Tag: Online Reviews

Who Manages Your Online Reputation?

Posted on by Top Rated Local

Who Manages Your Online Reputation?

It should come as no surprise to any entrepreneur that online reviews and your online reputation are important for the success of your business. More and more, we are seeing trends that show the importance of being on top of your reputation and actively managing your online presence. The way people shop today means that a majority of people will do an online search in order to find a business or service in their area. After a cursory search, they will then go and read the reviews for the companies or products that interest them. What they find there will make or break their decision to do business with one company over another. When your online reputation means the difference between getting more customers or losing them to a competitor, you want to do whatever you can to make sure that your reputation offers the best possible representation of you and your business.

Not convinced? Here are some statistics for you to consider:

  • Seven out of 10 customers will visit a business based on the information they find online.
  • Ninety-seven percent of people learn about local companies online.
  • Ninety-one percent of customers ages 18 to 34 trust online reviews as much as they do personal recommendations.
  • Eight out of 10 internet users in the United States have said that negative information they read online made them change their minds about purchasing decisions.
  • A single negative review can cost a business about 30 customers.

Claiming Your Business

If you are ready to start managing your online reputation but have no idea where to start, we recommend getting the ball rolling by first claiming your business listings. Claiming your business online is free, easy, and there’s no better way to get your finger on the pulse of what people are saying about you. Claiming your business can help to build trust in the eyes of your potential consumers by legitimizing your business, showing your customers that your business is real, and by giving you the power to make sure that basic information. like your phone number, address, and business name, is updated and correct. This can be a crucial first step in forming trust with your potential customers. If they google your business and call the phone number that is listed, but that number is disconnected or incorrect, they are likely going to think that your business is either closed or unreliable, and both of those options are no good for business. Imagine you are doing a search for a local plumber. One company has a claimed business, a complete and updated profile, and a handful of reviews for you to see what kind of experience other customers have had with this business, and the other is…just there, unclaimed. More than likely, you are going to instantly be more trusting of, and likely to give business to, the claimed business. By simply claiming their business, they have established themselves as reputable. There are plenty of benefits that come along with claiming your business. If you’re ready to claim yours, check out Top Rated Local; it’s both simple, and free!

Responding to Reviews

We highly recommend responding to all reviews, positive and negative, because doing so shows your audience that you are present and that care about what they have to say. It is definitely a best practice to give the same care and attention in your responses to every kind of review you receive. Even a wordless four or five-star review should warrant a heartfelt ‘thank you’. Even a wordless three-star review should be responded to! You could write something along the lines of:

“Thank you for your business and for this feedback. We would love to know more about your experience and what we can do in the future to show you the kind of excellent service we strive to give here. Give us a call anytime at xxx-xxx-xxxx.”

Remember those potential customers who are searching for businesses online and reading through the reviews before making their decision about which product or service to go with? When they see you respond to a review like that, they will see that you are alert, conscientious, and tuned-in to your customers. You have demonstrated that you care about feedback and are willing to listen and make improvements. That means a lot to people, and it shows them that they can trust you to make things right, even if they don’t go exactly the way they expect them to.

It is important to be prompt and consistent when responding to your reviews. Imagine the case of a truly scathing review. For example:

“I called for a quote and didn’t hear back for a few days. When the employee came out, they were distracted and were on their phone half the time. The price was OK so I went with them. Boy was that a mistake! They were hours late for their appointment, didn’t clean up after themselves, and didn’t even totally fix the issue. I will never use their services again. I wish I had spent a little more and gone with a company that would actually take care of me. One-star only because I can’t give zero.”

Yikes. Do you have a system in place to take care of this kind of situation? If you are not regularly checking on your review sites, it may even take you days, weeks, or months to even realize a review like this has been left for you, and zero response to a review like this for any length of time kind of makes this irate reviewer’s story seem a bit more credible. No matter how or when you respond, people are going to read that review and make decisions based off of it. Wouldn’t you rather boost your chances of saving your reputation by being able to defend your business in the eyes of your potential future customers?

When it comes to responding to negative reviews, here’s a quick run-down on how to respond:

Breathe. This might feel like a personal attack, but know that this customer either did not feel heard, or valued, or satisfied. Take a step back and stop yourself from lashing out in defense. One of the worst things you could do right now is to call them out for being wrong, rude, or misinterpreting the experience. Let them be sad or angry, and take the time to respond in a way that highlights you as rational and compassionate.
Apologize without accepting or placing blame. Responding to a negative review is a great opportunity to show yourself the way you want to be seen. In this moment, it is crucial to empathize with your customer and apologize without placing or accepting blame. Even if you feel there has been a misunderstanding, it’s likely that you really are sorry that the customer did not leave your business on a happy note, and that’s a great way to start your apology! You don’t need to assume blame; you just need to showcase understanding and care.
Take the conversation offline. It is important to show your audience that you are timely and responsive, and that you care enough to reach out and right this situation, but the details of that conversation can happen in a private setting rather than on display in a public forum. You definitely want to avoid a public internet showdown. Give them an office phone number or email and ask them to get ahold of you to find out how you can offer them a better experience.
Learn, adapt, and change when necessary. If the negative feedback you receive actually does have a point, nothing will look better than you having the humility and wherewithal to listen to the needs of your customers and take their advice into account.

