This step is vital in the buying process for many consumers, which is why every local business should take it seriously. Responding appropriately serves several purposes, including building trust and credibility within the community and demonstrating that you care about your customers and are willing to make improvements when needed.

It’s also important to address reviews across all platforms where consumers can leave feedback. Google is the most widely used review platform and plays a major role in your business’s visibility. Responding to Google reviews can boost your local SEO, making it easier for potential customers to find you.

That said, it’s equally essential to respond on other platforms. Facebook, the most popular social media site, offers a powerful opportunity to connect with your local community. Reviews on Facebook are often highly visible, especially in neighborhood groups and local pages.

Other platforms to monitor include Yelp, Trustpilot, and TripAdvisor, among many others. All contribute to building a sense of community around your business, so making review engagement a regular part of your weekly, or even daily, routine is critical.

This guide will walk you through how to respond to every type of review, because each one matters. But before we dive into response strategies, let’s explore the kinds of reviews you’re likely to encounter and how best to handle them.

Types of Reviews

Determining the type of review is the first step in crafting an appropriate response. Most review sites make this easy by using a star rating system, typically ranging from one to five stars. While this is a helpful starting point, it’s crucial to read each review in full before deciding how to respond. Some five-star reviews may include minor complaints, while some one- or two-star reviews might contain positive remarks.

With that in mind, here are the four main types of reviews found across most platforms:

Positive Reviews

The most welcome of the bunch, positive reviews praise your business, whether it’s your products, services, customer experience, or staff interactions. These are the reviews you hope to see most often, as they’re likely to influence potential customers to choose your business over competitors. While usually rated four or five stars, some three-star reviews may still contain positive comments worth acknowledging.

Negative Reviews

Although no one likes receiving negative feedback, these reviews present a valuable opportunity to show that you care. Addressing real issues shared by customers allows you to demonstrate your professionalism and dedication to improvement. By responding thoughtfully, you can turn a bad experience into a positive impression. These reviews typically appear as one- or two-star ratings.

Neutral Reviews

Neutral reviews are becoming increasingly rare, but they still deserve attention. Usually rated at three stars, these reviews don’t clearly fall into the “positive” or “negative” category and often reflect an average experience. They may highlight both strengths and areas for improvement, making them a good opportunity to earn repeat business with the right response.

Troll Reviews

Troll reviews are fake, malicious, or exaggerated posts that provide little to no constructive feedback. They may come from disgruntled customers, competitors, or even random internet users. These reviews often stand out due to excessive punctuation, emojis, ALL CAPS, or language that doesn’t appear genuine. While you may easily identify them as illegitimate, others may not, which means it’s still important to respond appropriately. Troll reviews can have any star rating but tend to be extreme without clear justification.

Responding To Reviews

Now that you’ve identified the type of review you’ve received, it’s time to craft your response. While some businesses opt for canned replies for each review type, the best practice is to personalize every response. This gives you a valuable opportunity to stand out from competitors and genuinely connect with your community.

Instead of using a template, follow these tips to respond effectively to all types of customer reviews and experiences:

Positive Review Responses

Though they’re not always providing critical feedback and may just want to praise your business, it’s still crucial to show your appreciation for a positive review. It can further cement that you have a customer for life, and perhaps more importantly, an advocate you can rely on in the future.

Here are some tips for responding to positive reviews:

• Personalize each reply, which means addressing specific aspects of the review that the customer enjoyed about your business. If the review mentions they had a good experience with customer service or that a product worked as intended, be sure to reference those details in your response. This shows that you read through the review and valued their input.
• Be genuine, as it goes a long way towards showing your appreciation for your customers. It signals to readers that you actively participate in the community, and it reinforces their behavior, which can lead to a return to your business and even word-of-mouth referrals. 
• Explicitly encourage additional interactions, such as suggesting a product that complements another they’d previously used or simply expressing your excitement to interact with them next time. However, be careful not to push too hard, as it could become off-putting and deter the reviewer. 
• If a customer took the time to highlight your business, maximize this opportunity by returning the favor and showcasing them in your marketing campaigns. Feature their praise on your website, social media posts, and any other platform that has space for their opinion. Turning praise into promotion can be a major win for your brand.

