Today, companies do most of their marketing online. And it is a complicated network of different solutions. Running a website, blogging, promoting on social networks, advertising, and more. Still, one thing connects all those solutions. Engaging with your customers. Responding to reviews, for example, has proven to be one of the best things you can do for your business. Still, there are different types of reviews. And you should know how to respond. Unfortunately, it is not easy to respond to every type of review. Especially negative criticism. That is why AZ Citation Services has prepared this small guide to help you communicate with your clients better.
Your customers think that you should respond to every type of review
First of all, you need to understand what reviews mean to your customers and why it is so important to respond to them. Most of your customers will visit the review section of your page. If they see too many negative reviews they will start to avoid your business. More than half of those who leave a review will give you a week to respond to a negative review. You can expect that half of the people you responded to will return to your business. This all shows that your customers expect you to respond to their messages and comments. If you do not have the time, will, or you just do not like to do this, maybe it is better to turn the commenting section off. That way no one will feel ignored and deserted.
Your responsiveness affects your SEO. Want to rank better on Google? Engage with your customers
Besides the obvious communication between a business and a customer, there is one more thing that makes responding to comments important. Have you ever wondered how do online reviews affect local SEO? Well, as it turns out, Google does consider your responsiveness. And if you really think about it there is nothing strange about it. Google tries to make the best possible environment for regular users. This means that it wants to look at your website, for example, from the visitors’ point of view. So whatever is important to users it is important to Google. We already established that people care about reviews. And they care whether you respond to them or not. That is also what Google is looking for. If you want to rank up on search engines, respond to your reviews.
There are three types of reviews. Negative, positive, and neutral
Now that you understand that customers care about engaging with your business and that responding to reviews is one of the SEO tips to improve your rankings it is time to learn how to do it. Essentially you will see three types of reviews. Negative, positive, and neutral. Of course, you want to approach every type differently. Still, no matter whether you are responding to a negative or positive review it is very important to stay calm, polite, and helpful. When it comes to business, you cannot let your emotions overrun you. If you feel that after reading a review you are losing control over your emotions, step away from the keyboard, wait for some time to cool down, and then try to respond politely.
How to respond to negative reviews
Of course, you will have the most difficulties with responding to negative reviews. Bad reviews can hurt your feelings so much that you do not have the will or courage to respond. However, responding to these types of reviews is most important. And how you do it can seriously affect your business. Remember, even though you are talking to one person, there are many more people that will see your conversation and decide whether to use your services based on how you respond. Luckily, it is not so difficult to turn a negative situation into a positive one.
However, sometimes it is easy to get overrun by negative reviews. Especially on social networks. Luckily responding to reviews is not one of the Twitter SEO tips you need to apply for your business. And there are other ways to handle this. Here’s how to respond to a genuine negative review.
- Address your reviewer politely.
- Show some appreciation. Thank them for using your services and for taking the time to leave a comment.
- Apologize for any inconvenience you have caused them
- Show them that you understand their hurt
- Take responsibility for your mistakes
- Try to make things right
- Take further discussion offline
How to respond to positive reviews
Naturally, you will have the easiest job of responding to positive comments. At least from the emotional point of view. Still, responding to a positive comment is an opportunity to further improve your business. Especially if you know how to do it.
- Express appreciation
- Identify things that they like about your business and mention them
- Give your customer a compliment
- Let them know that you expect to see them again
- Mention your other services, sales, events, etc.
How to respond to neutral reviews
Finally, you need to learn how to address negative reviews. They are, after all, a part of your growing community. And ignoring them would show you in a bad light in front of other spectators. Usually, neutral reviews will be short, lack information, and they can turn out either way. Your job is to identify the way the conversation is headed and use some of the techniques you used for positive and negative reviews. It should look something like this:
- Thank your reviewer
- Emphasize the positive side of the story
- Deal with negative
- Finish offline
If you cannot respond to every type of review, turn off your commenting section
As you can see it is not so difficult to talk to your customers. However, it is important to respond to every type of review. If for any reason, you cannot do it regularly, it is better to disable comments on your page.