So, whose job is it to manage your reputation?

Your reputation isn’t just for your customers. Having a strong reputation also helps your employees to solidify their commitment to your business and gives them confidence in who you are and what you do. In fact, your online reputation doesn’t just affect potential sales and customer opinions, but it can also determine the quality of candidates you have to hire from. Nobody wants to associate themselves with a company that has a bad reputation, and if they do, are they really the kind of qualified employee you are hoping for? One recent survey showed that 69 percent of job seekers are likely to reject a job offer from a company with a bad reputation.

With all of this in mind, do you know who is managing your online reputation and how? Do you have a plan in place when it comes to responding to reviews? Do you have a schedule or alerts set up to help you see the reviews when they come in? When it comes to effectively managing and improving your online reputation, these things are kind of the bare minimum. You should also be alert to and share the good things happening with your business. Do you have a space on your website that features your best five-star reviews? Do you create and share social media posts about awards you’ve received? If any of this is starting to sound overwhelming for you to take on by yourself and a little bit too important for you to delegate to one of your employees, there are a few options for you. You could hire a full-time employee whose job it is to monitor your online presence and overall reputation. This person could manage your social media profiles, send out emails asking customers for reviews, and respond to all reviews in a decided on tone.

Another option is to hire a company that specializes in reputation management. With social media and online reviews as important as they are to the success of your business, it could be the most beneficial to bring in an expert to manage, maintain, and improve your business’ online reputation. Your business may best benefit from having an outside vendor or consultant rather than a full-time in-house employee. When you hire a professional reputation manager, you are getting someone who will be adept at reputation management services far beyond crisis control and responding to negative reviews. Their whole job is to establish and promote your business’ reputation through a variety of strategies.

You might be fully capable of handling some reputation management strategies without any assistance, but how much time and energy are you willing to devote to the endeavor? Depending on your response, it could be worth looking into the services of a reputation management company. If you are interested in learning more about hiring a professional reputation manager to work with your business, reach out today!

When you consider the lasting and significant damage a negative reputation can have on your business, it is more important than ever to develop a strategy when it comes to protecting and promoting your business’ online reputation. Whether it’s to promote your business, build trust in your brand, or increase employee buy-in and loyalty, get started on your reputation management journey today.

If you’re ready to take your reputation into your own hands, you can claim your business listing for free today on Top Rated Local®. Top Rated Local is an invaluable tool that any business looking to strengthen their online reputation can use! Top Rated Local offers a powerful platform that makes it easy for you to capture and monitor reviews across multiple trusted review sites relevant to your business. The Top Rated Local stats dashboard is a powerful tool for tracking the progress of your online reputation overall, or by an individual review site. Now, you can track the number of reviews your business gets, your overall star ratings, your listing clicks, and even your Rating Score™ compared to your competitors. Not only that, but your clients or customers can leave your business reviews directly on the Top Rated Local site. Think of Top Rated Local as a one-stop-shop for all of your reputation management needs.

The Importance of Online Reputation for Family Doctors

Posted on by Top Rated Local

The Importance of Online Reputation for Family Doctors

While a doctor’s service and interaction with their clients will happen almost entirely in-person, their online reputation is still critically important when it comes to attracting new patients and keeping old ones engaged. More than ever, people are trusting online reviews as their go-to when it comes to trusting businesses. If your online reputation is lacking, you will likely be losing out on some valuable business. Even medical practices who have gotten a steady stream of business thanks to in-network care can still see negative effects from having a less-than-stellar online reputation. In a recent survey done by Doctors.com, they found that approximately 80 percent of respondents have used the internet for healthcare-related searches, and that 63 percent will choose one provider over another based on their online reputation. That means that your online reputation is enough to influence your potential future patients’ decisions, and though many doctors get their new patients through network referrals, those patients are not likely to stick with you if your reviews are negative. In fact, in a 2016 survey, 48 percent of respondents said that they would choose to go out of network in order to see a provider that had better reviews than an in-network provider. All that being said, your online reputation matters now more than ever. If you have never taken the time to check on where your reputation currently stands, it can seem like a daunting task, but it is important to take that leap and take control of how your business is seen by your online audience.

We have compiled a list of our top five tips for managing your online reputation as a family doctor.

Find out where your reputation stands

To begin your journey towards a stellar reputation, start by finding out where your business currently stands. Claim your business online; it’s free, easy, and there’s no better way to get your finger on the pulse of what people are saying about you. Claiming your business can help to build trust in the eyes of your potential consumers by legitimizing your business, showing your customers that your business is real, and by giving you the power to make sure that basic information. like your phone number, address, and business name, is updated and correct. This can be a crucial first step in forming trust with your potential customers. If they google your business and call the phone number that is listed, but that number is disconnected or incorrect, they are likely going to think that your business is either closed or unreliable, and both of those options are no good for business, especially for a family doctor, where reliability tends to be one of the traits people value the most. Claiming your profiles can also help to boost your SEO (search engine optimization) rankings by providing details about your company and providing links back to your website and social media profiles. By having links from trusted sites point back to your website, you ultimately have a better chance of gaining a higher ranking in the search results. Another added benefit of claiming your profiles is that you can easily respond to your reviews. We highly recommend responding to all reviews, positive and negative, because doing so shows your audience that you are present and that care about what they have to say.

