You know how important customer reviews are, don’t you?
I bet you do.
They are so important there are a bunch of websites out there dedicated to collecting and keeping them. Think Yelp, TripAdvisor, Zomato, and you will begin to see the picture.
Their importance is also depicted by the number of customers who use it as a means to judge the credibility of a brand. As much as 87% of customers read online reviews for local (and other) businesses.
But that’s not our focus in this post.
In this post, we’d be looking at 5 critical reasons why you should respond promptly to customer reviews. Did you know that 89% of customers read a brand’s response to online reviews?
This means that not only do customers read your reviews, they observe your responses to see how much value you place on your customers.
Before we look into the 5 reasons, you need to know that responding to review quickly should be a strategy, not just something you have to do. Besides, customers love to brands respond to their reviews.
People love attention. Therefore, your response to reviews is the best way to give that needed attention to customers.
On the other hand, people don’t like to be ignored.
I’m sure you don’t either. And so, when a customer leaves a negative review and you take the whole year to respond to it, they’d feel ignored. Maybe even a little insulted.
To respond quickly, you need the correct tools.
Now, let’s dive right in and see the 5 reasons why speedy response to.
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Increase Your Google Ranking
You want to rank high in your local ranking, right?
Then responding quickly to your customer reviews should be a priority for your brand. Search engines like Google love to see brands interacting with customers. It shows that the brand is active and is looking out for its customers.
This will cause the search engines algorithm to bump the brand to the top of local search results. Therefore, the more you respond (and quicker), the higher up the ladder you’d go.
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You Gain Or Lose Customers You Don’t Even Have
There are 2 experiences that we as humans do not forget: negative and positive. Whenever we have any of these 2 experiences, we share them with others.
If your customers have a negative experience, they are motivated to tell others. This could be their friends, family, colleagues, etc. They become negative brand evangelists.
And when you don’t respond quickly to their negative reviews, you fuel their anger. Rest assured they’d stop other people from buying from you by sharing their bad experience with them. According to WebPunch, 33% of customers want brands to make an attempt to find a solution to their complaints.
Therefore, you want to respond speedily to prevent loss of potential customers.
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Win Back A Loyal Customer
Timely response to a negative review increases your chances of losing a customer to your competition. And even turn them into a promoter.
Whenever you respond timely to a scathing review, you demonstrate that your customers come first. You show them that their concerns come first before sales. This tells them the level of value you place on them.
They’ll thank you for it.
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Build Trusts In Potential Customers
Nobody trusts a business run by ghosts.
A speedy response to a review shows customers that there’s someone on the other end of the line. It demonstrates that you are interested in engaging with your customers. Visitors looking for products you offer will see that you value customer feedback and are committed to addressing issues quickly.
This helps to build trust in your brand. What more can a person ask for from a brand?
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Improves Brand Engagement And Reputation
Again, people don’t like to be ignored.
This is why brands that are chatty always get more attention online. When you show that you are always listening, potential customers feel safer buying from you. They are confident knowing that if they have any issues, someone would be there to listen.
And because your brand interacts with customers online, people see you in a positive light.
Feel motivated to respond quickly now?
Great!
However, you can’t respond to reviews early enough. It’s impossible. Not in time for it to make any positive difference.
But with the right tools, you can respond within minutes of the review being posted.
Yes, you read that right.
SpotOn Reviews is a tool that keeps you in touch with your customer reviews. It sends you a notification as soon as someone leaves a review for your brand.
And that’s not all…
It analyses each review and provides you with up-to-the-minute data. Best of all, it brings all your reviews in one place regardless of what review platform your brand monitors.
Want to see it in action?
Go here and request a demo.
POSTED ON December 23, 2020