10 Steps to Manage Your Online Ratings #RDJ2016
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Transcript of 10 Steps to Manage Your Online Ratings #RDJ2016
10 Steps to Help You Manage Your Online Ratings
Bill Owens & Shashi Bellamkonda
#RDJ2016
Thank you for coming!
Bill OwensBill Owens, CGR, CAPS, CGP, is president of Owens Construction, currently celebrating over thirty years as a leading residential design/build firm in central Ohio.
Active with:
National Association of Home Builders
Home Builders Institute
Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies
Shashi BellamkondaShashi Bellamkonda is the Chief Marketing Officer of Surefire Social - Solving Local Marketing for successful remodelers.
Shashi Bellamkonda is also an Adjunct faculty member of Georgetown University teaching Marketing Analytics and Digital, Social Media and Mobile and keynote speaker on Digital Marketing and Small Business.
Background: Remodeling Companies’ Challenges
Resting on our laurels
Do great work
Clients love the experience
Great team
Problem jobs:Work out issues with clients privately Do right by the Customers - Always to a mutually satisfying conclusion
“Word of Mouth” has gone to “Word of Mouse”Believe the vast majority of our opportunity is referral and repeat business
But what are we perhaps not seeing?
Make (or at least soften) the sale even before prospects reach out to us-Very likely lost opportunity because:
Search before homeowners contact usPotential clients see few or no ratingsMaybe some average ratings on a few websites
Understanding the growing importance of an online, social presence
Tough time getting clients to engage
Small number of yearly transactions (30 to 50 jobs/year)Lackluster number of reviewsHow to best excite and encourage clients to rate and review us?
Where to send customers, let alone, where are prospects looking?
We know Google is important….confused on what sites we should be focusing on.
Feeling defensive, insulted and destroyed by 1 star reviews
Source: MotherJones
Joshua Tree National Park, CA
How to think about this….
Reinforce Your Beliefs
Do excellent work and have lots of pride in your process as well as the finished product
Expect that this could
happen
.....because it will…..and that’s OK!
Get ahead of this - Manage through these events
- Don’t react emotionally, internally or in the public eye
Create a shift in how
the public views the
industry as a whole.
Posted by Web Staff - Email | Facebook | TwitterCLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - It's bad enough when you find out the contractor working on your home is unqualified. Imagine if you never hired that person in the first place.It's the latest home scam.The scam typically hits the people least equipped to deal with it, mainly the elderly……
Readjust our thinking● Spend more on creating
satisfied clients ● Well-developed and properly
channeled reputation management system
Reputation is more than Just Reviews5 things to check/do today
Today customers know more about the business than the business owners themselvesMark Richardson Author, Keynote Speaker and Remodeling Expert
1. Outdated Web Presence
Website has not been updated in years - Are you still in business?Recent content? Typos….Not mobile friendly?Do you have your own domain name?
2. Consistency of Information
Inconsistency of data - Name, Address, Phone confuses not only your customers but search engines
3. Broken Websites
Websites with broken images or broken links indicate you do not care about customers’ experience
4. No Reviews for Your Business
“88% of consumers have read reviews to determine the quality of a local business.”
5. No Feedback Channel
Provide an easy way for customers to contact the business first
Why Folks Write Reviews?
15
25 22
Understanding the Reviewer Emotion
Warn other Consumers
I want to warn others of bad products
I want to save others from having the same negative experiences
Venting negative feelings
I like to get anger of my chest
I want to take vengeance upon the company
The company harmed me, and now I will harm the company
Help me shake off frustrations about bad buys
J.M. Rensink - What motivates people to write online reviews and which role does personality play?
Help other consumers
I want to help others with my own positive experiences I want to give others the opportunity to buy the right
product
Helping the company
In my opinion, good companies should be supported
I am so satisfied with a company and its product that I want to help the company to be successful
Emotion – Negative>> Positive
Intensity
Harness Customer EmotionsSocial benefits
I believe a chat among like-minded people is a nice thing
It is fun to communicate this way because I meet nice people
Self enhancementThis way I can express my joy about
a good buy I can tell others about a great
experience I feel good when I can tell others my
buying success My contributions show others that I
am a clever customer
Advice seeking I hope to receive advice from others to
help solve my problems
I expect to receive tips or support from other users
J.M. Rensink - What motivates people to write online reviews and which role does personality play?