Ask for reviews and feedback

The long and short of it is businesses need reviews in order to thrive. While that is true regardless of industry, that is especially important for doctors. Many people feel nervous about going to the doctor, and seeing positive, or negative, reviews about your practice can make or break a person’s decision to become your patient. Some business owners don’t feel good about asking for reviews, but there is absolutely no shame in doing so, especially when you share with your customers how valuable their feedback is. Most people won’t write a review on their own, but according to a 2016 survey, 70 percent of customers said that if they were asked to leave a review for a business, they would. So, at the end of a visit, when a patient is thanking you for quick and compassionate care, or telling you how great your staff is or how welcoming your waiting room is, it is perfectly acceptable to tell them that the best way they can thank you is by leaving a review online. When asking for a review, you want to shy away from pushing or asking for a five-star review. It’s important to hear about your patients’ genuine experiences, so we recommend asking every patient for their feedback, and wording your request in that way. While asking for feedback in-person is a great start, there are a few other ways to kindly remind or prompt your patients to give you their feedback. One of those ways is through an email follow-up, where you can even go so far as to link your preferred review sites. Another great way to ask for feedback is through hand-written notes! This could be in the form of a thank-you note, a seasonal or holiday greeting, or a birthday card. People appreciate the time and effort it takes to write and send a letter, and even if they don’t end up writing a review, they will be more likely to refer you to a family member or friend and remember your practice when it comes time for them to get medical services.

Monitor and respond to your reviews

Once the reviews start pouring in, it’s important for you to be proactive about responding to them. Doing so boosts your credibility and likeability in the eyes of your audience. When you get a positive review, make sure to thank that patient for taking the time to leave you some feedback. When a negative review comes in, don’t panic. Though it may feel like a personal attack, people who leave negative reviews are usually feeling pretty bad, and that likely stems from feeling unheard, disregarded, or somehow not taken care of. It’s important to show your audience that you are receptive to all forms of feedback, and that you value the opportunity to improve your business or fix a bad situation. Simply responding to reviews is enough to show your audience that there is someone real on the other side of the screen who is paying attention to them. In a previous article, we outlined some of the best ways to handle your negative reviews. It is important to keep in mind that however you choose to respond and engage with your online audience, you must stay in compliance with HIPAA.

Learn how to navigate HIPAA when responding to your reviews

In the healthcare industry, it is important to remember that you have HIPAA to contend with, and that can be tricky land to navigate when it comes to responding to reviews online.

If you are worried about violating HIPAA when responding to your business’ online reviews, we suggest starting out by having a template you can draw from for both positive and negative reviews. First, you need to know what you can and can’t say, and then, you need to show your clients that you genuinely care about their experience, whether that experience was positive or negative. Even in the case of a positive review, it is important that you cannot confirm or give details about anyone’s time as a patient.

Keeping in mind that you need to avoid posting any information that identifies or confirms someone as a patient, saying something like, “I am sorry you had to wait longer than anticipated before being seen,” is in violation of HIPAA, as is, “I’m so glad you loved your experience with Dr. Mendoza!” Both of these phrases confirm that the person who left the review did, in fact, visit your practice as a patient.

When it comes to responding to a negative review, you could try something more like this:

“We strive to provide our patients with the best quality care and experience, and your feedback could help us improve. Please call our office at xxx-xxx-xxxx, and we will make the time to personally address any concerns.”

With this, you have shown a personal investment in the experience of your patients; you have highlighted a value that you hope to uphold or have shown your patients the way you hope to be known or are otherwise known; you have shown that you value feedback and are open to growth; you have shown future clients that you value online reviews, and you have not violated any of HIPAA’s privacy laws!

While not necessary, you could also feel free to mention HIPAA in your response. This might serve as a reminder to the reviewer that their concerns will not be solved or addressed further online, prompting them to take the conversation offline, as requested. If you wanted to mention HIPAA, you could add to your response:

“Due to HIPAA privacy laws, we cannot address your concerns publically, but we do want to connect with you and look forward to hearing from you.”

Inviting a patient to address their concerns offline shows them that you value them and their feedback. Oftentimes, when someone has negative feedback, their bad experience comes from a place of not feeling heard or valued. Use this opportunity to show them that this is not the case. Your actions could result in the person removing the negative review, updating it, or even becoming a loyal patient

Positive reviews deserve a little attention, too. A quick, HIPAA-safe response to a positive review shows your patients that you are paying attention to their feedback and care about them and their experience. One response could look like:

“Thank you for this feedback. We always strive to deliver the best in quality care, and we love to hear about positive experiences.”

Or:

“We value this positive feedback, and love to know when we’re doing something right. We try to always uphold our commitment to offering great value and excellent service. Thank you!”

Of course, you don’t want to copy and paste the same exact response to every single review and comment you receive, but hopefully, these templates can give you a place to start, so that you can feel confident and comfortable navigating the restrictions of HIPAA online. Remember to always be polite and professional, and to set an appropriate tone to any response you give.

