In addition, products with positive reviews generally have twice as many sales as those without.

This is why handling negative reviews from customers the right way is important for your brand’s image and bottom line.

But what exactly can you do about these potentially harmful reviews? What should you do to make things right and counteract all of the side effects?

In this article, we’ll give you 5 tips to handle negative customer reviews in order to improve your brand image and grow your revenue.

Ready? Let’s go.

1. Understand How Review Sites Work

The first step in dealing with negative customer reviews is to understand how sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp work. Platforms like these typically don’t remove bad reviews unless they violate their guidelines or are clearly untrue. In most situations, the user who left the review is the one who can ultimately reverse or edit their opinion.

So even if you successfully deal with a negative review, the customer will need to perform a few extra actions which makes your job a little tricky.

That said, it’s worth keeping a few important links to hand so you can share them with your customers and make the process easier.

• How to remove a TripAdvisor review.
• How to remove a Yelp review.

Make sure to save these links as you may need them upon successfully resolving a customer complaint (more on that later).

In some situations, you may want to submit a concern if you think a particular review is unjustified and violates the platform’s guidelines. You can do this with Yelp here and you can find instructions from TripAdvisor on how to get in touch if you think someone left an unjustified and defamatory review in this article.

2. Respond quickly and personally

This is the age of instant communication, which includes interaction with brands. Therefore, prompt action is necessary to reduce the impact of negative customer reviews. A speedy response shows that you truly care and are genuinely concerned about customer satisfaction.

In addition, your response should be custom-tailored for that particular reviewer, not just a cookie-cutter reply in the form of a generic, impersonal apology. You simply must take the time to carefully read and thoughtfully respond to negative customer reviews.

In fact, when companies responded appropriately and personally to negative customer reviews, nearly a third of the reviewers deleted or replaced those reviews, and about a fifth went on to make another purchase and eventually became loyal customers (e-Strategy Trends, “Online Reviews & Ratings”).

Recommended reading: How To Add A Human Touch In The Digital Age

3. Ask for clarification and confirm the issue

When you compose your reply, make sure to acknowledge that there is an issue, even if you don’t agree with the reviewer. They will most certainly have a different perspective and usually have a genuine reason for leaving the review. Try to put yourself in their shoes for a moment and you might find a new perspective on the matter. This is important if you want to show customers you truly care about their feedback and looking to improve.

At this stage, you need to make sure you understand the issue the customer has in mind. Ask any clarification questions to understand the root of the problem. Isolating the issue is the best way to tackle it and turn around a bad customer experience. Once you’re clear on that, confirm that this is indeed the problem, preferably in a private call or message if possible.

And as we previously mentioned, if you find that the review is unjustified, contact the respective platform and report it.

4. Suggest a way to resolve the problem

Once you know the exact issue, suggest a clear way to fix it.

This may involve tweaking a process in your business or even taking disciplinary action in case an employee has deteriorated from your Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The important thing is to show the customer you’re willing to take action based on their opinion.

In some situations, it may help to offer an additional incentive such as a discount voucher or a refund. A negative review can sometimes cost you multiple customers so it makes sense to invest in resolving the issue this way.

5. Try to turn the review around

Now, you’ve acknowledged and pinpointed the issue. You’ve also advised how you will deal with it and offered an incentive.

So how do we turn the review around?

Well, don’t ask for it straight away because the customer will feel like you’re only doing this to get their review changed.

Instead, explain that you truly hope this will make things right and gain their trust again. Stress out how important customer feedback is to your business and that you want to bring an accurate representation of your brand online. This will put you in a much better position to mention how they can edit or remove their review (ideally sharing the links from above).

If worst comes to worst and they still feel unsatisfied, this is also okay. At least you will know you’ve done all you can to correct the issue and you got to learn what you can improve in your business and delight your future customers. Treat it as a learning experience instead of a personal blow.

Conclusion

Maintaining your brand image online is important for your business, and following these tips should help you manage negative reviews with confidence.

Ensure you keep routine maintenance of your online profiles on review sites such as TripAdvisor and any other popular review sites your target audience is active on. This is the best way to stay on top of your brand reputation online so you can attract more customers.

To summarize, these are the steps you can take when dealing with a negative customer review:

• Respond quickly and personally
• Confirm and acknowledge the issue
• Offer clear steps for resolution
• Try to turn the review around

You might also like: 

• How Positive Online Reviews Can Help Your Business

The post How to Deal with Negative Customer Reviews appeared first on Regiondo.

Indeed, word-of-mouth referrals are the best kind of marketing, And in the digital age, they are usually in the form of online reviews. The rise of their importance for consumers represents a huge opportunity to successfully promote your business.

