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Most prospective buyers start their buying process with research. And the most popular platform for this research is Google. One of the elements that users look for when they find your business online is your reviews.
They do this to understand your business from other people’s perspective who is already your customer. Reviews are often left by people who have already used your products or services. Through their reviews, they are sharing their first-hand experience with other users.
A prospective customer would always trust these reviews over an advertisement or any of your promotional content. That’s because these reviews come from real people who have already used your business. And their opinion comes in an unbiased form.
So people find it easier to trust them. This makes it one of the most powerful tools for your business when it comes to converting your leads into customers. They can influence a potential customer’s decision to use your product or service, and they can also help you improve your business based on customer feedback.
So now, how do you use your online reviews to work for you? There are various ways of doing that. Let’s look at some of them in the following section.
1. Encourage Users to Review Your Business
Google prefers businesses with more reviews than the ones without them. So having some solid reviews for your business is important if you want your business to appear in search results.
However, not all your customers know that they can review your business. Sometimes it’s their ignorance, while others just don’t want to do it because they are too busy.
This doesn’t mean that you can sit back and wait for willing people to come and review your business. You need to consistently encourage them to leave a review for your business. Gently remind your users to review your product or service after they have made a purchase.
However, this isn’t enough. You have to make sure that it’s easy for your users to review your business. People won’t be willing to do it if they have to go through a complicated process simply to write a review. So simply this process for them.
2. Never Delete Negative Reviews
You can’t always expect to get positive reviews from your users. There will be some negative comments too. You’ll definitely not want others to read them and want them to disappear from Google.
But no matter how strong the urge is to delete these negative reviews, you will have to resist doing that. Remember, Google reviews are your user’s unbiased opinions about your business.
They are telling people what they feel about your business. And prospective clients will proactively search for negative reviews to know what you miss. If your reviews look too good and clean, they will get suspicious.
You have to accept the fact that it’s okay to have flaws. Instead of deleting these negative comments or ignoring them, make sure to respond to those comments. Apologize to your users for the inconvenience and reassure them that it will be worked upon to address their concerns.
3. Use Reviews to Improve Your Business
Another very important way to use Google reviews to work for you is by using those reviews to improve your business.
Instead of deleting them or being annoyed at the reviewer, treat it as feedback to identify your flaws and limitations.
You should also do your best to work on those problems to make your business a better one for your users. Doing this will help you stay relevant and be ahead of your competitors.
4. Display Them on your Website as Testimonials
Google reviews can be very powerful in generating relevant leads and converting them into sales. You might get some negative reviews, but a lot of them will be positive ones too.
Pick some of your best reviews and use them as testimonials on your website. Displaying them on your website can be a great way to let people know what your existing customers think about your products and services, build credibility and encourage them to take action on your site.
Besides, it also helps you build a strong brand image which is very important for the long-term success of your business.
5. Respond to your Reviews
A lot of marketers and entrepreneurs make the mistake of not responding to their reviews. If you’ve done that, too, you should stop it right now.
Responding to reviews, especially negative ones, shows that you care about your customers and their feedback. It also gives you an opportunity to address any issues and potentially turn a negative review into a positive one.
Over to You
Your Google reviews can be super helpful for you to drive more traffic to your website, boost your conversions and increase your profit. So take advantage of your reviews. The above tips are a few easy ways to do that. I hope you find these tips helpful. Do let us know your thoughts below.
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Syed Balkhi is an award-winning entrepreneur and online marketing expert. He is the co-founder of OptinMonster, WPBeginner, MonsterInsights, and WPForms.