Maintain a regular social media presence

Keeping an updated and interesting presence on social media is an effective way to keep in touch with your audience, earn some organic search traffic, and even give you some credibility as an expert in your field. Social media doesn’t have to be all selfies and hashtags; it can be a valuable way to show off what’s new and upcoming in your practice, highlight your exceptional staff, or even be a place where you publish articles specific to your industry. Especially in the medical field, you can show your patients that you are keeping up with the current trends and studies in the world of health and medicine, which is really important for many patients’ peace of mind! By doing this, you are not only providing useful and engaging content, but you are also establishing yourself as a leader in the industry. Maintaining a regular social media presence keeps you fresh in the eyes of your patients and gives them some familiarity with you and your practice. This might give them some extra incentive to leave you some positive feedback or share your profile with others. You can also lean into the fun side of social media and host giveaways, post silly photos, or share a bit about the behind-the-scenes life of your employees. This kind of post humanizes your practice and shows that you are fun and engaging, which can help to ease the nerves of patients who might be nervous about visits to the doctor.

We hope that these tips have been helpful to you and your business. If you are feeling ready to tackle your online reputation, we recommend getting started by claiming your business on Top Rated Local today!

The Importance of Online Reputation for Locksmiths

Posted on by Top Rated Local

Why Your Online Reputation Matters

Word of mouth and online reputation are vital to the success and growth of many small businesses, and that is especially true for locksmiths. The world of online reputation management may seem a bit much for your local, family-owned locksmith business, but it should not be overlooked or brushed off as being only helpful or important for younger generations. Let us fill you in on why your online reputation matters so much in the locksmithing industry and what you can accomplish by taking control of it!

People want to know that they can rely on a locksmith to offer prompt service at a reasonable price. For many, contacting a locksmith is something that is done in a moment of panic or necessity, so it is crucial to make a good first impression that reassures your customer and shows them that you are someone who is worth placing their trust in. Imagine the average person deciding they need a locksmithing service: perhaps the sun is setting, it’s getting cold, and they can’t get into their house! Or maybe they are on their way to a friend’s birthday party. They get in the car, turn it on, and start backing out the driveway, only to remember that they’ve left the gift on the dining room table. After retrieving the gift, they discover that they have locked their keys in their car. How are these people going to find a reliable locksmith? Most likely, they are going to start a frantic Google search! That is why it is so important for any reputable locksmith to make sure their company shows up on top and has some stellar reviews.

Unfortunately, there are many scammers and frauds out there looking to take advantage of people who are stuck and in need of quick locksmithing services. That has resulted in more and more people being wary or distrusting of locksmiths in general. These scammers generally work by flooding an area with fake phone numbers and business names, all of which sneakily link back to one operation. The person who shows up to perform the service will overcharge for lackluster work, often demanding cash, and will then vanish, becoming completely unreachable. Sometimes this kind of scam will even result in damaging the reputations of legitimate locksmiths, who may get flooded with angry calls because their name looks similar to the scam business.

One way you can help to stop people from getting scammed and boost your own business is to focus on having a strong online presence. Customers are more likely to trust you or see you as reliable when you pay attention to your online reputation. Think of Google, your website, and your social media pages as a more wide-reaching version of word of mouth. Here are some simple ways to take control of your online reputation today.

Claim Your Listings

Having verified listings helps to establish trust with your audience. Simply claiming the listings is enough to show your customers that yours is a valid business and that there really is someone on the other side of the screen. Claiming your listing also allows you to make edits or changes when it comes to important information, like your business name, address, and phone number. Especially in a market like the locksmithing industry that is so flooded with scammers, if a client tries to call you, but the listed number is disconnected, they are probably going to assume that your business is not a legitimate one. Claiming your business makes it easier for your clients to find you across multiple review platforms where they can leave you a review. It can also provide you an easy way to interact with your clients by compiling your reviews and allowing you to respond to them quickly. Locksmiths that have been in business for a while may have a long list of clients who could have left reviews across many different platforms, like Yelp, Home Advisor, Angie’s List, Facebook, and Google — Top Rated Local can help you keep track of where your reputation stands right now by bringing all of your reviews to one place!

Ask For Reviews

For locksmiths, customer reviews are incredibly important. When you consider the number of scams out there, you can understand why seeing real people leave their feedback about a business gives that business some credibility. Ninety-three percent of people say that online reviews impact their buying decisions, and 85 percent of consumers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Long story short, reviews matter. If you are feeling weird about asking your customers for a review, you can say something as simple as, “It would mean a lot to us if you could go online to provide us your feedback.” This helps show your customers that you care about their experience and gives you either glowing reviews or crucial feedback, as well as credibility and a stronger online presence. Online or off, there’s no doubt that communication is valued in the service industry. Online reviews give you a unique platform where you can communicate with your customer base quickly and publically. While positive reviews will help drive business your way, there is also the chance someone will have something negative to say about your business. This isn’t the end of the world, and, when handled correctly, even a negative review can be positive for you and your image. In the chance that a negative review comes in, you can quickly address the issue, showing potential customers that you are not only communicative, but that you also value customer feedback. In some cases, you can even turn around a bad review by addressing the customer’s concerns and showing them that you care about their experience.

