Customer feedback plays a major role in the success of your business.
Nowadays, before a consumer makes a purchase or avail of a service, they scroll through several customer reviews. They read the comments to find out other people’s experiences. Online reviews are the equivalent of traditional word-of-mouth. Maintaining a good online reputation enhances customer relationships and brand awareness.
It is important to maintain your online reputation. Online reviews influence people’s buying decisions. If you don’t know how much impact reviews have, we’re here to enlighten you.
Can Customer Reviews Tell You Something Important?
Customer feedback offers valuable information. As a business owner, reading the reviews left by your customers will give you ideas for new strategies. Online reviews will also allow you to make adjustments — giving your customers a better experience. Online reviews give you a chance to improve aspects of your products or services, helping you keep your customer base satisfied and loyal. Find out how to use customer reviews to your advantage and more.
There are two types of feedback — unprompted and prompted. Prompted feedback comes from different forms of surveys. On the other hand, unprompted feedback is reviews left on different platforms like Google, Angi, and Trip Advisor.
Why Customer Feedback Is Important: 7 Reasons Why
Online reviews are comments from clients or customers who have done business with you. Customer feedback can be positive or negative — expressing customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction about your products or services. Feedback, either prompted or unprompted, is useful to the growth of your business.
Here are some reasons why customer feedback is important:
1. Helps Improve Customer Service
When you read reviews from customers, you get ideas on how they feel on the receiving end. More often than not, you’ll see valuable input from them. Reviews help you form new strategies to level up customer satisfaction. Considering their feedback helps provide a better customer experience for your existing and potential customers.
2. Provides Social Proof and Credibility
With the rise of illegitimate businesses, people are warier about doing business with anyone without consulting the internet. As we said, people take reviews like traditional word-of-mouth, showing how it is important to maintain your online reputation. People are more inclined to choose you when they see that you have a digital presence, more if it’s a positive one.
3. Gives People a Chance to Have a Voice
Customer feedback gives people a chance to share their experiences. When they leave a review on a positive note, there’s a chance that they’ll purchase from you again, creating a sense of loyalty. Leaving reviews also makes people feel that they have a voice.
4. Helps Generate More Reviews
When people see plenty of reviews, they’re encouraged to leave one as well. Online reviews make them feel predisposed to do the same. They gain confidence in sharing their thoughts and experiences with your products or services.
5. Serves as a Marketing Campaign
This is another reason why customer feedback is important. Feedback offers plenty of benefits to the growth of your brand. They serve as a long-term marketing campaign for your business — especially positive reviews. Customer reviews exist long after customers leave them.
They give your brand a positive image and build brand awareness. When people search for products or services that you offer, they’ll likely stumble upon your business.
6. Improves Customer Retention
Reading reviews from your customers will give you an idea of whether your business is thriving or if there are areas that need improvement. Satisfied customers will stay with your brand. On the other hand, unhappy customers will be gone as fast as lightning.
Customer feedback allows you to change aspects of your business to retain customers. When customers see that you care about their experience, they remain loyal. Doing this satisfies unhappy customers — lowering the chances of them looking for an alternative.
7. Provides Valuable Information to Potential Customers
In a world where almost everything is done online, people rely on reviews from other customers. They lean towards other people’s experiences rather than marketing ads or expert advice. Many company websites integrate platforms where customers leave reviews, such as Google Reviews, Angi, and Business Yab.
These platforms provide potential clients easy access to other people’s feedback. When they see plenty of 5-star reviews, they’re likely to push through with their purchase without a second thought.
How to Respond to Negative Feedback from Customers
Knowing how to respond to negative feedback from customers is important. People want to feel heard — and you need to show them that you do hear them. The way you craft your response has an impact on how your customer will feel.
Here are steps to follow when responding to negative customer feedback:
1. Respond Quickly
With negative feedback, time is of the essence. Avoid letting the negative review sit for days without any word from your business. Formulate a plan of action and respond within 24 to 48 hours after the review was posted.
2. Acknowledge Their Complaints
As a business owner, seeing a negative review is frustrating. However, it’s important to take a breath and think about dealing with a customer’s complaint. Acknowledge how they feel and let them know you’re open to discussing what you can do to improve their experience.
3. Apologize and Take Responsibility
People often forget that a heartfelt apology can go a long way. The way you respond shows how much you value customer service. As a business owner, taking responsibility for what happened is essential, even if the entire situation is not your fault. When you respond, include how you take pride in the quality of your products or services.
4. Give an Explanation, if Necessary
Depending on the nature of their review, explaining your side is necessary. It lets the customer know why the situation happened. If what happened is because of miscommunication, delayed deliveries, or poor material quality, an explanation from you may help.
5. Take the Discussion Somewhere Else
Although reviews are public, moving the discussion offline is important. You don’t want everyone to witness all the interactions between you and the complainant. The only thing other people have to know is that you have responded to the negative feedback, and you’re fixing it.
6. Find a Way to Make Things Right
The last thing you need to do is make things right with the customer. Find the root cause of their dissatisfaction and offer a resolution. You can either offer a discount, a refund, or a free product or service. Doing so may lead to the taking down of the negative feedback.
If there’s nothing you can do to fix the problem, provide a public statement to address it. Let the people know you’re improving, so the issue will never happen to anyone again.
Leave the Management of Your Online Reputation to ADMS
Advanced Digital Media Services provides reputation management services.
As experts in SEO and online reputation management, we’ll apply strategies to drive more web traffic and sales to your website. We will take the necessary steps to boost your brand and push down the rankings of negative customer feedback. Gain a better online presence through partnering with us. Schedule a call with us today!