Negative Review Responses

Negative reviews can be hard to digest, but they’re just as important to read and respond to as positive reviews. According to GatherUp, which surveyed 1,200 US-based consumers, 69% expect to see an apology for a customer’s poor experience. It’s an opportunity to prove you hear your customers and value their feedback, while also improving your business operations. It can also influence those who’ve had a negative experience to return and give your business another chance.

Here are a few tips for responding to negative feedback:

• Start by taking responsibility for the poor experience and offering a sincere apology. Show your respect with a mature response that doesn’t come off as defensive or dismissive of their criticism. Remember, this response won’t just be read by the person who submitted the review, but anyone trying to learn more about your business through reviews. 
• Resolve the issue to the best of your ability. Propose a solution in the form of a replacement, refund, or store credit, but be sure not to over-promise.
• Some issues can’t be resolved from a single message and require a deeper understanding. Providing your contact information to continue the conversation offline allows for more time to resolve the issue and avoid a long dispute. Once an issue is resolved, be sure to follow up and ensure no other issues have arisen. This could even lead to future positive reviews from those who rated your business poorly in the past.
• If someone’s review led to a change in your business, let them know. Whether you tell publicly or privately is your decision, but either is a powerful way to show you heard their complaints rather than brushing them off. 

Neutral Review Responses

These reviews are the most frequently overlooked by business owners, as they don’t present themselves as an initial priority. However, every review deserves a response, and neutral feedback should be treated equally important. They offer the chance to tip the scales in your favor and turn them into a positive review by the end of the process. 

Here are tips for responding to neutral reviews:

• As with all reviews, start by thanking them for taking the time to provide their thoughts. While on the surface it may not appear as valuable as other reviews, it can end up just as important.
• If they kept their feedback generic, ask for specifics. It shows you’re interested in what they have to say and can lead to helpful criticism that others may agree with.
• Like negative reviews, neutral reviews may have a complaint, and it’s usually relatively minor. Treat it the same as a major issue and offer a resolution that’s appropriate for the situation.
• If you’re receiving a high volume of neutral reviews that don’t particularly seem important on their own, look for patterns that could reveal underlying issues. 

Troll Review Responses

Your first instinct with troll reviews is likely to ignore and forget about them. However, keep in mind that potential customers see them as well, so responding is still necessary to show it’s been addressed and you pay attention to all feedback, even if it isn’t particularly helpful.

Adhere to these tips to navigate fake reviews:

• Don’t confuse negative feedback with trolling, as there are distinct differences. Trolls aim to provoke a reaction for their amusement, while negative reviewers are just expressing their experience. 
• While it may be tempting to fight fire with fire, professionalism must prevail. Stick to protocols and respond politely, as you would with anyone else. Showing restraint in these situations proves you’re willing to listen to all feedback, even if it comes off as excessive and unhelpful. It will also dissuade other trolls from following suit, as they’ll see they won’t get the type of response they’re looking for.
• If you’re unsure if feedback is real or fake, treat it like it’s real and offer to talk with them offline. Trolls often won’t want to engage further, yet you’d still show you valued their response. 
• Sometimes, trolls reveal themselves very obviously. In these cases, you can show your personality by poking fun at the feedback. Be sure not to stray from your brand’s voice, as it can be easy to get caught up in the moment. 
• Some trolls take it too far and post reviews that you don’t want potential customers to see. Report or flag content that is deemed inappropriate, abusive, or violates the guidelines of the platform to initiate the process of having it removed. 

General Tips

While personalizing messages based on the type of review is important, some guiding principles apply to all feedback and can help ensure consistency. Apply these suggestions to help improve your local credibility and increase your online presence:

• The timeliness of your response is key. GatherUp found that, “36% of your customers expect a response within 1 day, and 30% want to hear back within 3 days.” These percentages can vary by demographic, but a good general rule of thumb is to respond within 24-48 hours of the review being posted.
• Maintain a professional tone that’s consistent with your brand and provide personalization as often as possible in your replies. Using the reviewer’s name and addressing specific concerns will help you appear genuine.
• Keep reviewers informed on any updates to your business due to their feedback. It proves you regularly evaluate your business and value their opinions. 
• Track your reviews to monitor if your overall rating is increasing or decreasing. If you haven’t been responding to reviews and plan to start, make a note of your current status and evaluate the effectiveness of your new strategy over time.
• Don’t just read and respond to reviews, but truly listen to what they have to say. While some reviewers may come off as extreme and difficult to deal with, every review provides an opportunity to better your business.

