It may not come as a huge surprise that positive online reviews are crucial to lead generation. After all, many consumers trust online reviews as much as they trust their friends’ and family members’ accounts of their experiences with local businesses.
Today’s consumers are savvy enough to do some quick research before making a purchase, even if it’s a spur-of-the moment decision. For this reason, the management of your brand’s online reputation, including its online reviews, is absolutely essential to generating leads and improving your customers’ overall experience.
While this is an incredibly important part of running your business, you may find reputation management to be easier said than done. There are many moving parts involved in this process, from encouraging happy customers to leave reviews and responding to negative feedback to highlighting your customers’ stories on different platforms. It can be a lot to juggle, but the results are always worth the effort.
Check out our roadmap to growing your leads through online feedback below.
Start by Implementing a System
It’s best to have a system in place to capture feedback after transactions occur. This will help keep reviews recent and continuous. It will also boost the volume of total reviews available for potential customers to view.
One of the most convenient and effective ways to implement such a system is through the use of customer engagement software that allows you to seamlessly keep up with customer feedback.
Having a system in place that keeps your finger on the pulse of the customer experience is also key to dealing with negative feedback. That way, you can resolve issues as soon as they appear and prevent customer reactions that could otherwise take points off your hard-earned review score.
Focus on Developing Rapport with Customers
Without a close connection with your customers, it will be difficult to find natural opportunities to encourage them to provide a testimonial about their experience with your brand. That’s why building relationships with customers throughout the purchase journey is so important.
If you’re always engaging with consumers and are facilitating an experience they love, it will be easy to identify long-time users and outspoken individuals who are ready to share their stories.
Authentic, Engaging Content has the Biggest Impact
Your overall review score is vital to your brand’s reputation, but not all aspects of reputation management are quantifiable. Ensuring the quality and authenticity of reviews is also crucial to establishing a credible brand image online.
For this reason, visual content is a great resource to add to your toolkit. After all, if a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth exponentially more! Don’t hesitate to invest in filming a handful of enthusiastic customers who authentically represent the different personas you’re aiming to target.
Feature Reviews on Multiple Platforms
You’ve worked hard to obtain your reviews. Why hide them away on Google My Business when you can feature them on various platforms, so potential customers get a second and third look at this valuable feedback?
Your website, Facebook page, YouTube Channel, and email signature are just a few of the many spaces you can use to highlight recent reviews and video testimonials. The more places you can display evidence of satisfied customers, the more trust you’ll be able to garner and thereby generate leads that also result in loyal customers.
