736-9618