Why are positive online reviews important?

With so many options these days, especially online, it’s important that your business stands out from the competition. If a consumer has two activity options, one with negative or no reviews online and another with several positive reviews, which one are they going to pick? The average consumer is going for the business with positive reviews every single time.

Apart from this significant fact, here are additional reasons why you should use positive reviews in your website and overall marketing strategy:

Improve your search performance

Google will also thank you for the reviews you’ve displayed. Your position on search engine result pages can improve after adding good customer reviews on your website.

Online reviews provide you with fresh material for your website. This, in turn, contributes to your SEO metrics.

And when it comes to search engine ads, Shopify found that review-based ads receive 4x higher click-through rates and a 50% decrease in cost-per-click than average.

Build trust

It has been proven that customers trust offers with ratings more than those without. People do not trust companies anymore. They need other customers to built trust before purchasing.

In today’s digital age, customers are no longer passive consumers being led by billboards and TV ads. They won’t be easily fooled by another boring sales pitch, and they certainly don’t care about your marketing objectives.

Customers are looking for a more human connection to the brands they choose and are choosing brands that promote the same values they do.

When potential customers see other customers engaged with your brand by writing reviews, it sends out a good message and creates trust; helping you build a loyal community around your brand.

Instead of blasting your audience with promotions and ads, you encourage your audience to participate and feel like they belong to something bigger and more meaningful.

Influence purchase decisions

When it comes to making purchase decisions, many of us rely heavily upon the opinions of our trusted friends and family or from strangers online with personal experience from making the same purchase. AdWeek found that  93% of consumers say online reviews are helpful when making a purchasing decision.

Reviews are a more traditional and common, yet a very helpful form of UGC. When potential customers do an online search for your tours and activities, your company reviews on TripAdvisor, Facebook, and Google may be one of the first search results they notice. While you may not always receive only positive reviews, you can still benefit from the negative as well.

For example, use them to learn from your mistakes. Reply to the review quickly and let the upset customer know that you apologize for the trouble, show them that you understand them and sympathize with them, and thank them for their honest feedback and assure them you will use it to improve customer experience. This will show the upset customer and anyone else reading the review, that you care about your customers and take your business seriously.

Recommended reading: How to Deal with Negative Customer Reviews

Free yet priceless feedback

Every review that is posted, negative or positive, gives you priceless feedback from customers that you can use to improve your business. This feedback helps you to identify your biggest strengths as well as your biggest weaknesses and areas that you need to focus on.

Give your customers the chance to express their honest opinion and show the it’s valued.

And in the end, that’s what matters most – the customer. When the customer is happy, that satisfaction with your product or services drives repeat sales and makes YOU happy too. Win, win, win!

How to make the most of your online reviews

As you can see, there is no reason to not use online reviews on your website.

And with the Regiondo booking solution, you get your very own review module. This is a widget that you can embed on your website to highlight customer reviews. It also helps you collect reviews automatically. After every event, your customers get an email to leave a review.

Collect online reviews with your own module

Don’t leave the power of reviews to the big guys like TripAdvisor. Use your own Review module to collect valuable feedback from your customers in your own database.

Here’s why:

• You have the control over the reviews and their visibility,
• Everything is in one place
• Let the communication still be from your own brand

The base of your review module is the customer database in your dashboard. There you find all your customers with the corresponding reviews. This database is also very important for every customer relationship activity.

A good process to collect reviews

1) Send a post-event email – automatically

The best process to collect customer reviews is an automatic one! Do not spend time contacting all your customers after the event. The message to the customer to leave a review should be automatically sent out right after the event to catch the customer while the feelings are still present. You are now in the position to ask for a favor. In the Regiondo review module, you can easily customize every email to the customers in your own way.

2) Use auto-reminders to get a few extra reviews

It is possible that your customers forget to leave a review or don’t have enough time to reflect on the experience. No problem – just send them a reminder. A few of them will take the chance to give you feedback. You can answer the reviews directly from your Regiondo dashboard.

learn More about the Review ModuleLEARN MORE ABOUT THE REVIEW INTEGRATION

3) Highlight your reviews in the most visible parts of your site

As already mentioned, reviews are a great way to identify potential improvements. But online reviews are also very good to show your strengths to your potential customers. Don’t miss the chance to grab the amazing possibilities from the first part of this article with the help of your good reviews. Be sure to display the reviews in the most visible parts of your website. To make things easier, we developed the review module with a customizable design so you can tailor it to your needs.

