Getting good reviews as a business is a hard battle, but one that’s worth cracking. It doesn’t matter how flawless the rest of your marketing plan is, if you’re getting bad reviews then your target market is going to notice, and they’ll start taking their business elsewhere. Once you’ve got the good customer reviews rolling in though, it’s important to know exactly what to do with them to ensure that they’re doing the maximum amount of good possible. We’ve rounded up a list of all of the ways that a good review can help you and exactly how to make them work.
Be Your Own Reviewer
Whether you’re still struggling to get customers to review you or not, there’s nothing to stop you from writing your own reviews. Now, we’re not encouraging you to get onto Google Businesses and start faking reviews; rather, you should be ensuring that your website is an enormously positive review in itself. You should be including examples of the great work that you do, the happy customers that you’ve had, and generally singing your own praises.
Think of your business website like a CV. Some of us find it hard to boast, but this is exactly the place where you have to do it; not only that, but people will be expecting it. A good example of the power of being your own reviewer can be seen with UK online casinos. These sites have to differentiate themselves from a crowded marketplace, so grabbing the attention of potential customers by highlighting their best features is essential. Including the relevant information in eye-catching font formats and making them stand out prominently from the rest is one tried and tested way to do so.
Appear in the Right Places
Now that your website is a masterpiece, it’s time to start making sure that your customer reviews are appearing in the right place. This is one of the simplest ways to make your business stand out from the crowd and it doesn’t have to cost you any money at all. Everybody knows which sector their business operates in, so search for review websites that are specific to your sector.
If you’re a restaurant or hotel then a Trip Advisor listing is essential; similarly, if you’re a local tradesperson then Yelp is the perfect place to start. Get your listing up and running (it can be done in a matter of minutes), and then ask your happy customers to leave reviews. Some people are put off by the potential for negative reviews, but if your business is doing genuinely good work then you needn’t be afraid. Fraudulent or misleading reviews will be dealt with by the review site if they’re genuinely false, so don’t be afraid of people targeting you. The good reviews will speak for themselves.
Get Professionally Reviewed
A professional review can be a great asset to your company, especially if you’re selling a product rather than a service. Usually, when people are considering making a major purchase, such as a new laptop, mobile phone, or even white goods, they’ll head to a review website that is specific to whatever they want to buy. Which is another popular review site that employs specialists to review products, coming up with genuinely impartial reviews that their readers can trust.
Before you get reviewed by a company like this it’s important that your product is flawless, as you’ll be going up against the best of the best. However, a good review in a magazine like Which, or on a dedicated review website, will stand out to customers and make them far more likely to shop with you over the competition. Don’t be dissuaded – let the professionals have their say.