Hardwood Floors December 2017/January 2018

BUSINESS BEST PRACTICES MARKETING How to Leverage the Power of Online Reviews

How to use review sites to your advantage Review sites can be a great selling tool, but it won’t happen without a li le work. • First, fully complete your company pro le, making sure all information is correct and updated including your company’s name, address, phone numbers, business hours, website, service area, business categories, credentials, and brands represented. • Use pictures of projects, people, products and anything else that accurately re ects your company’s brand. • Solicit positive reviews from satis ed customers – on your website, in emails, on receipts, in person. According to the BrightLocal survey, 50 percent of customers will leave a review if asked. • Prevent negative reviews by using a call to action like “Not happy with our work or our products? Please tell us so we can make it right.” Actively posting helpful content and engaging review site users by answering questions, solving problems, or participating in conversations will also help promote a positive online image. How to monitor review sites “Online reputation management” is a combination of Search Engine Online review sites can be some of your best lead generators. In fact, a whopping 84 percent of people trust online reviews as much as the recommendation of a friend or family member. This is from a 2016 BrightLocal Consumer Review Survey which also revealed:

• 92% of consumers now read reviews online. • 74% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more. • 68% of consumers form an opinion by reading just one to six reviews. • 60% of consumers say that negative reviews make them not want to use a business.

Optimization (SEO), public relations, and social monitoring strategies. Start by monitoring how your company is perceived online. Here’s how: Check sites individually. e simplest, although most time-consuming, route to monitor what others are saying is to regularly check and search all platforms, not just the ones where your company has a presence. Use Google Alerts. When lling in keywords, use both correct and incorrect spellings of your company name. Use positive, negative and neutral terms – ABC Floors best, ABC Floors worst, ABC Floors refund, ABC Floors issue, ABC Floors workmanship, etc. Pay for a service. Firms that specialize in online reputation management will provide SEO and other strategies to push negative content lower in search engine results. Many o er other services for improving your online image. Before hiring a service, spend some time internally managing your online image. It’s not that di cult; it just takes a li le time and a ention.

are less likely to keep talking about their negative experience. Here’s how to do it: • Respond promptly. However, if your immediate response sounds angry or hostile, sleep on it and edit it the next day. • Acknowledge the situation and apologize for any mistakes. At the minimum, apologize for the inconvenience or misunderstanding. • Explain what led to the problem and how or why it occurred, especially if the explanation is reasonable. e tone should be explanatory, but not sound like excuse-making. • Address the person’s concerns directly and correct any inaccuracies. • Discuss what’s being done to x it or prevent it from happening again. • Write like a real person, not a corporate entity; be conversational yet businesslike. • Close with an invitation to talk privately and provide a phone number and email. • When communicating privately, o er to provide restitution or otherwise correct the situation, if warranted. Some people may not respond positively, even a er every e ort to resolve the issue. In that case, let it go and move on.

How to respond to negative reviews

According to Vendesta.com, 95 percent of unhappy customers will return to a business if their issue is resolved quickly and e ciently. Further, satis ed customers

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