A “Review” of Reviews
Date: April 21, 2014Category: Author: Emily Martineau
We decided to conduct a little research about reviews and the results are in. About half of prospective patients indicate that they check on-line reviews prior to scheduling a dental appointment. And we aren’t the only ones doing research about consumer reviews.
It used to be that professional critics would give a thumbs up or thumbs down to a movie or what not, but not anymore. Now anyone can speak out about a service or product and share their experience. This might be disconcerting to many service providers. How do we know a competitor isn’t going to smear us on-line? Or how about greedy customers trying to manipulate their way into free goods and services? And the consumer wonders, can I trust these reviews? Are these real customers? Are these people being paid to say these things?
These are valid concerns and these things do happen. However, they are the exception rather than the rule. In general, review sites like Yelp and Google, are simply trying to provide an on-line community experience that people turn to for information sharing. These companies understand that their value is closely tied to the quality of the user experience and go to great lengths to ensure that genuine and reliable feedback is being posted. Still, as a business owner it’s important to understand the review process and factors that affect your on-line reputation.
Here are 4 tips to get you started:
1. Take time to regularly check what consumers are saying about you on-line. Use what is being said to evaluate what you can do differently as a business. Recognize that good business practices will be rewarded and make a point to develop the best business practices possible. This is a win-win for businesses and consumers.
2. It never hurts to ask! This old adage holds true for reviews. Train your employees to ask customers to review the business. One way to do this is to invest in a software product or service that will solicit feedback and encourage satisfied customers to post reviews on commonly used consumer websites. We recently developed just such a tool as part of our Maps SEO and Online Reputation Management Service. You can read about it here.
3. Respond to feedback and reviews, especially negative reviews. Negative reviews do happen. Taking time to respond to the customer will show that you’re aware of the complaint and interested in resolving any issues. The desire and interest to take care of an unhappy customer has the potential to outweigh the negative review. A negative review can actually give your company the chance to let your customer service shine on-line.
4. Resist the urge to post your own reviews or to have your employees post reviews. And definitely don’t buy the “review service” from the guy offering to set-up a laptop with a distinct I.P. address to collect reviews from your customers as they walk out the door! I was recently discussing reviews with a client who mentioned that they had been trying to have the employees review the practice. She mentioned that the reviews kept getting taken down or disappearing. Google and the other “players” in the review space are taking the process seriously and have implemented algorithms to help detect “fake” or less genuine reviews. It’s almost impossible for the average person to tell a fake from a real review. But apparently extensive study has revealed tell-tale signs and developed an algorithm to identify and filter out less than genuine reviews.
In the end, reviews have been around for a while now. As a result the process has been through a lot of refining. This gives me a bit more confidence in the reviews I do read nowadays and I find myself more inclined to post reviews to help steer my fellow consumers to the best products and services available.