Responding to reviews… whether you love them or hate them, they play a great importance in your online business and SEO. At AIM Internet and our Dudley agency, SEO plays a huge part in receiving great online results for our clients’ business. While it might seem obvious to invest a lot of time and careful consideration into how you respond to a negative review, positive reviews often go by, with far less appreciation than they deserve.
Responding to a positive review is an easy way to engage with happy customers that benefits both your brand identity, and your one-to-one relationship with that customer. By doing so it also creates trust with potential customers too. Remember, online reviews and review sites are public, so any positive conversations around your brand is great news for your business.
Responding to Positive Reviews
Our SEO agency in Dudley have given these reasons why it’s important to spend as much time responding to positive reviews as negative reviews:
- It’s good etiquette. If someone gave you a compliment in real life, you wouldn’t ignore them, you’d say thank you. It’s simply good manners. And with an online review, the compliment is there for everyone to see.
- The compliment is public. Most consumers will read online reviews before making a purchase. Which means your future customers will see the review and your reply. If a person trusts a brand then they’ll buy from that brand. Plus, replying to the review is an opportunity to speak to these people too, and do some subtle marketing.
- Actively generating, and engaging with, positive online conversations about your brand and the local community can initiate a larger conversation, which can generate more buzz and online visibility for your business.
- Google appreciates it. Responding properly to all reviews can improve the SEO ranking of the review, in turn it will help your review show up in search results.
If you are receiving lots of positive reviews, firstly, well done! But secondly, try to write an authentic response to each one. It can be tempting to copy and paste the same ‘thank you’, but it’s important to take the time to engage politely, it is your chance to personalise, promote and even earn new customers. And simply, it’s just good customer service.
Related: Personalised Marketing at Scale is the Next Big Thing in Digital
When writing your replies, keep in mind these four easy steps.
Step One
Thank the customer for the positive review and make sure it’s specific. Ensure the reviewer knows it’s a real person replying and not just a virtual assistant.
“Thanks for taking the time to leave a review, and mentioning our stylist Emma. You’re right, she is the best!”
Step Two
When replying to a positive review try and include your business name and relative keywords. Using your business name, category and location in your response will help the positive review appear in search results.
“The team here at (your business) is delighted that you had such a great experience, and we’re proud to be serving some of the best (food) in (your location).”
Related: How To Use Google My Business Effectively
Step Three
Don’t be shy about throwing some marketing in there too. Remember, your reply is public so people will be reading it. Take the opportunity to engage new customers too.
“We are so pleased to hear you enjoyed our cheese selection. Did you know we have a cheese event coming up next month? You can find more details on our website (link).”
Step Four
Add an invitation to your response. Ask the customer to come back and experience something new you’re offering or to tell their friends.
“If you enjoyed that (product), next time you’re here, you should definitely try the (product). We hope you come back and see us soon!”
These steps are designed to help you easily respond to online reviews. Overtime, responding to both positive and negative reviews will become second nature and it’s most definitely worth taking the time to do it right.
Don’t be afraid to let your brand personality shine through, it actually builds better relationships with your customers.
Get in touch with our SEO Agency in Dudley, AIM Internet, to find out more to grow your business online.
If you’ve found this blog through a Google search, your business is probably based in Dudley. Therefore, you’re most likely aware it is part of “Black Country“, which name was given in the nineteenth century. This was because the ironworking foundries and forges caused so much smoke. The Black Country’s ‘capital’ is Dudley which was founded 1974. In addition was made a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands. Dudley was also one of the locations where the Industrial Revolution began. With its iron, coal, and limestone factories, it became a manufacturing centre in the nineteenth century.