Let BVM Help You Manage Your Reviews

Monitoring every review platform can feel like a challenge, especially for local business owners who already have a full schedule. Still, it’s important to pay attention to reviews, and Best Version Media makes it easy.

With reviews, listings, and reputation management from one simple dashboard, you can track your online presence across every platform without wasting precious time. BVM also offers social media and display advertising bundles, which help maximize your marketing efforts and ensure your business grows.

Get in touch with BVM today to take your business to the next level.

The post Are You Replying to Reviews the Right Way? A Guide for Local Businesses appeared first on Best Version Media.

However, an often overlooked benefit of a happy customer is their potential to provide a testimonial. A testimonial is typically a positive review of your business in which a customer shares their experience with your product or service. It offers social proof that real people have interacted with your business and found value in it.

Many local businesses underestimate the power of testimonials, despite their significant impact on sales. Medill Spiegel Research Center reports that a product with five reviews is 270% more likely to be purchased than a product with no reviews.

While you may not have the resources that large corporations do, such as nationally televised commercials featuring celebrity endorsements, you can still gain a major advantage through simpler, more cost-effective methods.

This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about testimonials, from the different types, to how to gather them, to effective strategies for showcasing them on your website, along with some bonus tips. So without further ado, let’s dive into the various types of testimonials your business can collect and use to build trust and drive growth.

Types of Testimonials

1. Quotes

The most common type of testimonial, quotes are acquired directly through submission forms such as surveys and are simply the expressed opinions of real customers about your product, service, or business. They have been used across all forms of advertising for decades, including magazines, social media, and various other media channels. 

2. Interviews

As the nature of interviews allows, this format allows you to prepare questions with a specific purpose in mind. It’s an excellent way to collect detailed feedback that can generate insights into your offerings and ensure the responses are coming from verified customers.

3. Social Media

Sprinklr found that 246 million Americans are active social media users, making it a prime channel for collecting testimonials. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram are especially effective due to their interactive features, such as comments and shares, that allow for easy and widespread engagement.

4. Blog Posts

For more in-depth reviews, blog posts offer an opportunity to explore your business’s offerings in detail, educating potential, current, or returning customers. While commonly used by large corporations, blog testimonials are a great way for local businesses to gain a competitive edge. Customers, local influencers, or anyone familiar with your business may write them. 

5. Videos

Video testimonials are increasingly popular, as many internet users prefer visual and auditory content. Seeing real people speak about their experiences with your business adds a layer of credibility and trust. Typically, video testimonials should be kept under two minutes in length. If a lot of information is packed into a review, breaking it up into a series can help maintain viewer interest.

6. User-Generated Content

User-generated content is a broad term used to describe unsolicited feedback that’s provided without influence from the business. Blog posts and customer reviews fit into this category as well as content from third-party review sites such as Yelp.

7. Case Studies

Case studies generally only apply to more complex products and services that require added attention to demonstrate the value to potential customers. These in-depth studies are often used near the end of the marketing funnel to give potential customers the final push to make a purchase.

8. Press Reviews

While a press release is used to announce a new product, achievement, or update, press reviews discuss the quality of a new product or service. This can include things like new menu items at a restaurant or a recently added feature on a vehicle at a dealership.

9. Success Stories

Success stories are similar to case studies, except they focus on how the product or service helped the customer rather than how to use it. These are typically marketed towards new customers who are first interacting with a business, while case studies tend to appeal to those who have already shown interest.

How to Gather Testimonials

Now that we’ve covered the types of testimonials, it’s time to figure out how to collect them. While it may seem like a challenging or uncomfortable endeavor, many people are often excited and willing to give a testimonial under the right circumstances. 