Post Often

At the end of the day, familiarity forms trust. One simple way to show potential customers that your business is legitimate is to update your website and social media pages regularly. People generally tend to enjoy engaging with small businesses, so whatever you can do to interact with your customers will make you stand out in their minds. Post photos of your truck, give a shoutout to a loyal employee, post a blog about how you decided to be a locksmith, or host a giveaway on Facebook! If you can add this human element to your online presence, people are going to be more likely to trust you and remember you when they are in need of the service you offer. Your social media pages can give potential customers some great insight into who you are and how you run your business. If you post a new photo every Monday at 4 pm sharp, you may be seen as consistent. Maybe you post useful tips about home safety, showing clients that you are thoughtful, or maybe you share touching stories, showing your audience how much you care about the work you do. In any case, you have the power to take control of your reputation and image.

Make managing your reputation easy with Top Rated Local

Claim your businesses and start taking control of your online reputation today with the help of Top Rated Local. It’s never been easier to get started, and best of all, it’s free!

5 Useful Tips to Maintain a Great Online Reputation

Posted on by Top Rated Local

As a modern business owner, you know how helpful reviews can be to your business and you completely understand why an awesome online reputation is so important in 2018. But, when it comes to actually getting the reviews… you’re a little fuzzy, to say the least. Let us help you with that. At Top Rated Local®, we want your online reputation to be awesome just as badly as you do — yes, really. After all, our entire job is to make sure that good businesses are succeeding and that your potential customers know just how great you are! Here are five of the best things you can do to make sure your reviews are working for you:

1. Offer Rewards and Incentives

Everybody loves to be rewarded for their actions — especially when that reward is a chance to win something cool or get some sort of discount. For businesses, reward and incentive programs are an incredibly useful tool in soliciting online reviews. Many businesses choose to offer things, like free shipping, raffle entries, and promo codes or coupons for discounts ranging from 10 to 50 percent to those who choose to leave reviews. The best part about the reward program tactic is that it really shows your customers that you value their feedback, be it overwhelmingly positive or simply constructive.

2. Participate in the Appropriate Community Events

Participating in events around your local community is great for business. Being active in your community can not only bring in more business but also helps to get your business reviews. The key to success is to participate in the right community events. For example, your funeral home business may not want to advertise or ask for reviews at a high school football game. However, for a printing company, this might be a perfect opportunity to hand out free signs in support of the team with a prompt for reviews on the back. It’s all about finding what fits for you and your business.

3. Don’t Be Clingy

We’ve all been there — you buy something online or even in person, and a week and 10,000 “how did we do?” emails later, you’re hitting the spam button (and in all likelihood, never shopping there again). You wouldn’t accept this kind of behavior from a friend or a partner, so why would you accept it from a business? Don’t be the kind of business that overwhelms their customers just to get reviews. You want to remind your customers that you’re there, without begging for their reviews. We recommend gathering phone numbers and/or email addresses and sending out one review message (either email or SMS) per transaction.

4. Do Accept Feedback

No matter who you are or how well your business is doing, there are sure to be things that can be improved upon. If you’re getting the influx of reviews you want, chances are, not all of them are going to be overwhelmingly positive. Some may have some valuable feedback that you can build upon. In fact, growing in accordance to that feedback can make it so that future reviews are substantially more positive. After all, if one customer notices an issue, in all likelihood, others have too. You don’t want these issues to continue harming your online reputation.

5. Use Your Manners

This one takes it all the way back to preschool, where you learned to say “please” and “thank you”. Sending thank you messages after reviews encourages people you serve to continue updating every time they have a great experience with you. It will also show them how much you really do appreciate the effort they put into showing their appreciation and helping you better your business.

Bonus Tip: Use Top Rated Local®

Made to benefit both businesses and the consumer, Top Rated Local captures experience ratings from a wide range of review sources. This gives you a clear snapshot of your online reputation, as well as a numerical Rating Score™ that provides you with an idea as to how you’re doing overall. A useful tool for any business, Top Rated Local bases its ratings on the five pillars of quality, satisfaction, value, experience, and timelessness. See what this simple, yet useful feedback can do for your business by claiming your profile today.

The Power of Perception

Posted on by Robyn Rivera

Perception is a very powerful thing.

The old adage about perception has never been more true: “Perception is reality.” In essence, this saying means that what someone believes is what’s real to them, no matter if it reflects reality or not. For example, even if the sun is shining and there are no clouds in sight, the man who believes it’s raining will use an umbrella. This fact has major consequences for businesses who rely on the internet for new customers, which let’s face it, describes most businesses.

With online reviews, perceptions are made public.

People think of perception as mainly an inward thing, and it largely is, but with the internet, and more specifically online reviews, people’s inward perceptions about local businesses are being made public more and more.

Take a moment to think about the following scenario:

You’re a roofer who specializes in installing metal roofs. Metal roofs are more expensive than many other types of roofing systems, but they also last longer than most other types and require less maintenance, making them a value for customers.

Let’s say you installed a roof for an uninformed customer. They chose to go with a metal roof because they liked the way it looked or preferred a low-maintenance option, but they weren’t happy with how much it cost them and didn’t fully understand the added benefit of the longevity of the roof.