Don’t forget about TripAdvisor

Apart from your own review module, collecting reviews on TripAdvisor is still important for acquiring new customers. In contrast to people who already know you and your offers, TripAdvisor can reach others who’ve never heard of you before.

learn How to connect Regiondo with TripAdvisor

In addition to your own review module, Regiondo gives you a connection to TripAdvisor Review Express. This is also an automatic process to collect customer reviews. The difference is that the reviews will be only visible on TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor sends your customers an email after the event to ask them for feedback.

Do you already have TripAdvisor reviews? Click here to improve your TripAdvisor ranking.

Conclusion

You really have to use your customers’ reviews. They give you free feedback so you can improve your business. Reviews also have different advantages when it comes to marketing. – such as SEO benefits and being your digital word of mouth.

We recommend your own review module as a good review management base. You will always have full control and see everything in one place. With this base, you can also use review sites like TripAdvisor to present you and your business to a wider range of potential customers.

The post How Positive Online Reviews Can Help Your Business appeared first on Regiondo.

The overall positive feedback can not only assist the conversion but also increase your business credibility and do wonders for building brand awareness and achieving higher search engine rankings. Online reviews represent a powerful instrument and this guide will teach you how to master it via implementing minor changes in your priorities and customer service.

The internet can do most of the selling for you so you need to make sure your brand stands out online. In this comprehensive guide, we offer all the knowledge and examples you need to make the most of customer reviews and make them work to your advantage.

But before going forward let’s spend a moment thinking about what shapes our consumer choices nowadays.

This is a long post. Get a PDF version by clicking on the image below so you can save it for review later.

How do people make a choice nowadays?

The internet has brought everything to our fingertips, from planning our next big journey abroad to booking the plane tickets and buying tours in advance. As a result, the way we buy and make consumer decisions has dramatically changed over the past two decades.

Since online space has become much more than an interactive platform for promotion, it is worth exploring the vast array of options it provides, and make the most of them.

The modern consumers can’t be easily fooled since they carefully research, compare and test prior to choosing ANYTHING. We’ve put together a list of the most common steps that people usually take to help you define where you might be missing a major opportunity.

Ask friends for recommendations

Asking friends for their opinion or past experiences with a specific company or product is massively affecting consumer choices. Whether it’s a travel destination or retail brand, people value the advice of those close to them and would often take it into consideration.

Do online research

Most people will first go online and do research prior to making the final choice. But the online market is an unlimited yet quite competitive place.

You need to keep in mind that potential customers will be able to diligently compare prices and services online. In the majority of cases, they will go for the most reliable and trusted choice according to their findings.

Read product reviews and customer feedback

Having a read through the available online reviews is a growing part of consumers’ pre-purchase activities. The internet has made them accessible via a number of ways –  from the company’s own website to trusted platforms like TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Google.

Proceed to purchase

After completing their individual research, most customers would make a selection and proceed to the final step. Or at least the ones that are serious about making a purchase.

So why are online reviews important in this journey?

Benefits of customer reviews

Reviews not only have the power to influence consumer decisions but can also strengthen a company’s credibility and brand identity. They are extremely useful for businesses looking to exceed the clients’ expectations and prove that they care beyond profit.

Reviews increase conversions and sales

Reviews play a significant role in purchasing decisions. Reviewed products and companies receive more quality leads that often result in a conversion. They have the power to convince and discourage so you need to be careful in order to make the most of them.

Reviews are content

Reviews are mainly user-generated content that can be shared and used for SEO purposes and during lead acquisition. You can easily post them on a range of online channels to promote and distinguish your business. Google recommends reviews as they positively impact local ranking.

The review content has the capacity to improve not only organic but also paid search rankings. How does this work? Since reviews are SEO-friendly, they have a positive effect on the Ad Quality score. According to Google, ads with Seller Ratings get a higher CTR than the same ads without ratings. This results in more impressions and significantly increases the chances of conversion.

Users trust reviews

Reviews are the easiest and quickest path to building trust with your audience. Purchasing decisions are mainly based on trust and the lack of any visible feedback could challenge them dramatically.

Similarly, the way you treat reviews says a lot about your values and professional practices. The wrong approach can ruin your company’s reputation and negatively impact the relationship with your current and potential customers.

And the numbers support this. Here are the top trends around online reviews that prove their value.

Consumer trends in online reviews

Reviews can build both trust and doubts. The way you treat them is crucial for the way they would affect your clients’ behavior and brand in general.

