Detractors speak louder than promoters and more detractors are likely to leave negative online reviews than positive ones. Therefore, if you don’t proactively manage your online reputation, you open the door wide to your competitors.

In 2022, an well-established online reputation should be a goal for any businesses. Even as we leave the pandemic behind, we continue to deal with its economic, financial, and social consequences. People have come to rely more on their digital lives than in-person socialization, and we now live in a world that's never before needed to rely on the digital world so much.

One of the most important parts of any business—online or off—is its reputation. Whether your business has been around for decades or it’s still in its infancy, it’s important to proactively manage your online reputation from the get-go and to maintain that management throughout the life of your business.

You might not have any control over what people say on your business listings, but you do have the power to influence how you’re perceived by proactively managing your own business’s reputation online. 

Why is Online Reputation so Important?

Online reputation is essential for any business that wants to succeed. Why? First, because prospective customers, employees, and business partners use online reviews to judge the quality of your company's services or products.

And second, because online reviews and social media are the first places people turn to when they're looking for information about a company, and 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

If your reputation isn't up to par, you could lose out on potential customers since positive reviews make 74% of consumers trust a local business more. Conversely, research shows that 60% of consumers say that negative reviews made them not want to use a business.

This said, having consistent 5-star reviews doesn't mean you're protected. Consumers will be weary of any brand that only gets 5-star reviews. They expect to see a mix of good and bad. Consumers are getting good at sorting real reviews from the fake ones and they’re more likely to take a recent review seriously than an older one.

Your reputation will crumble under the scrutiny of consumers if your business begins writing fake reviews, resorts to other automated and inorganic methods to build a good reputation. Customers demand nothing less than authenticity.

What Makes Up a Good Online Reputation

With Online Reputation Management, consistency is key. Online reputation is not about doing a quick email blast to customers, getting a bunch of reviews and then slacking off. There are two main reasons why online reputation needs to be an ongoing, consistent elements of your overall local marketing strategy:

1) Online content continuously shifts, so how people perceive a brand can also change drastically

2) People give a lot more weight to recent reviews. The most recent reviews would serve to increase a customer's confidence about their purchase, as well as make them feel more relevant and trustworthy. In fact, in recent studies, 64% of consumers said they would be more likely to buy a product with fewer, more recent reviews than one with a large volume of reviews older than 3 months.

A good online reputation is the result of a deliberate, ongoing effort to present your company in the best possible light. This means creating and maintaining a strong presence throughout your web ecosystem, monitoring what's being said about you online, and promptly addressing any negative feedback.

And if you think you're safe by not having online reviews about your company, think again. Not only does it not provide a positive outlook for potential customers (and may actually detract them from visiting your business) but it can also hurt your overall organic ranking on search engines. Basically, without reading the reviews of your product or service, people just won't buy it.

Don't be scared of negative reviews

The number one fear of most of our customers is getting negative reviews. This is not surprising since people who are dissatisfied with your business are a lot louder and vocal about it. According to ZenDesk, 54% of people share negative brand experiences with more than five other people (who are then likely to share it forward). But only 33% share good experiences with anyone, online or offline.

This means that negative reviews are not only posted more frequently than positive reviews, but also get more online exposure. So if you’re not proactively managing your online reviews yet, your target customers are likely to find more negative reviews about you than positive ones.

That's why having a solid Online Reputation Management system will be very helpful in dealing with negative reviews:

1) You'll be able to flag those negative reviews as quickly as possible and reach out to the customer to find out exactly what happened.

2) You'll then be able to publicly answer the review (and yes, consumers expect business owners to answer ALL reviews and will read your comment)

3) Address any operational issues internally to avoid negative customer experiences in the future

According to Forbes research, 45% of consumers will visit a store that responds to negative reviews.

Getting a poor review from a customer might not feel great at the moment, but it's always best to embrace it and learn from it. All information is valuable.

How Quickly Will You Respond?

Responding to your online reviews - ALL reviews - in a timely manner is crucial. Ignoring what your customers are saying about your product and services is essentially sending the following message to them:

1) We don't care about you, we just want your money

2) We don't care to improve our product and service to make your life or experience better

3) We are not listening. This is not a dialogue, it's a one-way street. We'll just take your money and run

Is this what you want your customers to think about your company? Instead of shopping in your store, people may end up visiting your competitor who has listened to the customer, responded to negative reviews, and turned bad situations into good ones.

You should always keep in mind that customer feedback comes from real people who can potentially bring repeat business and refer new customers, giving your business more success.

How do you get started with Online Reputation Management?

A positive Online Reputation is not something that can be built overnight. It takes time and careful stewardship. Investing time in improving your reputation is an investment worth making.

If your business has a large online presence and many physical locations, you may feel that getting started with an Online Reputation Management initiative is a big nut to crack, but with the right partners, you'll be on your way.

Here's how we can help:

1) We'll start by auditing your current reputation: the good, the bad and the ugly, and we'll make some recommendations on how to move forward to not only fix the issues we've highlighted, but to also leverage the golden nuggets we'll have unearthed.

2) Then, we'll craft a strategy on proactive reputation management. This includes making sure we have a consistent flow of reviews coming in every week, and making sure we flag those that are less than stellar so we can hopefully repair the damage or at least address it in a way that makes your business look professional and proactive.

3) Finally, we'll plan out the actions to put in place and execute! 

Do you know how healthy your business reputation is?

Auditing and managing a business reputation online can be a hefty task, especially if you are operating in certain industries such as restaurants, automotive services or other B2B verticals. These industries require lots of attention to their reputation in order to drive a high volume of customers through the door.

If you want to know more about how we can help your organization improve its reputation and maintain it to an enviable level, please feel free to book a discovery call with us so we can discuss your business situation.