Online Reviews: The Ultimate Guide for Business Owners

In today’s hyper-digital world, having an online presence is key to a business’s success. In addition to websites, blogs, and social media profiles, having positive online reviews can play a defining role in the success of your business. In fact, over 90% of consumers seek out and read customer reviews prior to visiting or using a business, most of whom trust the reviews just as much as they trust personal recommendations. Online reviews are one of the most effective ways to drive potential customers to your business. Sure, you can spend thousands of dollars trying to shoot your business to the top of the google search engine results page (SERP), but that can be expensive and inefficient. In addition, while being at the top of the SERPs can show that you’re an established business, it lacks the authenticity and brand trust that an online business review can provide.

Why Positive Online Reviews Matter for Your Business

Positive online reviews help captivate the attention and interest of customers. Similarly, online reviews can effectively establish trust and confidence when consumers either search for your business specifically or search for a general product or service your business offers. Studies show that if a customer trusts your business’s online reviews, they’re likely to spend 31% more than companies with lower reviews. Simply put, favourable online reviews can significantly and positively affect your customers’ purchasing behaviour.

Three Scenarios Where Online Reviews Work

The three examples below show the positive user experience (which Google aims for) for the consumer/searcher as well as the cost and time efficiencies for businesses who leverage online reviews for their business.

Scenario #1

It’s a Friday night and you and your family decide you want ice cream as a late-night snack. Curious about what your options are, you conduct a search for ice cream shops near you. Along comes the top-rated ice cream shops in your area with their respective company reviews.

Scenario #2

You’re in the market for a new car. Sure of the make and model, but unsure of the dealer, you perform an online search for relevant dealers in your area. Tada! You instantly get results and online reviews.

Scenario #3

You’ve recently moved to a new town and it’s time for a dental checkup. You want an established dentist that you can trust who is conveniently located. You do a quick online search for general dentists in your area who have good customer reviews.

Or, it’s time for a dental checkup, but your original dentist no longer cuts it. You want a dentist that you can trust, will be around for a while, and is conveniently located. You do a quick online search for general dentists in your area. Again, dentists with customer reviews appear before your eyes.

While the control of online reviews lies largely in the hands of past and potential customers, there are still several ways you can use these reviews to your advantage. Below are six key ways to leverage your online business reviews.

1. Increase brand exposure. Prior to the internet, people would rave or complain about businesses via word-of-mouth. Today, this word-of-mouth concept has carried over into customer reviews that increase your company’s visibility. Not only do good reviews reflect positively on your products and service, but they also help improve search engine optimisation (SEO) of your business by creating unique, up-to-date content on an ongoing basis.
2. Identify keywords for your products and services. By tracking the common words customers use to describe your products and services and implementing these keywords into your product positioning, keyword targeting, tags, and content creation, you can significantly improve how your brand ranks on an array of different search platforms.
3. Highlight positive reviews in PR and influencer outreach campaigns. Key individuals like local celebrities, well-known public figures, or established professionals can be used to influence others to check out your business. Products and services that are backed by dozens of positive reviews can be a great way to show these influencers, as well as PR teams and journalists, just how much customers love, use, and rely on your brand.
4. Improve your brand with customer feedback. Reviews are priceless ways to take advantage of customer feedback and increase sales. Furthermore, you can also use these reviews to quickly identify and solve product issues, analyse patterns, determine what customers rave about so you can deliver more of it, and keep an eye on the competition.
5. Directly engage with customers. You can easily build brand loyalty by replying to a customer’s review. Whether you thank them for their business, acknowledge the constructive feedback they offer, or request additional feedback, responding to a customer’s review makes them feel seen and appreciated by your company and will help to establish a client-business relationship that boosts and solidifies your customer base.
   
   You can also use reviews to salvage poor customer experiences. If a customer posts a negative review on a product you offer, for example, you can quickly connect with them to enquire about what went wrong, what improvements can be made, what they’d like to see more of, and what you can do to restore their trust in your brand.
6. Increase sales with positive reviews. Ultimately #4 and #5 will work together to increase your business’s sales. Customers respond both to positive reviews and to your willingness to resolve a negative review. They will be more apt to buy if they can recognise both the quality of the product as well as the company’s investment in its customers.

