We’ve heard it over and over — people trust brands through the opinions of people they know and trust. Whether it be friends, family or coworkers, 92 percent of consumers trust recommendations from others, even people they don’t know, over branded content (reported by Adweek). This is especially true for local businesses; often with smaller budgets to compete with big names, glowing reviews are an element of marketing that can make the difference between closing the deal or watching it walk out the door.
Many businesses, however, aren’t setting themselves up for success when it comes to online reviews — and they should be! Along with the increased reputation that comes from online reviews, brands of any size can typically expect a bump in website traffic. Sounds great, right? But reviews don’t come out of nowhere, so you’ll want to do a few key things to make sure what your customers are saying ultimately benefits you.
Tips on Getting More Website Traffic from Reviews
“Claim” your business.
The directories you want to be active on are specific to your industry, so it is important to make sure you’ve “claimed” your business and set up the proper accounts. Claiming all the appropriate profiles is time consuming, but if you delegate the task or hire a reputable agency to do it for you, it is well worth the time and money. One prime example: I recently read a review on Yelp for a local Chinese restaurant that boasted the customer “loved the online ordering.” Unfortunately for that business, they didn’t claim their profile and associate a URL with their restaurant. Hopefully someone will Google their menu and online ordering system to find it, but who knows if Suzy-customer will find the right business when they search? They might end up going with another restaurant!
Encourage your customers to review you on Google.
Google loves sharing relevant results with its users, and if your business has positive reviews associated with its Google My Business page, your likelihood of coming up higher in local search results increases. More visibility in local search = more website hits. Not sure how to ask for reviews? Don’t be shy! Often, your most enthusiastic customers won’t mind taking a few minutes to share their experience if you simply tell them you’d appreciate their help.
Monitor and respond to reviews.
While you don’t have to respond to positive reviews, it’s a great idea to say thanks — after all, people are going out of their way to say something nice about you! What can’t be ignored, however, is responding to any complaints that might be brought up during a review. We’d like to think that the only customers who are going to leave reviews are the ones who had a positive experience, but that simply isn’t always the case. It’s a good idea to be prepared to deal with snide remarks or nasty comments maturely, and if possible, take the conversation offline. Provide an email address or phone number where the offended party can talk to your personally about the issue. Ultimately, people reading reviews will appreciate the time you’ve taken to respond to everyone personally.
Appreciation leads to more goodwill, and goodwill (theoretically) to more website visits!
Now that you’ve learned some new tricks for yourself, take the rest of the year to plant some holiday cheer. Spread a little love to your favorite local businesses by alerting them of profiles they may have missed, or by leaving them a positive review. Let’s get everyone some traffic in 2016!