10 Steps to Act on your Reputation Management
1.Goals and Objectives
A proactive strategy to get reviews is required for all businesses
Create a well-defined strategy
Mission: “We will strive to get nothing less than 5 Stars”
2. Plan
Set responsibility
Proactive
Getting Customer Reviews
Reactive
Monitor >> Respond>>Resolve
3.Training Every member of your company can help you with your review strategy
Define the experience
Explain the process
Reinforce importance of reviews
Set rules of engagement
Provide service standards
Power of conversation, eye contact
2016
4. Wide web presence
Proprietary + Confidential
www.yourdomain.com
5. Target campaigns to customers where they can review you
HouzzYelpGoogle, etc.
6. Ask but don’t reward
Use Messages like “People on Yelp like us!” or “People love us on Yelp!”DON’T offer incentives for reviews
7. Engage
Increase your chances by non-review type engagements such as check-ins, photos, liking, or adding tipsCreate Ideabooks on Houzz
8. Using Mobile & Apps
Reviews can be done from anywhere including on the phoneUse SMS to send customers links to reviews with their permissionTake pictures and send to your websiteUse Geo Location check-ins to add reviews and location data to your website
9. Get alerts for new reviews
➔ Google Alerts are free
➔ Other tools like Mention.net
➔ Reputation Management Tools
➔ Agency
10. Respond to all reviews
New prospects can come across old reviews
Customers form opinions on company response
Guide to Responding to Reviews
Get Ahead with TESTIMONIALS
Step 1:
Setup a client testimonials plan
Step 2:
Use tools and automation to setup a system to seek reviews
Train & equip your employees to get reviews
Step 3:
Publish testimonials on your website
Use testimonials in sales materials
WHO TO RESPOND TO
Positive Reviews: Not necessary all the time, but still good practice
Negative Reviews: You need to respond 100% of the time
Don’t respond angrily
WHY RESPOND
Turn a negative review into a positive experience!
1. Show clients you care
2. Demonstrate your passion for customer service
3. Increase customer retention
4. Increase new customer acquisition
HOW TO RESPOND Thank them for the review
Be humble and appreciativeExplain the future changesHow are you going to prevent this from happening again?
WHERE TO RESPOND
1. Publicly
Shows both other, and potential, clients that you care
2. Privately
Address and resolve the client’s personal issues
WHEN TO RESPOND
The sooner the betterAim for under 24 hoursOK to respond to older reviews
BAD REVIEWS NOT ALWAYS A BAD THING...
Getting bad reviews can be good?
Opportunity Customers
Valuable feedback and opportunity to improveMore honest and transparent
Having only positive reviews may not be trustworthy
REPUTATIONBad reviews are not the problem, not answering is the problem.
ELEMENTS OF A RESPONSE1. Always Say Thank You
2. Mention positive points from the review
3. Apologize if things went wrong
4. Suggest contacting you by phone or email
5. Offer to work with them
Response Best Practices
1. Respond to reviews fast but take the time to think through your response
2. Resist the urge to vent on the reviewer or focus on how to get the review resolved
3. Don’t get defensive and get into too much detail
4. Take the conversation offline
5. If reviewer has not responded search in your records and reach out privately
6. Be transparent and apologize if a mistake has been made
Reviews should reflect your brand
1.Be conscious of the Streisand effect -”phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely”
2.If there are repeated bad reviews on the same issue, you may need to look at your operations
3.Your review represents your brand. Avoid typos, grammatical mistakes and stay positive
Don’t ignore reviews hoping they will go away
ConclusionSetup, implement, and manage your company's reputation plan long before a problem or crisis strikesYou can really change/regain your reputationGet back the business you are losing because of your reputation
My Advice, “from the trenches”Proactively-
Focus on showcasing all substantial projects on social media and your website
Aggressively seek more and better quality ratings and reviews on specific sites
Mandate responsiveness to any reviews by all company representatives.
Group Exercise
Create a Reputation Management Plan
1) Audit your current reputation plan
2) What would you change?3) What resources and budget to
allocate?4) How do you measure the
results?
New Trends in ReviewsWhat will you do with your findings next? How will you further your research/findings?
We don’t go online. We live online.
Proprietary + Confidential
Reviews on Instagram
Amazon
Maps
App Reviews
Neighborhood Networks
Employee Reviews
More importance to reviews on Google
CONSUMERS MAKE DECISIONS USING MICRO-MOMENTS