The ideal testimonial comes from a satisfied customer who voluntarily praises your business without being prompted. These can often be found on platforms such as Google, Yelp, or your Facebook business page.

However, many customers need a little push to share their feedback, and there are several effective ways to encourage this. One of the easiest methods is to integrate testimonial requests into the buying process, prompting customers automatically after each transaction.

Email outreach is another productive method to gather testimonials. You could reach out to all previous customers requesting their feedback, and could even add incentives for responses, such as a discount code.

If you prefer a more selective approach, targeting previously satisfied customers would be an ideal target. These could be individuals whom you’ve talked with face to face, through a phone call, or a virtual meeting, as they are more likely to have an interest in publicizing their praise upon request.

While it may not be suitable for every business, partnering with a local influencer or public figure for an endorsement can significantly boost credibility. In this case, transparency is expected, and any compensation should be disclosed within the testimonial.

No matter how you choose to collect testimonials, authenticity is key. Prioritize reviews that include specific pain points such as product durability, customer support, and other aspects that your customers value. This demonstrates your commitment to solving customer problems and continually improving their experience.

Placing Testimonials

Gathering testimonials is important, but how you display them on your website can mean the difference between driving business and wasting time and money. Various options exist, and all can provide value in one way or another. Here are six effective placement options for your testimonials.

1. Dedicated Page

One of the most common strategies is to create a dedicated testimonial page. It can be used as a landing page that you include in social media posts, email marketing content, and other promotional materials to help drive traffic. While it may not receive much organic traffic from search engines, it remains a useful and credible resource.

2. Home Page

First impressions are vital, and your website’s homepage is often among the first interactions with your business for potential customers. Presenting a positive review near the top of the page can immediately establish trust and influence visitors who have already heard about your business and are interested in learning more.

3. About Page

Those who are unfamiliar with your business will often visit your about page to learn more about the history of your company and the people behind it. If you are in the service industry, such as plumbing or painting, this is especially likely. Meeting the visitor head-on with a positive experience from a past customer can add a personal touch to your story and assure they’ve found a company that is reliable and professional. 

4. Sidebar

If you use sidebar advertisements on your website, consider creating an ad for your business that includes a testimonial. This is valuable space as it often appears across every page on your site, meaning visitors can be influenced by the testimonial even if they weren’t searching for it.

5. Footer

The footer of your website is another opportunity for passive exposure. It may not be as frequently viewed as sidebars, but it’s still a spot that garners attention from those who’ve shown enough interest to scroll through your home page or a landing page. 

6. Product/Service Page

A visitor who reaches a specific product or service’s page is likely just one click away from making a purchase. Still, some may need one final nudge to make their decision, and a glowing testimonial could provide exactly that. Just be careful not to distract from the product or service information, as it could clutter the page and negatively affect the user experience.

When choosing the best placement options for you, keep in mind your website design, industry standards, and your marketing goals. It’s best practice to experiment with multiple placements to determine what resonates most with your audience. 

Bonus Tips

To take your customer testimonials to the next level, consider these tips for writing and displaying them:

• Choose a legible font style and size to ensure all audiences can easily read and understand the content.
• Show only the most relevant content and receive permission from the original author if any edits are made to their testimonial.
• Clean up the text where necessary, but be sure to preserve the original meaning.
• Include the reviewer’s information where appropriate, such as full name, photo, and job title, to enhance authenticity and trust.
• Use negative space strategically to improve readability and help the testimonials stand out on the page.
• Prioritize testimonials that quantify results, as they tend to be more persuasive.
• Keep it simple and avoid forcing the user to click or hover to view a testimonial.

Improve Your Online Presence With Best Version Media

If you’ve done the work to collect and place testimonials on your website, you’ll want to attract as many eyes as possible to them. That’s where Best Version Media can help. With listings, reviews, and reputation management, you can increase your business’s online presence across multiple search engines, maps, and directories, all from one simple dashboard.

BVM also offers the ability to bundle display ads and social media campaigns to make the most of your marketing budget and ultimately drive sales.
Contact BVM today to get your new marketing strategy started.

The post How to Use Customer Testimonials on Your Website the Right Way appeared first on Best Version Media.