Customer reviews can be priceless tools for marketing and establishing your brand. When leveraged properly, online reviews can increase brand exposure, boost SEO positioning, encourage positive feedback, and make customers feel valued and appreciated.

Gain Trust and Credibility through Company Reviews

Generating online business reviews is one thing, but managing the online reviews is another. Enter online review management. Consumer trust and credibility is another benefit that businesses can realise through online business reviews. According to BrightLocal, 79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Furthermore, 73% of consumers say positive customer reviews make them trust a business more (up from 58% in 2012). Trust and credibility are ingrained in online business reviews and local search allowing consumers to have a clear view into any business. It also allows a business to provide complete transparency into what they offer their customers and how well they offer it.

Focus Online Business Reviews on the Most Effective Online Review Sites

Not all reviews sites are made the same. For example, Google reviews, in most cases, will carry more clout than your average niche, vertical-specific review site. Yelp reviews, in general, will also carry more authority than most other review applications. So which online review site is right for your business and which should you focus on?

In a general sense, it’s beneficial for all businesses to focus on the Big 3. That is, Google reviews, Yelp reviews, and Facebook reviews. Why? Because all three online review sites give your business a much larger audience and chance for exposure. Once you tackle the Big 3, moving into the niche online review sites like Avvo or Houzz, will help supplement and increase your online review strategy. This is especially the case with customers who are serious about and ready to make a purchase.

Google Reviews

Google has arguably the most prominent online review site. For starters, Google reviews have the potential to put you near the top of the search results page (as seen below). Many businesses will see this as the sole reason for focusing on generating Google reviews. While Google’s online reviews are a great starting place, it should not be the only factor to your online review strategy. Not everyone has a Google Account, something that is required to leave a google review, meaning you must supplement those efforts with other online review sites. Besides, Google isn’t the only online review platform that can rank in the search results.

Yelp Reviews

Yelp’s online review platform is also a great general option for most businesses. Yelp touts an astounding 135 million unique users and while tilted towards restaurants, provides categories for almost every vertical. The online site’s reviews CAN also show up in Google search results, show your hours of operations, and show pictures from user contributions.

Facebook Reviews

With nearly 1.4 billion monthly active users and 890M daily active users, Facebook is an online review site to be reckoned with. One main advantage to Facebook reviews is that most of your customers use Facebook and will already be logged in (via mobile or desktop) allowing you to easily direct them straight to your review page. While Facebook reviews arguably aren’t quite on par Google and Yelp reviews, the platform is fast-approaching.

Niche Online Review Sites

Lastly, vertical-specific online review sites are a great way to supplement your online review strategy. Do a quick search for “Lawyer review” and you’ll likely find Avvo. A quick search for “doctor reviews” will serve up Healthgrades.com. And, a search for “home builder review” will bring you Houzz. These examples of supplemental online review sites are crucial for any complete online review strategy. Use them to your advantage, but don’t rely on them as your sole engine for online reviews.

The Ins & Outs of Responding To Positive Reviews

According to a recent study, 70% of respondents said their opinion was changed after a business responded to a review. 

Therefore, you should choose a review–to–response ratio that is realistic for you and do your best to stick to it. For example, a ratio could be to respond to 3 out of every 5 positive or negative reviews left by customers. Having a goal like this will help keep you on track with customer engagement, without necessitating a 100% response rate (which can take a lot of time and energy to accomplish).

Taking time for responding to positive reviews is a great way to show that your business cares and is proud of the experience they were able to provide. Expressing that your business is grateful for the company review also shows potential customers your business strives to create an experience like that for every single customer.

It can be tricky to know exactly how to respond to positive reviews. Here are some tips that can help your response be a successful one:

• Make it personal by using the reviewer’s name (if possible).
• Express your gratitude. This can be short and simple, or it can be longer if the review is lengthy. 
• Use genuine emotion to make a personal connection, such as excitement or happiness. 

If you’re still struggling to know how to respond to positive reviews, it can help to follow a positive review response template geared toward different types of customers. Just don’t use the same canned response for every customer and comment. Use slightly different tone and verbiage depending on whether you’re replying to a first-time reviewer, loyal customer, or Local Guide (Google’s most trusted reviewers).  

Responding To Negative Reviews, Positively 

On the flip side, responding to negative reviews can have an even larger impact. In fact, 41% of consumers see a brand’s response to an online review as a sign that the brand really cares about its customers. This is a chance for your business to act fast and right whatever wrong the customer feels your business made. 