Said customer then goes onto Yelp or Google to tell the world about how you charged them an arm and a leg for their roof. Without any other context, prospective customers might believe that you swindle your clients out of money by charging them higher-than-average prices, and that particular perception could end up losing your business.

How to change the perception of your business online.

Luckily, one bad review won’t destroy your online reputation, but that doesn’t mean that you should let it go by the wayside. If you fail to control the situation, prospective customers could read the review, believe it and choose not to utilize your services because of it; in essence, the perception of the unhappy reviewer could easily become the perception of the prospective customer.

The good news is that you have the power to steer the conversation and change the perception of your business. Here’s how:

  • Get listed – In order for your side of the story to be the one prospective customers sees and believes, instead of the one unhappy customers paint, you must get your website listed and claim accounts on review sites. This will ensure that you control the conversation, and it gives you the ability to respond to commenters.
  • Respond to negative reviews – Always respond to your reviews, but especially to negative reviews. If your business dropped the ball or made a mistake, apologize, own up to the mistake and offer to redo the work for free or make it right in some other way. If the customer overacted to a minor problem or unavoidable inconvenience, you can kindly and professionally help to set the record straight in your response. And if you don’t believe that the review is legitimate, you can let the world know.
  • Gain more visibility – If there are articles, reviews or other things out there dragging down the perception of your business online, you may not be able to publicly respond to all of them or get them taken down, but you can help to push negative press about your business further and further down the search results. The best way to do this is by increasing the number of results that you can control or that show you in a more positive light. This is done by adding new pages and articles to your website regularly, posting on social media, sending out press releases, publishing videos on Youtube, etc.

Sign your business up for Top Rated Local to start changing the perception about your business.

In this day and age, the phrase, “Perception is reality,” has never been more true. Don’t let a negative perception cost you customers or prevent you from getting new ones. Take the first step toward controlling the conversation and changing the perception about your business by signing your business up for Top Rated Local today. It’s free to sign up, so you have nothing to lose. Get started today!

What We Learned About Reputation Management in 2018

Posted on by Robyn Rivera

The year that was 2018 is finally over.

Like any other year, 2018 had plenty of ups and downs, and plenty of breakthroughs and obstacles. It was the year when Cardi B’s “I Like It” reigned supreme and The Avengers Infinity Wars” dominated the box office. It was also the year that we learned even more about reputation management.

Every year, there are new things to learn about reputation management, and 2018 was no exception. And although we’re confident that 2019 will have just as many lessons for us where reputation management is concerned, it’s time to take a look back and last year’s most valuable lessons. Without further ado, here are the top seven lessons we learned about reputation management in 2018:

#1. Search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential part of reputation management.

A lot of business owners think that reputation management revolves around responding to reviews, and while this is certainly a critical piece in the puzzle, you’re going to miss a lot of opportunities if you don’t focus on the SEO of your website.

Managing your website’s SEO is a key part of reputation management because it gives you more control over what current and prospective customers see when they search for your company on search engines, like Google or Bing.

If your customers are inundated with bad reviews and negative press at the top of their search results when they google your company, it sends the wrong message and will have them running the other direction. But when you make SEO a priority, you can focus on publishing new articles, social media posts, press releases, etc. that will push negative press further and further down the search results.

#2. Bad reviews can be a good thing for your business.

Some business owners think bad reviews are the end of the world, and while it may not be fun to receive bad reviews, it’s not as detrimental as you may think for your business. Believe it or not, bad reviews can actually be a good thing for your business in many different ways.

For one, bad reviews make you appear more legitimate to prospective customers. Customers are suspect of businesses that only receive five-star reviews because they know that everyone is human and, therefore, makes mistakes. One bad review in a sea of good reviews shows customers your humanity, but it also shows them that you do your best to provide great service every time.

Another reason why bad reviews can be positive is that they increase the overall number of reviews you have. If you have all five-star reviews, but there are only four of them total, it’s not all that impressive. When customers research new companies to work with, they not only look at the average rating of reviews the company has, but also the number of reviews.

#3. Respond to both positive and negative reviews.

As we mentioned earlier, responding to your reviews is a very important part of successfully managing your online reputation. Not only does this mean that you should thank customers who leave you positive reviews, but it also means that you should follow up with customers who leave negative reviews.

Responding to a negative review restores the power to you, the business owner, because it allows you to address concerns and show off your customer service skills. If you own up to the issue, apologize and offer to make it right, you may regain the trust of a customer who was offended or annoyed, and you may even win over prospective customers who want to work with an honest company that will fix their mistakes.

#4. Great customer service is a must.

Regardless of the industry you work in, the market today can be an over-crowded place. If your business is like most, your competition is fierce, and there are many other businesses out there that offer similar products or services at a similar price point. This means that the only real way that you can set yourself apart — other than by drastically lowering your rates — is to provide the best customer service.