• 85% of buyers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations (BrightLocal, 2017)
• Consumers are able to trust a local business after reading an average of 10 online reviews (BrightLocal, 2017)

Digital trends in online reviews

The most recent trends in online reviews show that customers tend to engage with content that’s easy to process and comprehend. Pictures and videos come quite handy here since they visually present the information to make it more authentic. Another factor that makes feedback feel more reliable are third-party systems where verification and validation come by default.

• Nearly 65% of shoppers trust products more when reviews have user-generated content such as photos and videos (PowerReviews, 2019)
• Online reviews are now 65 percent shorter (ReviewTrackers, 2018)
• More brands are using online review software (ReviewTrackers, 2018)

Industry trends in online reviews

Reviews can massively affect the customer’s behavior and relationship building. People are likely to spend more and come back to your company based on the quality of reviews you’ve received and shared.

Since both customers and owners know that a significant amount of the reviews available are fake, people can’t be easily misled by quantity. You need to make an effort to understand the experience of your customers and build a relationship with them. Requesting and replying to reviews on a regular basis is the only way to establish their credibility and add worth to your reviews.

• 95% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase (Spiegel Research Center, 2017)
• It is estimated that 10% to 30% of all submitted reviews are fake (100 Reviews, 2018)
• Customers are likely to spend 31% more on a business with “excellent” reviews (Invesp, 2019)
• 30% of consumers believe that responding to reviews is key when judging local businesses
• 68% of consumers left a local business review when asked – with 74% having been asked for their feedback (BrightLocal, 2018)

Review score matters

According to a study conducted by Search Engine Land, 9 out of 10 consumers have read online reviews and more than 70% of them tend to trust businesses that get positive reviews and higher product ratings.

Numbers are definitely making a difference and can either persuade or discourage customer’s choices. Since negative reviews (as well as low star ratings) can hurt your business, we advise you to pay particular attention to the way you treat them.

• 72% say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more (Searchengineland)
• 92% of users will use a local business if it has at least a 4-star rating (BrightLocal, 2018)
• 72% of consumers will take action only after reading a positive review (Invesp, 2019)
• 86% of people hesitate to do business with a company if it has negative online reviews (Dixa)

Tips for generating more positive reviews

The advantages of reviews are clear and supported by data. They are one of the most secure and effective ways of increasing brand awareness and making a clear statement about your company’s values. When treated correctly, reviews can help your business develop and improve over time.

The real challenge with reviews, however, is making customers actually write them for you. How do you convince someone to spare some time and review your business?

Well, the options are many and we’ve summed them up for you.

Below are the most effective methods for generating positive customer reviews. Follow them to get more reviews, increase product ratings, and improve your overall performance across a range of platforms.

Assist the process

This is the first and most important action that needs to be taken. Think about ways of making it easy and possible for customers to write reviews for your business. Work on creating various spaces where they can leave feedback. Don’t limit it all to one platform or system but rather make the most of what’s available.

Email Campaigns

Follow up with customers after they buy any of your products or services online. Use an attention-grabbing email subject and explain to your clients why they’re getting the request. Include a clear call-to-action button and/or links that will allow completing the submission with fewer clicks. Remember that customers should have already agreed to be contacted via email.

Your Email Signature

For those of you who don’t want to bombard customers with emails begging for feedback, there are other ways to motivate action through them. We suggest including a link to your review system or customer survey form in your email signature.

By having an ever-present survey form built-in your customer service emails, you can capture feedback at different stages of the customer journey. Moreover, this approach is non-intrusive and will reach a wide variety of people.

Social Media Polls and Incentives

Social media channels could be very efficient for reaching out to your regular customers and brand followers.

Social media polls are the ideal opportunity to learn more about your performance and ask people for their opinion. Along with their feedback and ideas, you will also get to know your customers better.

You can also launch a contest or giveaway to increase engagement and generate real value for your business.

Use a Reviews Widget on Your Website

Customers’ feedback can be collected and incorporated in a number of ways. A built-in website review widget allows you to add a star-rating feature to your product pages. This provides an efficient way for your customers to leave an opinion about the entire purchasing experience.

Catch the right moment

Many businesses nowadays are missing a major opportunity because they don’t engage with the customer’s experience during and after the purchase process. By asking your customers to provide feedback you make them believe that their opinion is truly valued. Thus you can transform the one-off buyer into a long-term customer. To effectively achieve this, you must catch the right moment to ask for a review.

Ask for Feedback Post-Purchase

An ideal stage of the customer journey to ask for feedback is at the very end of the purchasing experience. Include a survey, feedback form or link to the third-party review platform you are using.

That is the moment when people have collected all the required information to share an informed perspective, and it is still clear enough to be unbiased and authentic. Moreover, at this stage customers are very likely to spend a few extra minutes of their time to comment on the overall experience.

