Still Avoiding Online Reviews? 4 Tips to Use Them to Your Advantage

Although monitoring your brand’s online reviews can be daunting, over eighty percent of consumers consult them when researching products and services, so simply ignoring them is not a practical option. By reading your online reviews — both positive and negative— you can learn a lot of useful information about how people perceive your brand and your products. You need to set up a systematic process for continuously monitoring your online reviews, including the negative ones. You can make this task more efficient with the help of a monitoring platform such as Birdeye.

Key Takeaways:

• When one adds reviews to his business he might feel that he is doing online dating because he is opening himself up to scrutiny.
• Bright Local conducted a survey on online reviews and it was gathered that 86 percent of consumers say that online reviews help them to make a purchase.
• When one wants to see an increase in sales he needs to pay attention to his online reviews by monitoring and responding to them.

"But reviews are vitally important for businesses, especially in an age when consumers are researching decisions more than ever."

Read more: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/335540

How to build a strong online reputation

The best way to build your online reputation and make it stronger is to start by having a reliable, trustworthy website with unique content that is updated frequently. Having genuine social profiles also helps to keep your business in front of people. Selling in a variety of places such as ebay or Amazon allow for you to maintain a broad spectrum of customers. Publishing a blog can also help demonstrate your expertise in your field. And to protect your online brand SEO can help. Lastly, provide great customer service to keep customers coming back to your business.

Key Takeaways:

• The bricks and mortar shops that used to be the hallmark of retailing are now seeing their days and their days are slipping away.
• Because the Internet is easily available and we can browse it anytime we want, retailers are pushing a lot of products online.
• But retailers should not rely on reputation alone to make inroads into the online markets because buyers now have lots of information at their disposal.

"So now whilst having great products and competitive prices is still important alongside them you need positive reviews and a good online reputation."

Read more: https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/in-business/advice/how-to-build-a-strong-online-reputation/

Surviving the Kind of Crisis that Makes a Bad Yelp Review Seem Like a Love Note

The restaurant business can be both complex and simple. But what happens when a local television reporter turns undercover cop and begins to report that your kitchen has unsanitary conditions will determine the future of the restaurant. It becomes a challenge that needs to be tackled. Many restaurateurs turn to crisis communication pros for this sort of tasks. It is estimated that one doesn’t know when a crisis can hit an industry in this imperfect world. Yet for restaurants, crisis response is harder because of the unique circumstances that they face. This is because in the first place few restaurants have a crisis communication strategy with communicators that can help them to deal with any crisis. Many national chains can employ communication professionals but this luxury is not in the purview of small and local restaurants. Therefore, the restaurant industry is starkly different from the billions of companies in the country who make it a duty to employ these professionals because they always envision that a crisis can surface at anytime. One thing that is going for restaurants is that their crisis are what the general public can easily understand. When there is a food poisoning in a local restaurant, many persons can understand what the news is saying and what action they need to take. That is why crisis are harder on restaurants.

Key Takeaways:

• Have a solid communications plan in case there is a crisis when speaking to the media.
• Food connects us all, and if a local eatery has bad publicity, it can ruin a business.
• be on the look out for issues to avoid them in the first place.

"A crisis can hit any industry at any time. Yet restaurants face unique circumstances that make crisis response harder."

Read more: https://www.modernrestaurantmanagement.com/surviving-the-kind-of-crisis-that-makes-a-bad-yelp-review-seem-like-a-love-note/

How to turn a bad review around

Part of being in business is seeking out reviews for your business and products. Sometimes the reviews are not so favorable but the business owner shouldn't respond negatively to a negative review. One way to get a five star review was to respond to negative reviews in a new way. Yelp's data reports that business owners that respond to negative reviews within 24 hours increase the likelihood of their disgruntled customer coming back by 33%. Ultimately a negative review is based off one experience so changing that experience the next time works in favor for both the owner and the customer.

Key Takeaways:

• Sam Elbandak’s yelp page was formerly a disaster that he needed to have some shots of alcohol before taking a look at it.
• He used to have a lot of negative reviews that he would get so frustrated and depressed with them whenever he sees them.
• Many restaurant owners are urged to actively monitor their Yelp pages and ask their customers for reviews because it is part of their operations.