Here are just a few stats that demonstrate the importance of great customer service:

  • More than 50 percent of Americans have discarded a planned transaction or purchase due to poor customer service. – American Express
  • On average, Americans tell 11 people about a good experience, but they’ll tell 15 people if they’ve had a bad experience. – American Express
  • Poor customer service has led to the loss of more than $62 billion annually for companies in the U.S. – Newvoicemedia.com
  • After just one negative experience, more than half of all American consumers will never do business with the company again. – Newvoicemedia.com
  • Millennials will spend up to 21 percent more on a product or service for great customer service. – American Express
  • Seven out of 10 American consumers say they’ll spend more to work with a company that delivers exceptional customer service. – American Express
  • Delivering better customer service allows businesses to obtain average revenues that are 4 to 8 percent above market revenues. – Bain & Company

A lot of what you do to manage your reputation happens online; however, it all starts with the kind of service you provide for your customers day in and day out.

#5. Keep your emotions out of the equation.

Whether you’re posting on social media, writing a blog or adding a page to your website, it’s imperative that you keep your content professional at all times. This message is often confused, because in order to make an impact on your customers, it’s crucial to connect with them, and that is often done through messaging and advertising designed to tug at the heartstrings.

There’s a very big difference, however, in sharing an emotional story about how your product or service helped to change someone’s life than it is to rant on your business’ Twitter account about how you’re sick of working with customers who don’t appreciate the work you provide, or than it is to write a scathing reply to a negative review.

Keep your opinions and emotions to yourself when you’re representing your business. The world is a big, diverse place with people who all have different cultures, histories and religions. Don’t assume that your customers will agree with you, and don’t turn off prospective customers by allowing your emotions to take hold of you.

#6. Learn from customer feedback.

Reviews are great for so many reasons. For one, they allow your customers’ voices to be heard, making them feel empowered and listened to. Another reason why reviews are great is that they help prospective customers learn more about the businesses they are thinking of working with, giving them insight into the kind of service they can expect. And yet another reason why reviews are valuable is the incredible feedback they provide for businesses.

If you’re interested in providing the best possible service for your customers, you can learn a lot about how to do so by reading your customer reviews. If you have a lot of positive reviews, you can pinpoint the areas that you’re exceeding expectations, and you can highlight those things on your website along with the positive reviews.

On the other hand, if you have a lot of negative reviews, you can learn about the areas of your service that require improvement. Whether that means changing the expectations you set with your customers, switching up your team or giving your staff further training, negative reviews give you the information you need to provide better service for your customers.

#7. Ask for reviews!

It would be great if every customer that had a good experience would go out and write a positive review for your company on their own, but that’s just not how things work. As we learned in an earlier point, people are much more likely to share a bad experience than a good experience, which means that good service is often not incentive enough to get your customers to leave reviews.

Contrary to what many business owners think, there’s absolutely no shame in asking your clients for reviews, or even in incentivizing them to write reviews with discounts and giveaways. Even a simple, follow-up email that automatically gets sent to customers after their service or transaction has been completed can make a big difference in the number of reviews you get.

Start 2019 the right way by learning 2018’s most valuable reputation management lessons!

Last year may have been full of ups and downs, but it was a great year for learning valuable lessons about reputation management. Don’t let last year’s lessons fall by the wayside. Take them and learn from them, so that your business can find the success it needs to thrive in 2019.

In addition taking the lessons learned in 2018 to heart, one of the best things you can do for your business’ reputation is to sign up for Top Rated Local. We track, rank and score business from a variety of industries, giving businesses more control over their reputation and customers more insight into the businesses they are thinking of working with. Best of all, it’s free to sign up, so do so today!

Stats About Online Reputation Management for 2018: Part Two

Posted on by Top Rated Local

In part one of this blog, we discussed five of the 10 most important statistics for online reputation management in 2018 (if you haven’t read it yet, you can find it here). By now, you know how vital it is for any good business owner to have a firm grasp on the facts about online reputation management. You also likely have a pretty good idea of what good, professional reputation management looks like. However, there’s still more to learn. In part two of this blog series, we’ll talk about the other half. Let’s get started.

6. Quick issue resolution can lead to return customers 95% of the time.

Customers who leave negative reviews most often do so because they want to be heard (whether that’s by you or by other consumers). It is important to them that their issue is taken seriously and addressed properly. Because of that, it makes sense that almost 100 percent of people will return to a business that works on a resolution quickly after a negative review. When you resolve customer issues, they feel well taken care of.

7. Sixty-nine percent of job seekers would refuse to work for a company with a poor online reputation.

We all want to work for a good company. There’s a good chance that’s one of the biggest reasons you started a business. After all, it feels great being proud to tell someone where you work. In recent years, job seekers have started not only finding open positions on the internet, but they are also using it to research the companies they are considering applying with. Proper online reputation management can attract the best talent available, helping to keep potential applicants from forming a negative opinion of you before even applying.

8. Forty-two percent of people will not use a business with less than three stars.

Think about it — you’re on your favorite review site, scrolling through businesses that fit the description of what you need… then, you come across a business with two-and-a-half stars. That looks pretty striking next to the five-star reviews you’re seeing advertised all over the site, and definitely not in a good way. That’s when you make the judgment call that this company may not be able to provide the quality of service that you want to invest your hard-earned money in. Chances are, your potential customers will react the same way if your score is lacking.

9. Six reviews are enough for 73% of your community to form an opinion on your business.

When choosing a business to use, wasting time isn’t exactly ideal. In fact, as a business owner, you probably fully understand that wasting time is generally not ideal. With each review averaging around 200 characters, only slightly shorter than a Tweet, potential customers will likely only take the time to read a few of yours, seeing as you more than likely aren’t the only business they’re researching. By managing your online reputation effectively, you can virtually ensure that they see something positive.