With this in mind, many companies are nowadays including surveys as part of their order confirmation page or email (sent post-purchase).

With the Regiondo reviews module, every customer you serve will get an automatic email asking for a review after your tour or experience, Learn more in this article.

Show that you care about your customers

Contact every single customer

Try to get in touch with every single customer who has purchased from you or dealt with your company in the past. Ask about their experience and assist with resolving any complaints. Carefully listen to customer’s concerns to show customers that you genuinely care. By doing this you will obtain more insight into where you might be failing to meet the expectations and need to improve.

Share existing positive customer reviews

By promoting testimonials from happy customers, you are showing that their experience matters to you. You are also strengthening your brand’s values and prove that you stick to them.

You can post positive reviews on your social media or feature them on the company’s website. However, this effort should extend beyond simply enhancing your website’s content. You must constantly strive for improvement and continue regularly collecting and requesting feedback.

Offer something in return

When you are inviting people to rate your company, it might be a good idea to offer a reward for their effort too. Whether that’s a discount voucher, free gift or something else that relates to your business and your customer’s goals.

Respond to every single review: Negative reviews can work in your favor

Having a balanced mix of reviews is one thing that increases your authenticity. It will help you see your strengths but also define where your business is failing to meet the expectations.

Negative feedback is your best opportunity to learn and grow, as well as a chance to win back a disappointed customer. When treated appropriately it results in increased customer retention and satisfaction.

By calling back upset customers and listening to their complaints, you demonstrate that you genuinely care about their opinions. Below are some other useful tips for dealing with unhappy clients:

• Respond promptly
• Be real and admit your mistakes
• Correct inaccuracies
• Highlight your strengths
• Write like a person, not a corporation

Read our dedicated article on dealing with negative customer reviews here.

Use a Trusted Review System

Register your company or website on a range of trusted third-party systems or review platforms. Choose a membership plan based on your needs and long-term goals. Explore marketing opportunities like embedding relevant forms in emails, websites, and social media pages.

Don’t know which review platform to use? Have a read through our list to aid your final decision. The below list features the best websites and review systems for tours and activities out there.

TripAdvisor

In 2018, Tripadvisor generated approximately 730 million user reviews and opinions covering over eight million listings in the United States (Statista, 2018). It is the place where your listing is most likely to be seen and reviewed on a regular basis.

The key to a creating successful profile on TripAdvisor is making it comply with the system’s Popularity Ranking criteria. It is based on feedback content quality, consistency of submissions and overall quantity of your reviews.

Strive to collect reviews frequently in order to improve your listing position over time. Another way to help with review collection and popularity ranking is by using the recommended review collection tools like Review Express. They allow sending a customized review request and measuring performance based on the received feedback.

Read more about improving your TripAdvisor ranking in our dedicated article.

Yelp

Yelp is one of the top review websites for local businesses. It lets consumers submit ratings on a five-star scale while accessing all the relevant business information. You are free to include everything from opening hours and location information to images that showcase the best of your business. Adding business information is highly recommended for successfully synchronizing with Google and ranking your business higher in the search results.

You can set up your Yelp profile for free and so can users. Business owners can not only reply to reviews but also ask questions and make appointments through their Yelp page. The system provides a real-time tracker for seeing what’s happening on their page and learn more about their existing and potential clients.

Google My Business

According to a survey run by ReviewTrackers, Google is the review website chosen by over 63% of the consumers. They are likely to check reviews and listings on Google before going for purchase or visit. This number exceeds the overall engagement with any other system or website.

Every customer that uses the Chrome browser and searches for your company will probably see your listing first thing. And since Chrome is the most popular browser by far, a higher ranking of your listing on it means a lot!

Google My Business is also a powerful instrument for establishing the authenticity of your brand, in addition to improving your SEO score.

The ratings also impact the quality scores of your Google Ads. Customer reviews are not directly affecting your ad position but are taken into account for your eligibility to go to auction. They are seen as user-generated content that promotes the transparency and trustworthiness of your site.

So for these reasons, creating a Google My Business account and building reviews there is a great idea (if you’re not doing this already).

Facebook Ratings & Reviews

In addition to being one of the most popular social media platforms, Facebook is a place where people can recommend companies and services. They’ve retired the star rating system and now your customers can choose between recommending or not recommending your page. They can share various details through tags and photos. Moreover, page admins can easily report unfair recommendations by selecting the “Give feedback” option in the post menu and thus report content that they believe is not reflecting the truth.

