This blog was orginally published on LinkedIn by Vidhya Lakshmi Yegappan
Leverage the Reviews section to draw in more customers
Various factors influence the ranking of your business in Google my business listing. It is a complex, messy web. Of course, you can update your website, place compelling CTAs, and add other details such as opening hours, the services you provide, online booking system, e-commerce, etc. But reviews play a vital role in ranking your business listing higher.
Before we get to understand the solution, let us first discuss the problem in detail. You enter a search query on google, around 9 to 10 websites are displayed on the SERP. Along with the websites, sometimes you will find mapping results (as shown in the image). Point to note is it is more difficult to rank here as only 3 to 4 businesses will be listed in the mapping results when compared to the 9 to 10 websites listed in the SERPs. With paid ads being included in the mapping results, it becomes a herculean task to be listed among the top 3. In plain words, you need to put in extra effort just to be visible to many viewers. One simple way to deal with this is the way you handle reviews. We will get there. Read on.
Many factors impact a website's ranking - one of which is reviews. In this digital world, we look for peer approval and one form of that approval is reviews. Reviews are an important ranking factor that will boost your ranking in the mapping results. Also, nobody is going to install an app that has a bad rating or no reviews. That being said, it is mandatory to respond to every review your product gets. By doing so, it shows other users visiting your site that you are customer-centric.
Many businesses don't pay heed to reviews. Some respond only to negative reviews or worse, some do not respond at all. Be it a 5-star rating or a 1-star rating, responding to all kinds of reviews shows customers that you care.
How do you handle negative reviews? Here is the agenda
Respond with a greeting
Acknowledge the issue
Take responsibility and provide them an explanation
Promise to solve the issue
If you examine why some customers give negative reviews it's because
They might not be satisfied with the product or customer service. Maybe the product was not as promising as the advert.
To alert other potential customers about their bad experiences.
Responding to reviews promptly increases customer loyalty
One important fact to remember while handling reviews is to depersonalize. It's natural to take negative reviews personally as it is your product. But depersonalizing can go a long way. Assure your customers that you will make it up and close it with a thank you note. By taking responsibility for any mishappenings, people will tend to trust your brand.
SEMRush is the best example of handling reviews. They respond to every post, every comment in a timely fashion. This is why millions of users are drawn to a product when you use a client-centric approach.