Your online reputation can have a significant impact on your relationship with potential customers and the success of your small business. Getting “canceled” for a minor mistake has become all too common in today’s world. To get a better understanding of online reputation management and its role in your business’s success, here are a few key things to keep in mind.
Finding Reviews Has Never Been Easier
Customers are more vocal online than ever before. It is incredibly easy to leave feedback on a business’s listing, and even easier for others to find and read them. Customer reviews are often the biggest reflection of your business, and they can often determine whether a potential customer decides to buy your product or service.
You may earn a permanent negative review on Yelp or Google if you don’t deliver quality service. Losing a star on Google or Yelp might not seem that concerning, but every one-star increase in a Yelp rating means a 5–9% increase in revenue, while businesses with two negative reviews on the first page of search results on Google risk losing 44% of their customers.
More than 90 percent of consumers read reviews before visiting a business, and online reviews have been shown to impact 67% of those viewers’ purchasing decisions.
A strong reputation management strategy will allow you to leverage the data from your interactions to improve the customer experience and gain more online authority. The proof is in the pudding!
But how can you start managing your reputation effectively?
Branding Isn’t Enough
Although you may invest a lot into your image, it doesn’t mean customers like you. You may have a professional website, creative marketing efforts, and quality design work, but none of these things matter if people complain about your track record or don’t like what you voice online.
People Will Talk
A customer’s experience with a company greatly influences how many others choose to buy your product or service. You must employ reputation management to ensure your customers feel heard and you can keep online opinions about your business positive.
Keep Things Straight
Part of building a strong brand reputation is the ability to stay consistent in the way you interact with your customers online. This includes:
- Using the same tone and messaging across all platforms
- Similar response times to negative or positive reviews
- Answering inquiries accurately with useful information in a professional tone
While it may seem like a simple task to communicate consistently, it can actually be quite difficult to keep up with. Customers can and will submit negative feedback at any time on any platform of their choosing, and if you are not around to respond and try to make things right quickly, this can give off the feeling to potential customers that you do not care.
Scouring the internet for comments people left about you can be time-consuming. With the Bullseye Digital Marketing Dashboard, you gain access to an easy-to-use platform that pulls in all of the comments people are leaving for you, so you get notified as soon as they are placed. You can also maintain consistent messaging through the use of smart templates, to help you generate custom, professional responses fast.
Whether you have one location or a hundred, our Business App Dashboard helps you manage your reputation all from one place. We make managing a successful online business simple, convenient, and easy with our platform. Contact us today to learn more.