Your Own Website

This is your comfort zone and the place where you are in control of everything. Your website gives you the freedom to play around with layout and content in a way that shows those of your reviews you want to put under the spotlight. Your company’s website is the ideal place to share product ratings and customer testimonials. You can link your external customer review collection accounts and have them directly posted to the selected section of your website.

Definitely consider adding testimonials to your home page as well as all landing pages linked to Google Ads. As mentioned above, a great idea is to integrate a widget that enables a customer review feature on your product pages.

Wrapping Up

Online reviews are a great way to encourage a conversion during every stage of the purchasing process.

Reviews can help you achieve a higher SEO ranking, greater customer engagement, and a trustworthy website that’s more likely to drive sales for you.

In order to maximize their value, you need to consider the different approaches to building customer reviews and the platforms available at your disposal.

Make it easy to leave a review and remind your customers to do so after your tour or experience. Having a presence on the most popular review platforms makes it even more convenient for the customers while giving you access to more useful feedback.

Lastly, highlight the best reviews on your own website to grow your authority and convince people to buy as they browse your tours or activities.

You might also like:

• How Positive Online Reviews Can Help Your Business
• How to Get More Positive Reviews and Boost Referrals
• How To Add A Human Touch In The Digital Age

This is a long post. Get a PDF version by clicking on the image below so you can save it for review later.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Generating Positive Customer Reviews appeared first on Regiondo.

Websites like TripAdvisor facilitate user-generated content at scale and have become key players in the industry.

In many cases, people turn to these websites for ideas and recommendations about where to go and what to do – and they often trust them more than they trust you.

Assuming people find about you in another way, it’s highly likely that they will check your reviews online, especially if you offer a high-ticket product.

But even if they don’t, you can use your positive reviews to increase the likelihood of people finalizing a purchase.

This is why it’s crucial to maintain high reviews and a consistent flow of them, as we’ll see later.

Whether it’s on your website, TripAdvisor, or Facebook page, there are certain steps you can take to increase the likelihood that people recommend the experience.

In this article, we’ll look at the key principles for improving customer satisfaction and getting high reviews on the web.

Ready? Let’s go.

The rise of user-generated content

Most reviews fall under the category of user-generated content (UGC).

So before we dive in further, let’s take a quick look at what user-generated content is and why it’s important.

UGC grew exponentially along with the World Wide Web. As traditional media like newspapers and the radio had editorial control over what gets published, the internet allowed for a significant democratization of content production.

So during the 90s and 2000s, sites like TripAdvisor facilitated the creation of UGC and even built successful businesses around it.

But of course, UGC has a much broader application outside the travel and leisure industry. Every piece of information that’s created by end-users online, including reviews, social media posts, text, images, video, and audio, can be classified as UGC.

So now, many industries are heavily influenced by online reviews. Hotels, restaurants, tours, and activities are some of the more prominent ones.

The end result? In 2006, TIME Magazine named “You” as Person of the Year, reflecting the importance of UGC.

In many cases, it can make the difference between a thriving and a failing business.

How positive reviews can help you

So with that in mind, how can you benefit from positive online reviews?

First, it’s a good way to win more customers. Reviews decrease the uncertainty in making a buying decision by describing the experience before any cash is spent. And an unbiased view of your tour or activity holds more value in the eyes of potential customers than offer descriptions on your website or TripAdvisor page.

But more referrals and customers is not the only benefit you get from online reviews.

The feedback you get from reviews can be crucial for improving your business. By knowing your strong points, you’ll know which aspects to emphasize on.

On the other hand, negative reviews can point out your weaknesses so you can work on them.

Because of that, generating a consistent flow of online reviews is one of the most important aspects of growing a leisure company.

How do you get more reviews? Become a business people love.

There are many tactics and strategies to get more positive reviews.

While these can be useful, the best way to implement them is from a solid foundation.

And what is that solid foundation?

The sincere desire to create happy customers.

Source: Chris Brophy

You see, if you do a good job at creating happy customers, you will be rewarded with positive reviews. So naturally, your main focus should be on providing a great experience.

However, as we all know, people are more likely to leave a bad review following a bad experience than they are to leave a good review after a good experience.

This is why you’ll have to make it easy and beneficial for people to leave a review. That’s when the tactics and strategies come into play.

You don’t have to ask people for a positive review per se, but at least make it crystal clear how to leave a review and why they should do it.

This is important because you need both high reviews and a good amount of reviews to be successful.

So how do you get a consistent flow of positive reviews? Start with the basics of customer satisfaction.

Add a human touch

No one likes being treated like a cog in the wheel.

This goes double in the tour and activity industry where customer service is the backbone of the business.