"Elbandak, who owns The New Spot on Polk in San Francisco, was one of three operators who spoke at a Yelp-sponsored panel at the 2019 National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago. Darnell Holloway, director of business outreach at Yelp, moderated the panel."

Read more: https://www.nrn.com/operations/how-turn-bad-review-around

Chipotle's digital sales up 100%

Past food safety issues put a dent on Chipotle’s reputation but now one can safely say that Chipotle has recovered from those events. On Thursday the Chipotle chain reported that they recorded a restaurant sales increase of 9.9 percent for quarter 1 that ended in March 2019. Of significant is the digital sales figures that shows a bump in that sector because the digital sales figures grew by about 100.7 percent and it was accountable for about 15.7 percent of the overall sales for that quarter. According to the CEO of Chipotle, Brian Niccol, these figures represent the fifth consecutive quarter where comps have shown remarkable acceleration and this makes the company to believe that customers respond enthusiastically when they connect with them through culturally relevant marketing with a focus on the great taste and the real ingredients that Chipotle provides. Some stats that were reported was a revenue growth of 13.9 percent to stand at $1.3 billion and an increase of operating margin by 21 percent. The figures show that the digital end of the restaurant chain has a lot to account for the improvement in sales.

Key Takeaways:

• Chipotle has seen an increase in comparable restaurant sales for the five quarter in a row.
• The recent successes for Chipotle appear to be driven by it's digital sales.
• Chipotle's digital sales account for 15 percent of all sales and are up nearly 100 percent since last year.

"Through a combination of delivery, order ahead and catering, the chain's digital sales accelerated from Q4 and grew nearly 101% year-over-year and quarter one."

Read more: https://www.fastcasual.com/news/chipotles-digital-sales-up-100/?fbclid=IwAR0HHjkqgrxTtRYw4alraGLtkd-z_Y_j4--md5Cfc0vEmkT3hm85GKF7Plo

The Benefits of Testimonials: 6 Tips to Improve Your Marketing

Many people confess to the fact that they consider reading online reviews an important step they have to take before they make an online purchase. In a related study, most people say that their purchase behavior was influenced by their family and friends. This shows that what people say about a business, as the data in the surveys shows, really matter. Business reputation does affect the bottom line and the relationship of the business with customers. Then, one needs to emphasize the testimonials from customers in order to promote a brand. One way to do this is never to brag. Bragging never looked good on anyone and will not on a brand. Let your customers do the bragging about your business or brand. A customer’s testimonial about how great your product is has much impact, much more than whatever way you use to tell people that you produce great products. Then, how can one get customer testimonials? The first way to do this is to ask customers directly. Your loyal customers will surely do this for you. Then the second way is to go visual with testimonials. Produce videos of customer testimonial and share it on social media widely. Other ways to get a great testimonial are outlined in the blog.

Key Takeaways:

• Many people say they read online reviews and believe that reading online reviews should be the first step one takes before a relationship with a business.
• Many persons say that they ask family and friends about a business and allow them to influence their buying behavior when shopping online.
• Businesses should not brag because it never looks good on anybody, rather they should allow the customers to do the bragging for them.

"The data is clear: what people say about a business matters. Good or bad, your business reputation can affect your customer relationships and sales."

Read more: https://wordpress.com/go/digital-marketing/the-benefits-of-testimonials-6-tips-to-improve-your-marketing/

Review Bombing: have you been affected?

Review Bombing - Movie review website Rotten Tomatoes is starting to combat “review bombing”. Review bombing is when website users leave negative reviews to influence the financial success of a film. I believe review bombing goes beyond that targeting local businesses like yours where competitors, disgruntled former employees and customers that didn’t get their way leave nasty reviews. Sometimes the beef is made up! For local businesses to combat that I recommend responding in a professional manner that makes it clear that the review might be questionable. Without actually coming out and saying it. And keep fresh reviews coming in! 

Read more here.

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