Why Online Reputation Management Plays a Big Role in a Company’s Success

Whenever your business is struggling to get new customers, it’s tough to think about your online reputation. However, online reputation management should be on the priority list for businesses that want to avoid a sudden dearth of customers.

The Influence of the Internet

When you think about it, decision making is often influenced by opinions of others, especially of friends and family. Now imagine the number recommendations you receive multiplied by a million fold. That is how the internet and social media have influenced decision making for everyone.

According to studies, 81 percent of shoppers will research online before buying, and it will often involve looking up the reputation of the relevant organizations. Maybe slightly surprising, but consumers are just as likely to consider a recommendation from strangers on the internet as they would from their friends and family. Moreover, most of the customers have more trust in peer reviews rather than in advertising. That’s why negative reviews will sway customers away from your business.

Online Reputation’s Importance

Online reputation management has become an integral part of a business and can sometimes be more important than digital marketing. Even with the best promotion, SEO, social media and paid search campaigns, a negative reputation will only become more visible. Considering the high number of customers using the internet to gauge an opinion, it’s inevitable that your prospects will also look at your reviews.

A major mistake by companies is devoting huge amounts of money to digital marketing without even looking at their online reputation. If your brand finds itself plagued by comments or negative reviews online, then budgets for digital marketing will have no impact whatsoever. Having a strategy on how to communicate with your happiest customers and handle negative comments, will guarantee you don’t lose potential customers every day.

Customer Relationships Matter

Analysing and measuring customer satisfaction through internal channels is essential. Don’t solely rely on the internet to find out how happy or frustrated your customers are, but instead, gather data necessary to get insights.

Build a system to gather all the information from a customer from the first visit. You can use the information to continue building a relationship with the customers and evaluate how their experience with your brand or product was. With an open communication channel to your customer, you will be able to accurately measure how satisfied they are with your product. Utilizing an automated process can simplify the results and lessen the workload on your team.