Some general tips for responding to negative reviews are to:

• Know when a negative review goes live so you can respond quickly to the customer, and make sure the same mistake doesn’t happen again with any other customer. It really helps to have a platform that aggregates and monitors reviews in real-time from sites all across the internet, then notifies you of a review you should attend to. 
• Have someone respond who is not professionally (or personally) connected with the negative reviewer. Otherwise, you run the risk of the response being biased, unprofessional (perhaps not being as calm and collected as it should be). 
• Learn from the negative review so you get the most valuable, long-term benefit you can from it. 

The image below is a great example of taking a cool-headed approach in responding.They ask to continue the conversation privately (“Please contact our Customer Service Manager…”).

As demonstrated, the response helps the customer feel heard, validated, and given an option for reconciliation. This not only shows you care about this particular negative review, but you care about all your customers and want them to be happy. After all, customers should end their interaction feeling good not only about your written response, but about your solution to their problem and even your business and brand in general. 

What happens if the negative response isn’t legitimate? Hootsuite suggests that regardless of whether or not the complaint is legitimate, you should address it and apologise. Tell your side of the story in a sympathetic manner and offer to help correct the issue in any way possible. 

Again, by addressing negative online business reviews, you get the opportunity to show that your brand has real, genuine people behind it and that you care about your customers’ experience.

How to Get More Reviews

It’s been made abundantly clear that getting more reviews is the goal here, but how do you do it? B2B SaaS Reviews has found that the common components of effective review generation are timing, incentives, multiple channels, and adding a personal touch.

Still not sure where to start? Here are a few tips that will help you get more reviews:

• Lay the proper foundation. Giving your customers stellar service each and every time will make them more apt to leave a positive review. 
• Ask your customers to leave a review. Many won’t take the time to do it, but you will be surprised at how many will take you up on the request . . . and the more the better! Positive reviews help to negate the few poor reviews you may get. You’ll earn a higher average rating customers will appreciate and trust.
• When trying to get reviews, target your audience on general sites like Google and Yelp, but also target your audience on niche sites like Edmunds, Healthgrades, and Zillow. These sites bring in plenty of people who want to give their input on every purchase they make, but especially the ones that require a lot of research and a higher investment before purchasing.
• Make it easy to do. Your customers don’t want to do anything that is inconvenient or time-consuming. A quick, two-question popup survey works well, as does shooting a text after a call or purchase. You’re much more likely to get a response if you only ask things like, “How would you rate your experience?” or “How likely are you to recommend us to your friends?”
• Employ Review Management software. This will help you improve the quality of your online presence, manage your online reputation, and streamline the online review workflow. You’ll be shocked at how quickly you see a significant boost in your online ratings.

How to Ask for Reviews–What Works?

Many businesses that already have a review strategy in place will tell you that collecting reviews isn’t always the easiest thing to do. So what’s the best way to generate them?

I’m glad you asked! Knowing how to ask for online reviews is an important business skill that will pay off well. 

Here’s what works–before asking, determine the optimized answers to the following four questions:

1. Why do you want your customers’ reviews? The answer should be something along the lines of, “ We value feedback because we want to better serve our customers.”
2. Who should you ask for a review? All customers should be your thought here. Don’t just ask happy customers. You want to instill authenticity and trust, which means everyone needs to be heard, not just your loyalists.
3. How should you send the invitation to leave a review? Texting is a very successful means to gather feedback, but you can also consider email invites and online surveys.
4. When should you send the invitation? Typically, immediately after an interaction is the best time to do it, but following up a few days later is also a good idea.

Should You Incentivise for Online Reviews?

As a general rule of thumb, don’t incentivise for online reviews. Offering an incentive in exchange for a review may lead to a biased review that might not accurately reflect that specific customer’s experience. You may argue that it’s just business, and you will do whatever it takes to increase revenue for your business. I admire that tenacity, but some online review platforms like Yelp do not.

A good alternative to incentivising is to choose an online review management platform that works for you and your customers. There are many online review management platforms out there, but choosing one that works for both sides (your business and your customers) is key.

