What's your company's online reputation like? How do customers know if they can trust the quality and service of your brand? Well, 93% of customers would answer "online reviews" - That's how they decide which business to buy from, or work with. So, given it's so important, do you have a strategy to improve and manage your online reputation?

Transcript of video

One of the most important and most effective ones for most businesses is online reviews.

Online reviews have never been so important. It probably won’t surprise you to know that 93% of customers read online reviews before making a purchasing decision? Unfortunately, in the same way that bad news spreads better than good news, people are more likely to leave a negative review. In fact, only 6% of people who have a positive experience will leave a review! This can be a huge issue for businesses and potentially harming their online reputation because it can seem like there is a higher rate of negative experiences than there actually is in real life.

So, how can you protect your company’s reputation and capture more of that positive feedback? Well, there are absolutely some proven strategies to help your business bring that number up from 6% to as high as 68%.

Just quickly, here are 5 simple steps to get more positive reviews.

1. You’ve gotta ask for them! Otherwise people don’t even think about it. I’m always baffled by how many businesses just hope that people will go to the trouble of getting out their phone, searching for their business, and taking time to write a review, all without being asked.
2. Time is of the essence – this is the most crucial element when requesting positive reviews – timing! We find that people are more likely to write a review when it’s fresh in their minds, and right when they are at their most satisfied with your service. And preferably do it in person if you can, rather than only via email or sms. And so…
3. Personalisation is key – your business has so far been personal in dealing with the customer, so make sure you use their first name in emails or sms, and say more than just ‘Please rate my business’ – personalise it. But…
4. Make it easy – Don’t make it too hard or too many clicks. For example, our stats indicate that sending a review invite via SMS is more effective compared to email marketing – it seems more personal, it’s something they check immediately, and it’s easy. One of the best ways to make it easy is…
5. Know your review link – Most people don’t even know that that you can create a short, memorable, direct link to leave a google review for your company. Most people have to tell people to google it or search for their Facebook page, which is too hard!

For example, try this cubeonline.com.au/reviews. That’ll take you straight to our list of google reviews and you can leave a review right there.

Give it a go, and I’ll see you in the next video, and I’ll give you some examples of how to ask for online reviews.