Customer Review Sites: The Do’s and Don’ts

Anyone who has ever dabbled with online marketing for a business would have come across a customer review site. Or should I call them the ‘dreaded’ customer review site? The reality is review sites only have this reputation because businesses either think that one bad review will destroy them or they’re too scared to even take the risk.

These sites can actually be extremely beneficial to your online marketing efforts and can be utilised in the same way that a social network can; as an informal platform to communicate with your current customers, and provide information to potential customers.

Providing you adhere to a handful of DO’S and DON’TS when using review sites you’ll find that your company can see positive interaction from visitors and customers alike.

THE DO’S OF CUSTOMER REVIEW SITES

DO optimise your profile -

Most review sites will provide you with a profile that you can fill in with your company history/info, maybe some links to your social profiles and some other information about your services.

Remember, this is still a web page and can be optimised for SEO (search engine optimisation). This means you can include keywords like the title of your services (which often act as search queries), the industry you’re in or the audience you cater to (again, both of which can act as search queries), and your company name (depending on your size, you may be searched for in search engines).

Also make sure you’ve filled in all the information you can as each section of your profile (the About Us, Social profiles, Contact information etc.) will contribute to the unique content on the page. All of these factors can improve your position in search engines and ultimately draw more traffic and reviews to your profile page.

DO take away some tips –

No matter what company you run, if you submit yourself on a review sites you’re opening your company up to criticisms. It’s natural to feel slightly defensive when faced with a bad review but rather than place the blame on the review site or the customer you could take away a few tips that could benefit you in the future.

Read reviews carefully; what exactly is the customer saying went wrong? Is there an issue with a particular process? Maybe it was a certain employee that has let you down, or maybe there was even a technical issue that you could explain. Also remember to pick up on the positives so you can confirm that certain elements of your business are doing you proud!

DO share positive reviews -

On the flip side, always try and respond to positive reviews and show your appreciation that customers have taken the time to review you in the first place. Make sure you share these reviews too; Tweet them out, share them on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn etc.

The more the public see your positive reviews, the more likely they’ll be to either choose your services, or remember your name (“Oh yeah, I think I’ve read something pretty good about these guys” type thing). It can also encourage customers to give you more reviews.

DO consider advertising or upgrading –

Most review sites will offer an advertising package that can either enhance your current profile or offer you a completely new space to advertise (a banner on the homepage, for example).

Customer review sites are often also vertical search sites which means they cater to one specific industry. Because of this, the traffic to review sites tends to be much more qualified as visitors are looking for one product or service in particular.

While your free listing or profile may sit on a certain page of a site, paid advertising will usually offer your company space on a more highly trafficked page.

If the site is profile based (and doesn’t display companies in a listing format) then a paid option will usually mean you get some extras on your profile; more images, extra space for information, more links etc. This is also worth paying for as, from a visitors perspective, it looks like you’ve put a lot of effort into your profile and gives your visitors all the information they need.

THE DON’TS OF CUSTOMER REVIEW SITES

DON’T argue with reviews –

If the site gives you the option to respond publicly to reviews it is vital that you think through your response carefully before you post it. You may feel defensive, but do not get defensive – There is really nothing more detrimental to a company than rep with a bad attitude.

The last thing you want is to start a public slanging match with an unhappy customer because you can bet that anyone reading it will pay much more attention to their responses than they will to yours. You can also bet that the review site will not take comments down.

DON’T argue with the review site –

It makes you look bad. Period. Remember that review sites are generally neutral platforms on which your company and your customers can meet; they’re not posting the reviews themselves and probably have little to no opinion on your services.

Asking for reviews to be taken down will more than likely be a complete waste of time as the review site should have no loyalties to its listings; there’s 2 ways you need to think about this:

1. Review sites don’t know you, nor do they know the people sending in reviews, so why should the site take your word over that of the reviewer?
2. It’s funny how it’s only the bad reviews that are false. If you say a bad review is false, then a review site can say ‘Okay so how do we know all of your positive reviews arent false too?’

DON’T write your own reviews –

A decent review site will have a system that will be able to detect the authenticity of reviews and it’s likely that you’ll be penalised or even removed from the site if you’re found to be spamming your own profile. At a quick glance, its also pretty easy spot a real review from a false one as real reviews tend to give away much more detail about their experience, good or bad.

If you take all of these Do’s and Dont’s into account then customer review sites can be a positive addition to your online marketing strategy. It’s also helpful to find sites that can offer you a better reviewing experience; try and find sites that offer good social sharing options, a decent amount of space on your profile for information, and any other features that can boost your reviews, such as badges or widgets to go on your own site.