Online reviews aren’t meant to be left unattended
As mentioned in a previous MyDev article titled “Updating Existing Review Systems is Critical,” replying to online reviews is important. Whether the reply is to a positive or negative comment is irrelevant. The effort is what shows the character of the organization and breeds a reputation of empathy and caring with the customer.
To understand how to frame and reply to online reviews, here are some helpful tips according to an HBR article “5 Principles for Responding to Customer Reviews”
Address a positive online review by providing a generic, short response.
While a simple “thank you” is not helpful, even a customized longer response can come across as promotional or ingenuous. Irevu, an online review service offered at MyDev.com, recommends staying on point, and only addressing the positive comment with a longer response if it’s genuine.
Try relating to an experience you or the business remembers with the client/customer.
Respond quickly to all negative online reviews
HBR says “Negative online reviews impact buying decisions and potentially lead to some consumers avoiding some businesses entirely.” Further, it states “A manager’s response to a negative online review potentially prevents a subsequent negative review, because a future reviewer can observe prior complaint management interactions for a complaint similar to their own.” This is exactly what the service specialists at irevu focus on. Thanks to irevu’s proprietary review feed, a manager or full-service specialist get notified as soon as the negative review is published so that an appropriate response can be written. When responding to a negative review, users should keep in mind that it’s not just the angry customer that’s being addressed, but all future potential unhappy customers as well. Thus, one must tailor their response with genuine empathy, intention, or feedback.
In the end, HBR’s researchers found that “both independent and chain businesses benefited from the strategies outlined above,” but “chain businesses saw the most lift from using it” because “Customers expect independent businesses to interact more with them and they are not surprised when they receive a response to their comment.” Since irevu keeps users alerted whenever a review is published, the onus is on them to actively manage reviews.
For more help improving your online business reputation, consider using irevu.
Irevu is an online service that makes it easy for your customers to leave positive reviews on sites that matter in less than 2 clicks while channelling unhappy customers to private, offline resolutions.
Irevu makes the difference, and if you don’t feel like actively managing business reviews, no worries, MyDev users can sign up for its full-service option. Simply pay and watch the review ratings grow without stressing over resolutions with unhappy customers*.
Try irevu it today at MyDev.com
For further questions: hello@irevu.com or call 224–279–1076
