Should I Respond to Customer Reviews? #FAQuesday

Word of mouth travels much faster these days with the dawn of the digital age. Reviews can spread like wild fire and do wonders for your online presence. That’s why we at The Web Guys put so much emphasis on our clients inspiring customer reviews. Not only do good reviews attract new customers and leads, they can lead to higher rankings on Google and other search engines. Recently, Google added a snippet to their “Improve Your Local Ranking” support page that highlights how important it is to respond to all customer reviews.

While it’s always been important to respond to negative review, this new update from Google solidifies just how important customer reviews are for your business. Let’s go over some best practices when it comes to writing responses.

Stay Brief

Get in, say thanks, get out. There’s no need to get long winded, even if it’s in response to a negative review. If you have more to say than can be expressed in a few brief sentences, ask the customer to contact you. In the case of a positive review, briefly thank them for the review, and let them know that you enjoyed having them as a customer. Simply acknowledging the review is the most important part.

Mix it Up

There’s no need to make sure that every response is 100% different, but don’t get too carried away with copy/paste responses. The whole point of this process is showing that you care and that you’re human. Taking a few extra seconds to personalize the response with the person’s name and a reference to whatever service they received will go a long way.

Remain Professional

Chances are, you’ll run into a negative review at some point. The absolute key here is to stay calm. No matter how mean, angry, or outspoken the review may be, it is essential that you remain pleasant. Apologize for the inconvenience and thank them for their feedback. Again, if the conversation requires more attention, direct them to contact you through another means – by phone, email, etc. There’s no need to “air the dirty laundry” so to speak.

Still curious about reviews or other digital marketing needs? We’d love to help you out with website design, software development, and coming soon: Review Management! Contact The Web Guys today at (317) 805-4933 for more details. Already a client? Write us a review. We’d really appreciate it.