In the modern digitalized world the success of each business is highly dependant on its reputation. One negative story can impact your sales. People trust people and that is why reading reviews about business is the number one thing we do before making any purchase.
That is the reason why entrepreneurs should care about every feedback they get from their customers.
Moreover, it is a proven fact that customers who had a negative experience with your business are more likely to leave a review than those with a positive one. So, here are some tips on what you should do to protect your reputation online:
Work with negativity
In fact, nobody likes negative comments under their posts. In most cases, businesses just delete the comments left by clients on their social media. And that is the number one mistake (haters’ spam is an exception).
Always respond to everyone who had a poor experience with your service. You can do it either in comments or in private messages.
If you really screwed up just offer a bonus or give a discount to that person. Your main goal is to reduce the negativity and show how much you care.
This strategy will help you to not only prevent negative reviews but build loyalty.
Set Google alerts
If you want to protect your reputation online set alerts in Google. It is a perfect free tool that can save you time searching the web. Once alerts are set, you will get notifications every time your brand name is mentioned online. To do this, just follow the steps described below:
- Go to google.com/alerts.
- Create an alert or a list of alerts simply typing in the words you want to be notified about.
- Set the terms you want to be notified of. There is an option to set the frequency of such notifications.
- Get regular notifications about your brand to your email.
Also, you can use Google alerts as a way to follow your business competitors learning what sources they use for marketing activities.
Promote your message/mission more actively
Be more active online and spread your positive mission. Even if you faced negativity, promotion of your core values and a positive message will help you to change the situation for the better.
For example, if you are a writer and make money blogging create more useful content related to the problems raised by your clients.
Also, an active position and communicating with people on social media can beat the negativity.
Do not be spammy
Be personal talking to people. It is quite easy to recognize spam.
Actually, everyone is tired of spam emails and social media bots. Working with reputation, try to treat each potential customer as if the future of your business depends on this communication.
Ask about the problem, explain the details of why it happened and offer some bonus for this unpleasant situation.
People feel when you are really sorry and can understand your circumstances if you provide them with the details.
Finally…
Remember that it is always easier and cheaper to keep existing customers than find new ones. Don’t ignore negativity and learn how to work with customers in negative situations.
Success is in the details. Caring about each client even if you have thousands of them means caring about your brand. Surely, we all are people and can make mistakes. But, if we don’t solve them in time, the consequences can ruin everything we’ve created before.
Make sure you are following what people say about your brand online. Your reputation has a direct influence on the future of your business, your sales and business growth.
