Modern Customer Journey: Reputation
We’re continuing our look at the modern customer journey. Throughout this six part series, we’re going to give you insight into how consumers think and decide on purchasing a product or service. As the world continues to move exponentially faster into the digital world, understanding how modern sales works is vital for business success.
Reputation (Part 4) – This Post
Reputation
There’s an old joke that a person’s reputation is like a fart, it lingers after they leave.
What’s your businesses online reputation?
As we continue to work through the modern customer journey, so far we’ve seen our potential customers become aware of the solution to their problem and find you as a potential solution.
When they decide to search for you, what will they find?
88% of potential customers do an internet search on a Company once they are aware of them.
89% of those same customers will read the reviews (positive and negative).
Your online reputation (or lack thereof) is telling to a potential customer.
The solution? Online reviews.
Online Reviews
Picture this: it’s time for you to head to the dentist, and you, like most people, hate the experience. Looking for something different you Google “Dentist near me” and wait for results.
One local dentist pops up and you decide to read the reviews. How would you respond to the following (real) reviews:
“Literally the most disgusting dentist I’ve been to. The walls were dirty and the outlets were broken. I’m not sure they’re up to code.” ⭐️
Vs.
“Forget what the other reviewers say. This is the best dentist in town and worth the (minimal) wait to see him.” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Would you book an appointment or keep looking?
Whatever your choice, that’s reputation, and people trust online reviews as much as they do traditional word of mouth referrals.
Reputation Management
All of our base packages include a service we call reputation management. The goal is simple: get as many customers to give you glowing reviews as possible, as consistently as we can. We do this through direct asks via email and SMS (text message) that asks for customers to leave a review after they purchase your product. We provide forms and templates to use (or come up with your own) so you can respond to every review quickly and easily.
But Justin, what if I get a negative review? Can’t I just delete it?
Absolutely not.
Negative reviews can be a great thing for your business.
In the event that your business really did mess up, miss an order, forget a supply, or not meet customer expectation, you can use it as an opportunity to train and develop staff better. Apologize to the customer, offer a discount on a future visit, and let the public know that you are committed to improving customer experience. (Then craft a narrative that you have done so and show the world how great you really are).
And if a customer left a negative review, but was really the problem themselves, even better. Though they will leave a one star review, you can interact with them and respond appropriately. Maybe they complained that their order was cancelled and whined about not being able to speak to the manager. By responding, you could show the world that the order was cancelled because they refused to pay the full amount and were denied speaking to the manager because they were irate and started to vandalize the store. Your business had enough and called the cops to have them removed. Wouldn’t you want potential customers to know that the one star review was not actually the fault of your company but of the customer’s poor attitude and behavior?
Understanding how reputation management fits into the modern customer journey empowers your business to take action, grow, and move towards customer conversion, the next part of the journey.