But it’s easy to get wrapped up in the busy day-to-day, ignoring possibilities to connect and relate with customers.

So whether you share a personal story or offer some homemade cupcakes at lunchtime, try to spot and capture opportunities to build a genuine human connection with your customers.

Keep your promises

People will arrive with a set of expectations for your tour or activity. And these expectations will likely be based on reviews and your offer descriptions.

So while you haven’t “promised” anything in the literal sense, people will hold you accountable if you don’t live up to their standards.

This is why it’s important to consistently deliver an exceptional experience.

It sounds simple but delivering a uniform service every time is hard work.

This starts with your processes and staff training but then extends to things like your value proposition, marketing materials, and pricing.

The magic word

Source: James Clear

Show your customers appreciation by thanking them in creative ways. For example, send discount vouchers with a percentage off on their next booking. You can also try thanking customers by building a customer loyalty program.

Really read your reviews

Maybe you read every single review already. But are you taking action on the feedback that you’re getting? Speak with customers, read competitor reviews, and gain a deeper understanding of what people want. Then, you just need to deliver that to them.

Birthdays and special occasions

Honor special occasions, such as birthdays or anniversaries, or their membership with you if you offer this. You can use email, SMS, or even a handwritten letter. It’s an easy way to make your customers feel special with very little effort.

Provide customer service everywhere

Monitor social media channels closely and reply to messages in good time. You can also set up a Q&A section on your website, along with a live chat option to connect instantly. Here’s a list of useful customer support tools, such as live chat tools, conversation managers, and much more.

Educate customers

If you’re a tour operator, be sure to include in-depth information not just on your tour, but also the location in general (e.g. good bars and restaurants around town).

Measure satisfaction

Apart from the reviews, there are other useful ways to receive feedback from your customers. One of the most popular is the Net Promoter Score (NPS) which asks people how likely they are to recommend your tour or activity to a friend. If that’s not your thing, read this article on 6 ways to track customer satisfaction.

A word about TripAdvisor

While reviews are important everywhere, TripAdvisor deserves special attention because of its influence on the market.

TripAdvisor is fairly open about their ranking criteria and we know that to rank well, you need 3 things:

• Quantity – it’s important to have many reviews in order to get statistical significance about the quality of your service.
• Recency – you need a consistent flow of reviews. Not receiving a review for a long time signals to TripAdvisor that you are inactive and they could move you down the rankings.
• Quality – the third necessary element to rank high on TripAdvisor is the actual star rating people give you.

So all other things being equal, if you have higher overall reviews, you will win out. But if a competitor has a lower rating and substantially more reviews, they can outrank you.

Dealing with negative reviews

There were many tips above for doing well but the reality is that you can’t fully avoid negative reviews. They will show up every once in a while.

The important thing is to do everything in your power to respond and turn them around.

When you receive a bad review, avoid getting into arguments. Always acknowledge the customers’ viewpoint and be thankful for their opinion. At the very least, it’s a learning opportunity for you to improve your service or know what type of customers are not a good fit for your business.

Make sure to thank them and to offer an apology. If you can compensate with more than just words, do it.

Even one negative review can damage your online reputation so you should do everything within reason to turn them around. Most review platforms offer the ability to edit reviews so it’s never late to make things right.

Conclusion

So we know that customer reviews are super important for building a great business. Not just for tours and activities but almost everywhere.

If you want to be successful in managing your online reputation, the most important thing to do is to be the kind of business that people want to leave a positive review for.

Go out of your way to help, keep your promises, and constantly improve. These are the principles of building your business and online reputation.

In addition, make sure to encourage people to leave reviews. You need a consistent inflow of reviews, not just high reviews.

Of course, you’ll still get the odd negative review – make sure these are treated and addressed with high priority. Do everything you can in your power to turn it around and always try to see things from a customer viewpoint.

If you follow these steps, you’re bound to skyrocket and maintain your online reputation, eventually winning customers on auto-pilot.

The post How to Get More Positive Reviews and Boost Referrals appeared first on Regiondo.

Through great customer support, first-time clients can be converted into loyal, repeat customers to the extent that they recommend you to their friends and family. This may even result in more positive reviews, which is a big plus for your tours/ activities business.

In this era of digitization and automation advances, brands ought to add a human touch to their customer service.  Recognize that ‘online service’ does not mean ‘robotic service’.

In this article, we’ll give you tips to help you improve your customer service in this digital age. You’ll learn the essentials including using actual experts for customer support, personalizing your messages, being friendly, being personable, and many more.