For example, the odds of a dental patient filling out an online review they received through an email a few days after their visit are very slim. In fact, our statistics at Podium show that only around 2-3% of those patients will click through to get to the actual review. After they have clicked, the completion rate drops even further for those that have to sign in to the online review site. Rather, a text message directly to their phone, before or as they leave the dental practice, shows to have around a 68% click rate and a 15% completion rate (up to 15x the email approach).

A similar argument can be made for automotive dealerships and almost any other industry vertical that collects online reviews. The investment in an online review management platform is one that can yield significant results, comply with terms and conditions, and cut away the awkward moments of asking for a Google, Yelp, or Facebook review. No incentives required.

Employees Collecting Reviews–The Why & How of It

Employees collecting reviews can bring in a lot of feedback–feedback you want and need! However, encouraging your employees to collect reviews is one thing, but getting them to actually do it is another.

If you’re at a loss as to what to do, don’t worry. Follow these two guidelines and you’ll enjoy an increase of reviews flowing in in no time.

1. Build trust with your employees. They need to know that your motivations are pure, and that asking for customer reviews is a worthy task to incorporate into their daily routine.
2. Since money is a huge motivator for employees, enticing them with incentives to collect reviews is a sure bet to increasing invitations to review. You can incentivise based on:
   • The number of invitations sent.
   • The number of reviews secured.
   • The amount of recommendations your business receives.

What about Buying Reviews?

If you’re wondering about buying reviews, yes it’s possible. However, it’s ill advised. 

Buying reviews is against Google’s and Yelp’s (and other sites’) guidelines. They even have a process for detecting bought reviews. If you do it, your company may get a “Consumer Alert” attached to the reviews, or they may just be taken down quietly. There have even been a few cases where an account has been shut down for the practice. 

The risk isn’t worth it. If you want quality reviews, it’s better just to earn them.  

Why You Should Use Review Monitoring Tools

Generating online business reviews is one thing, but managing the online reviews is another. Knowing how people are talking about your business, what they are talking about, and what they are or are not saying in regards to your company as a local business, is an ideal way to oversee your online reputation. 

You now know that the velocity, quantity, and diversity of online business reviews all have a substantial impact on local SEO results and can greatly benefit both the online traffic to your website as well as the foot traffic to your actual business. But, how can you possibly monitor and manage all of this? Enter online review management tools.

The Benefits of Using a Review Monitoring Tool

Through online reputation management using a review monitoring tool, businesses can monitor and quickly respond to positive and negative reviews on Google, Yelp, and Facebook. 

There are other benefits. The first is that review monitoring can increase revenues by raising your overall star rating, proving to customers that you have a quality business. The second benefit is greater customer loyalty. This is because you’ll be able to easily solicit reviews from customers who know you value their opinion, endearing you to them and promoting lifetime patronage. 

Remember, the more high-quality reviews your business receives, the more customers you will win. This cycle can really work to your advantage with the help of a review monitoring tool.

What to Look for in a Review Monitoring Tool

Things to look for in an online review management tools are:

• A cloud-based solution that can be managed from anywhere, at any time.
• Plenty of insightful data that helps you quantify your online reputation’s impact, and know the performance of your business based on review monitoring.
• Ready-to-send review invitations that are easy to email or text to your customers, and professional review response templates.
• Seamless integration into the business applications you already use.
• A flexible plan that meets your business size and budget.

As it turns out, Podium offers all of this and more!

Key Takeaways

• If you don’t currently focus on gathering online reviews, head over to Google My Business and claim your business/location. Also, make sure you do the same on Yelp and Facebook.
• Make sure you’re focusing first on the Big 3 (Google, Yelp, and Facebook reviews). These three sites can help increase your business’s online exposure and increase brand trust. 
• After you have a firm grasp on continually generating reviews for the Big 3, start to supplement those efforts with vertical-specific online review sites. 
• Make it a point to respond to a certain ratio of positive and negative responses. This will help show your potential customers you care about their experience. 
• When you respond to a negative review (most everyone reading this will at some point) keep a cool head and approach it with a problem-solving mindset.
• Choose an online review management platform that works for you and your customers. Generally, text-based online review management platforms will work to be more efficient and cost-effective than traditional email platforms.

Online business reviews aren’t just an effective, efficient alternative to SERP initiatives and other marketing efforts, but they are also a highly reliable method for establishing your business as trustworthy and professional. 

Additionally, positive online