How did your business fair in 2020?
Great? Just okay? Sucked like hell?
While a few businesses cashed out big during the pandemic, many others saw their revenue tank. And of them all, the hospitality industry suffered the most.
If you belong to the latter, you may be wondering how you can recover and grow your business.
Listen, 2020 was a crazily year by all standards, but it revealed a few things. The most important of which is that it is crucial to go where your customers are.
In this case, TripAdvisor.
There is one important metric that many businesses do not use often to measure growth – customer satisfaction. Ignoring customer satisfaction as a way to measure your business growth may affect you negatively.
I will tell you why…
Online reviews have come to stay. They have suddenly become a must-read for customers searching for products or services. When customers look up businesses on search engines the first thing they see are reviews and ratings. Usually sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor come up for businesses like hotels, restaurants, and travel & tourism.
91% of customers now use online reviews to make purchase decisions. And long before they read any marketing pieces they read reviews about your business. Your reviews will then determine if they will go on to read your marketing content or pass.
Go ahead and type the word “restaurants” in your Google tab and you will see what I mean.
This being the case, sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp are now at the centre stage. They have become the go-to for customers looking for reviews on a product or service.
TripAdvisor boasts a staggering 390 million visits in a single month and 435 million reviews on 7 million businesses like hotels, restaurants, and tourism.
Yelp on the other hand has over 170 million visitors every month, and over 100 million reviews posted.
With these numbers, these two sites are worth paying attention to. As a business you should look for ways to use them as tools to evolve and grow your business.
Here are 3 ways you can do that.
- Put Yourself Out There
These days, if your business is not online, you don’t exist. Period. And so, having an online presence is crucial. But what’s more crucial is being visible on platforms where visitors can get an idea of what other people think of your business.
A study has shown that over 80% of customers say that online reviews influenced their decision to choose a hotel. Over 65% confirmed that they used previous customer ratings to find better offers.
Putting yourself online platforms like Yelp and TripAdvisor, in front of over 200 million people, is guaranteed to get you noticed.
- Get Reviews, And Then Some.
Putting yourself on Yelp and TripAdvisor is the first step. The next step is to start getting reviews from your customers. If you provide quality service, you should ask your customers to leave you a review on any or both of these platforms.
It is important to get as many reviews as you can. On most review sites like TripAdvisor, the more reviews you have, the more your ratings increase. You are awarded a score which improves as the number of reviews climb.
See that you provide a great experience for your customers to get positive reviews. The more positive reviews you get, the lesser the impact negative reviews will have on your score. Here are 4 simple ways to get positive online reviews on TripAdvisor.
You should make it easy for your customers to provide feedback. Ensure that you ask for a review right after they have enjoyed your service. It may be more difficult or downright annoying to ask for this after they have left your place of business.
Before they leave, send them a message asking for feedback. In the message, include a link that takes them straight to your TripAdvisor or Yelp review page in a single click.
- Respond To Every Comment
Some businesses do not respond to online reviews. When they do, they only respond to positive reviews.
This is wrong…
Not responding to any reviews robs your business of that human touch. Your page would seem unattended when you do not respond to reviews. Visitors may begin to think that you may not also respond to emails or even phone calls. When a customer leaves a positive review and you fail to respond, it makes you look ungrateful.
On the other hand, when you ignore negative reviews, it makes you come across as insensitive. Visitors may begin to doubt if the positive reviews are even genuine.
So you can see that it’s bad both ways.
Try to respond to every single review you receive. And that includes negative reviews as well. Responding to negative reviews show visitors that you care about the feelings and opinions of your customers. This is actually good for business. It tells them that you will value their own opinion, too, and would get them interested in doing business with you.
Here are 5 positive ways to handle a negative review.
Negative reviews also help you to see areas of your business where you may be performing poorly. Customers may complain about a particular service or employee of yours. With this information, you are aware of what you need to improve on to make your business better.
These steps are pretty simple but they pack a punch for your business. They can lead to significant growth, given time. The best part is, they do not cost any money to implement but they can improve your sales, dramatically.
Wi-Fi analytics and marketing platforms like SpotOn Wi-Fi can help to make these steps. How? It helps you collect vital customer data such as age, gender, email, and much more. You can then send personalized emails requesting for a review with a link to your review page.
Want to know more? Contact us and we will answer any questions you may have.
POSTED ON April 30, 2021