Let’s begin:

1. Let your guides take over

Statistics show that 80% of travelers spend up to 4 weeks researching, reading reviews and getting tips in preparation for their travels. This means that by the time a customer contacts your company for support, they probably have some basic information about the issue of concern.

Because customers can be quite knowledgeable, it’s necessary to have your most resourceful employees handling customer service.

For example, try putting your guides, the ones who are actually out in the field with your clients, climbing mountains and going for city tours, on the frontlines of your social media channels. Let them answer some of the questions potential clients may have with regard to your tours.

The expertise and practical experience of your guides make them well-positioned to offer customer support. By letting them take over your channel from time to time, you have the opportunity to respond better to your audience and add a human element to your brand.

When customers see the actual guides they’ll be touring with and how knowledgeable and helpful your team is, they are more likely to leave positive reviews about your business. This can lead to boosted brand trust hence more bookings.

2. Personalize your messages

Whether you’re communicating with customers via email or chat, on phone, or in person, a more personalized approach can work wonders.

Research shows that personalized emails deliver up to six times more transaction rates. More to that, there’s a 29% higher open rate when you address the customer by name.

Unique Open Rates for Emails with Personalized Subject Lines by Industry:

Source: Marketing Land

You’ll do yourself a great service by personalizing messages to your potential customers.

Apart from using the client’s name, another way of personalizing messages is having employees sign off using their name or initials instead of only a company name. When customers contact you for support, they already know you’re the company. Using the employee’s name humanizes the communication and builds better brand-client rapport.

You can also consider using a personalized email address to send the message instead of a generic corporate one. For example, use “jane@brandname.com” instead of “info@brandname.com”.

Personalized messages make customers feel like they are talking to real people they can reach out to and trust.

3. Show real people

While stock photos may come in handy to pass a specific message, it’s better to use real images that you’ve taken on your tours or activities, on your website and online communications.

Use photos of your enthusiastic employees and/or previous happy clients and give potential customers a taste of what to expect when they book with you.

To boost engagement even further, add your own videos on your website. You can give instructions for customer support through videos featuring some of your team members.

4. Establish a friendly tone

Customers want to be treated like people and not a sale or account number.

We’ve already established that what you say to a potential customer really matters. It should be high-level information that is helpful and can solve the customer’s problem. Customer service reps should also use polite words that show respect and empathy where need be.

But more to what you say, how you say it really matters. A friendly tone results in better communication and can make the customer more comfortable interacting with your business.

Do you know that 73% of consumers admit that a major deciding factor in “falling in love” with a brand is friendly employees or customer service representatives? The more reason you should look for every opportunity to offer a friendly experience for your customers.

Ensure your written messages are also polite. If your email, social media post, or chat message is too stiff, it may come off as unfriendly and unapproachable. Aim to show empathy with your words, exude kindness and a willingness to help.

5. Use live chat

Live chat is a fast and effective way to engage and connect with your customers and prospects.

This customer support channel is advantageous for both your business and customers. It’s a much cheaper and easier way of communicating with clients as opposed to phone calls and emails.

Customers prefer to live chat because they get their questions answered quickly. It also has the highest satisfaction level for any customer service channel at 73 to 81%.

Live chat, as opposed to chatbots, bring about the human touch to customer care in the face of automation.

6. Include testimonials

Adding testimonials from previous clients is a great way to build trust and establish credibility for your business. By showcasing your satisfied customers’ positive feedback about your business, it sends a message that you’re a trusted professional and reliable brand.

7. Create a memorable customer experience

Overall, tour customers want to enjoy interacting with the brand they choose. They are more likely to leave a review later if their experience was memorable enough.

A customer’s experience begins right from the time the customer gets on your website and makes a booking, up until the actual tour takes place. This process should be as easy as possible, with no hassle or friction.

In case of any problem along the way, customers want to know that your company can and will take care of everything.

Make the tour experience unique and let it stand out from your competition. And in the end, when you ask for a review from your customers, you can be almost sure it’ll be positive feedback.

Conclusion

Adding a human touch to your company is vital to nurturing and sustaining a good relationship with your audience and customers. It also sets you up to offer better customer service. And when it comes to ratings on review sites, the quality of your customer service can affect how high you go.

So, in summary, these are the tips you can implement to improve your customer service:

• Use experts to offer quality customer service.
• Personalize your messages.
• Show real people.
• Be friendly.
• Use live chat.
• Add testimonials on your site.
• Create a memorable customer experience.

You might also like: 

• How to Get More Positive Reviews and Boost Referrals
• How Positive Online Reviews Can Help Your Business

The post How To Improve Customer Service: A Human Touch In The Digital Age appeared first on Regiondo.