10. Sixty-five percent of people believe reviews are a big part of their ultimate decision to use a company or not.

Sixty-five percent — that’s a large majority. This statistic just goes to show how vital it is to be actively involved in maintaining a positive online reputation for your business. You don’t want to be the business that those sixty-five percent of people completely disregard, due to the fact that your reviews are overwhelmingly negative, nonexistent, or handled poorly by your team. You want to be the business that instills confidence in that majority, helping you to gain customers and helping them to actually get the best of the best.

Are you interested in building and maintaining a better online reputation for your business? Sign up for Top Rated Local® today. Our five-pillar experience and rating-based system was built specifically to help small business owners regain control of their online reputation, and it helps both businesses and consumers get accurate online reviews. As a business owner, you can trust in Top Rated Local to make sure to help mitigate things like fake reviews and acts of malintent from dissatisfied customers, while making sure that your good reviews show up well enough for any researching potential customer to see.

Sources:
https://blog.reputationx.com/online-reputation-management-statistics

50 Important Stats You Need to Know About Online Reviews [Infographic]

How Online Reviews Will Impact Your Practice in 2018

2018 ReviewTrackers Online Reviews Survey

Why Your Business’ Online Reputation Matters

Posted on by Robyn Rivera

Back in the day, businesses built their reputation offline through referrals and word-of-mouth reviews. Today, though, with the ability to search the internet from anywhere and everywhere, consumers often look for businesses online. Your business’ reputation, whether it’s online or offline, is hugely important. The only difference between the two is that your reputation online is easily accessible by everyone and anyone.

No matter what size your business is in or what industry it’s in, your business’ online reputation matters.

Your business’ online reputation can either be a blessing or a curse, especially in this day and age, and it’s more important than ever before for businesses to be in the know about their online reputation, and about what they can do to make it better.

7 Reasons Why Your Business’ Online Reputation Matters

#1. Consumers research businesses before working with them.

Today, 97 percent of consumers make it a point to read reviews before they make purchases online. Not only is this true when consumers are buying products online, but they’ll also read reviews and research local, service-based companies, like dentists, roofers, etc., before working with them. It’s essential for the success of your business that you know what those customers will find, and that, if you have a negative online image, you work to turn it around.

#2. People will buy from companies they trust.

Chances are, your business isn’t the only one that offers the products or services that you do. The simple fact is that the business world of today is a competitive one, and with so much competition out there, building trust in your customers is more important than ever before. Without word-of-mouth referrals, your business’ online reputation is the one and only way consumers can learn about you and decide if they trust you or not.

#3. A solid online reputation will increase your business’ visibility.

In a world where most people search for everything from shoes to plumbers online, businesses of every size need a website. But simply having a website won’t help you if it’s not visible on the first page of the results on Google and other search engines. People rarely look past that first page of search results, and having a solid online reputation and multiple positive reviews can go a long way toward helping your website rank on page one.

#4. Your values are important to prospective customers.

Consumers have a lot of options when it comes to purchase decisions, and more and more, if a consumer has a choice between a company that shares their values and one that doesn’t, they’ll choose the former. Everything about your online reputation, including the kind of reviews you get, tells your customers about the values you hold dear, and those values play an important role in whether or not your customers make purchases from you.

#5. People trust other people.

When a company presents themselves to prospective clients, they are always going to want to put their best foot forward. A business is not going to tell a potential client that they are slower than another business or that they will use shoddy materials to get the job done. Every business claims to be the best, but not every business actually is the best. That’s why people trust people a lot more than they trust businesses, and it’s also why online reviews play such a key role in convincing customers to use your services or buy your products.

#6. People may try to trash your business online.

For better or for worse, your online reputation is vitally important. Unhappy customers, disgruntled ex-employees and your competitors understand this, and some of them may try to tarnish your reputation by leaving fake or illegitimate reviews online. If you’re not in the know about your online reputation, how can you possibly manage those fake reviews? Luckily, illegitimate reviews can often be disputed and removed, and closely monitoring your online reputation will give you the ability to catch and address fake and negative reviews before they have a chance to ruin your reputation.

#7. A strong reputation gives you a leg-up on your competitors.

If your business and another business offers a similar product or service, and your business has a long list of outstanding reviews while the competition has negative reviews, the probability is high that the consumer will choose your business over the competition. At the end of the day, your online reputation can give you a competitive edge that could be the difference between success and failure.

Everything you do affects your business’ online reputation.

Now that you know why your business’ online reputation matters and how much of an impact it can have on your success, you need to understand that every single thing you do as a business will affect its online reputation, even if you don’t realize it. That’s why it’s important to take an active role in managing your business’ reputation.

Become a Top Rated Local® Business today!

The importance of a solid online business reputation can’t be overstated, and no one understands this quite as well as we do at Top Rated Local. Signing up for Top Rated Local is 100-percent free, and it will help your business become more visible and get found for more “near me” searches in your area. To learn more about Top Rated Local and how it benefits both businesses and consumers, visit us online. And to start experiencing the many benefits of being a Top Rated Local business, sign up today!