Are you a business owner? If so, you might be stressing out about managing online reviews from customers.
Nowadays, customers are notorious for leaving positive and negative reviews on platforms like Google, Yelp, or Facebook. As a business owner, a crucial part of your job is to take these reviews into account.
Unfortunately, many business owners do not manage their reviews properly, which can, in turn, negatively affect their business.
Here are 5 common review management mistakes to avoid for your business.
1. Not Responding to Reviews
As a business owner, you want your customers to feel seen, heard, and cared about. That’s why you should never ignore feedback from customers.
If a customer gives a positive review, make sure to thank them for their business. If a customer gives a negative review, politely address their concerns.
2. Responding Rudely to Negative Reviews
While you should always answer both positive and negative comments, it’s important to never become rude or defensive. While it certainly may seem tempting, it will only escalate the situation and appear unprofessional.
Ask the customer to elaborate on the situation and apologize for any inconveniences that occurred. Who knows, your kindness may win back your disgruntled customer after all.
3. Using an Automated Reply
Many business owners will use an automatic reply to quickly answer positive and negative reviews. This can be a huge, obvious deterrent to customers, making them feel undervalued and disconnected from the business.
Be sure to answer all customer reviews in your own professional words and give each review its individual attention.
4. Submitting Fake Reviews
Another huge mistake that business owners make is posting their own positive reviews. Likewise, employees may pay others to write positive reviews for them.
Over time, your review platform or other customers may catch on to this tactic and you could face big consequences that severely hurt your business.
If you’re looking for ways to get Google reviews, there are much better strategies that don’t involve lying and cheating.
5. Not Making Improvements
Last but not least, actions speak louder than words. You can respond to customer complaints all you want, but if you’re not going to make the necessary changes, you will continue to get the same negative reviews.
Maybe your customer’s complaints seem irrational or far-fetched, but they may very well have valid concerns. This is especially true if you see a pattern of similar complaints about the same topic such as expensive prices, rude staff, etc.
Common Review Management Mistakes
Those were the 5 common review management mistakes to avoid for your business. If you’re a business owner looking to grow your company, avoiding these mistakes will save the reputation of your business.
Bottom line? Be honest, caring, and address customer concerns to watch your positive reviews skyrocket.
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