How To Look After Your Brand’s Online Reputation By Managing Online Reviews

Online customer reviews are the main measure of trust, as they are nothing more and nothing less than social proof that that brand is (or is not) trustworthy. This is the power of online brand reputation in search results and in converting new customers, because the stronger the reputation of trust of the brand, the greater the influence of the same in the purchase decision of the consumer.

As you may have noticed, online ratings or reviews are very powerful for companies looking to reach more customers, with relatively low investment.

This article highlights five essential points for companies to manage their online reviews, in order to preserve the company’s name and keep it competitive in a constantly changing market.

Preserve Transparency

A negative review about your company is actually a great opportunity to show your customers that you are attentive, making a point to hear their opinion and ready to accept criticism and correct mistakes.

Consumers will judge your company by how you handle criticism and complaints. Hiding it under the carpet is a shot in the foot. But by facing it head on, accepting the criticism and being sincere in solving the problem, you’ll be reversing the situation and the negative review starts to play in your business’s favour.

Communication is a two-way street: inform, but also listen to people

Don’t just listen, but also respond to your customers! When a consumer writes a review about your company on review sites they are communicating with you and expect a response. Regardless if the review is negative or positive, always respond.

Be coherent

Maintain consistency between speech and practice. This is essential nowadays. Consumers are every day more attentive and demanding, and your brand is constantly exposed on the Internet. Therefore, if your company preaches that it listens to customers, really listen to them, with purpose. Otherwise, the consumers’ trust in your brand will be damaged.

Assume the mistakes

This is the number one rule when receiving a negative review, always apologize and show what was done so that the failure does not happen again. Never leave the customer without an answer on what has been done or will be done to prevent this failure from happening again. Exercise empathy.

Be active

This is one of the biggest benefits of smart review management. Through the analysis of the reviews it is possible to detect the flaws and that way correct to neutralize them, meeting what your customers want and need, increasing satisfaction and loyalty.

Only by detecting flaws is it possible to correct them, so it is always better that the reviews are public, because then your company gets to know and has the opportunity to reverse the situation. Encourage your customers to write ratings on review sites, always.

The review culture is influencing and transforming relationships between brands and consumers. If your company has woken up to this, congratulations!

But if reviews are viewed with mistrust, believing that it is better not to have public criticism over the internet and not respond, it is better to rethink your strategy. Either you start controlling what is said about you on the internet and use that intelligence to your advantage or the companies that do it will pass you by.