Everyone loves a good compliment.
It just feels great when someone tells you how you made their life better or that you just look MAHVELOUS! For business, especially today in this social economy, reviews DO matter and are more than just a “feel good” opportunity. They can be a referral-generating engine and free positive advertising. Getting positive reviews from your clients is definitely outside of your control, but there are some ways to encourage more reviews, of the GOOD kind.
- Be sure you have someone on your staff in charge of monitoring reviews regularly. Whether you are using Yelp or another online reviewing resource, if your audience believes no one’s watching, they will think: what’s the point? Or worse, how can I shake them up with a really awful review? Whoever is in charge of your social media is a likely target to stop by your forums to comment on the good remarks and answer to those that may not be so good. Be sure to attempt to address issues by making them right whenever you can.
- It seems obvious that if you want something you will ask for it, but many businesses fail to ever ask. When you have completed your business with a client, be sure to follow up with an email or better yet, a phone call and ask for their feedback. Let your clients know you take their reviews seriously and truly value their feedback.
- Depending on your practice area and audience demographic, you will want to make several ways available for them to tell you what they thought of your services. For an older demographic, an email survey might make more sense. If your audience is younger, Twitter or Facebook groups are a great place to encourage this. If you serve a wide range of ages, keep all of your options open.
- Respond quickly to negative experiences. It always feels challenging, especially when you are certain that your firm staff did nothing wrong, to acknowledge the problem and offer options to resolve it. Yet, if you do nothing, the negativity festers. When you attempt to offer a solution, it’s not uncommon for the negative post to be updated with a resolved comment. When you react quickly and correctly, poor relations can be restored!
- Give your audience simple ways to share their love about your services. Suggest a review site landing page or send emails with links to your social media sites. Younger audiences tend to get turned off when they are pushed to give good reviews, however, it never hurts to simple ask for a “review” rather than a “GOOD REVIEW”.
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