Tag: customer reviews

Why You Should Encourage Customers to Share Their Experiences

Posted on by AnaBerestean

Many business owners are reluctant to encourage customers to talk about their experiences. Everyone’s heard horror stories about a one-off negative testimonial that never seemed to go away no matter how many satisfied customers share their thoughts. Unfortunately, this fear keeps companies from tapping into the plethora of benefits that come with customers talking about their experiences.

 

6 Reasons to Encourage Customer Testimonials

1.    See what customers really think.

As a business owner, you’re always looking for ways to improve your services and products to keep customers happy. But, when’s the last time you went straight to the source to gauge how clients felt about your business? If you’re like most companies, it’s probably been a while. A customer testimonial – positive or negative – is an invaluable piece of information. It tells you what your business is doing right, what it’s doing wrong, and how it can improve.

2.    Boost brand exposure.

Customer testimonials can also help to increase brand awareness across the internet. Every piece of online content that mentions your business boosts its online exposure including customer testimonials. Google prefers companies that have a lot of testimonials, interaction with real people, and authentic content. Each testimonial that mentions your business’s name will increase the likelihood of it showing up in relevant searches.

3.    Improve customer service.

Better customer service is a greatly overlooked benefit of having customers share their experiences. People love when companies are eager to hear about their thoughts whether they’re positive or negative. On top of that, having consistent testimonials makes it easier to detect repeated issues with your business’s customer experience. This way, you have the insights needed to consistently improve customer service overall.

4.    Increase customer loyalty.

Customers place a premium on businesses that actively seek out their thoughts, questions, and concerns. It adds a level of trustworthiness and authenticity that most companies simply don’t offer to clients. When you actively encourage customers to share their experiences no matter what, it can help to increase customer loyalty. People will always prefer to work with a business that cares what they think.

5.    Get ahead of problems.

No amount of effort, due diligence, or investment can guarantee every single customer has an awesome experience. Regardless of who’s at fault, minor issues will arise from time to time. It might sound counterintuitive, but businesses are better off having customers share their negative thoughts rather than crossing their fingers or ignoring the problem. This way, you have an opportunity to get ahead of the issue before it blows up.

6.    Gain more control.

Motivated customers are going to find a way to share their experiences online with or without your encouragement. When you actively encourage it, you have greater control over where those thoughts are shared. Businesses can free themselves from the stranglehold of popular review sites like Google or Yelp by directing their customers to share their experiences on a preferred platform.

 

Harness the power of customer testimonials.

A lot of the hesitancy business owners feel about customer reviews stems from the lack of control they have over sites like Google and Yelp. These popular sites make it nearly impossible for you to keep up with reviews or reach out to customers to rectify issues. Everything is completely out of reach. That’s where hapigood comes into play.

This game-changing software puts businesses back in the driver’s seat of their reputation. It allows companies to harness the power of customer testimonials by offering greater control, avoiding the constraints of Big Tech, and simplifying the process overall.

Tired of having no control over what customers say about your business online? You’re not alone! This is something businesses in all industries struggle with on a daily basis. Now, there’s a solution. Hapigood gives you control over your business’s online reputation by putting all reviews in one convenient place. This allows you to respond to negative customer experiences and boost positive testimonials. Contact us today to learn more about what we offer and how your business can benefit.

How Reviews Can Improve Your Company’s Relationship with Customers

Posted on by AnaBerestean

Customer relations is a foundational aspect of running a successful business, especially for small-to-medium-size companies with less exposure than their larger rivals. A business’s relationship with its clients has an impact on everything from conversion rates and reputation to marketing success and so much more. Although focusing on high-quality products and services can improve customer relations, there are other important components to take into account. Here, we’ll explore the various ways reviews can improve your company’s relationship with clients.

 

It’s an accurate measure of customer satisfaction.

A key to optimizing customer relations is knowing how customers feel. If you have a well-defined and accurate understanding of how your current and potential clients perceive your business, you’re in a better position to improve the experience. You’ll know what you’re doing right, what needs some tweaking, and what you should get rid of altogether. Reviews are the single most effective way to gain a precise, real-time, and unfiltered understanding of customer satisfaction. It’s a great way to save time, energy, and money all while gaining an accurate gauge of how your customers feel.

 

Customers feel heard.

Whether you’re responding to positive or negative feedback, customers appreciate it when businesses interact with their comments. It shows that you genuinely value their opinion and eagerly want to improve your business. Engaging with great feedback reinforces the client’s positive experience and encourages them to continue working with your business. On the other hand, responding to constructive feedback shows clients that you take their concerns seriously and want to solve the problem. In both scenarios, the customer will feel heard and understood which increases the likelihood they’ll decide to work with you again.

 

Reviews can improve customer service.

The benefit of client feedback on customer relations isn’t just limited to positive reviews. In fact, some of the best changes can come from critical reviews. While positive feedback is great for building reputation, loyalty, and awareness, it does little in way of improving how your business operates. Conversely, critical reviews highlight areas where your business is falling short in the customer experience. Addressing these issues can drastically improve your company’s relationship with existing and future customers. The trick is seeing critical reviews as opportunities for improvement instead of an attack or threat to your business.

 

Potential customers love client testimonials.

People spend hours, days, and sometimes even weeks researching a business before spending their money. With customer testimonials influencing 93% of purchasing choices, it’s clear what potential customers care about the most: reviews! Although it’s crucial to include information about your offerings and company online, you make it so much easier for potential clients to make an informed decision about your business by curating feedback from previous customers. It lends a level of credence that your brand can’t achieve alone. By simplifying the research process for clients who are on the fence, you’ll further improve your relationship with customers.

 

Why most review sites fail businesses.

Some of the biggest obstacles preventing businesses from making the most of customer feedback are actually the review sites themselves. Google, Yelp, and other conventional review platforms severely limit the control businesses have over their client feedback. Positive reviews aren’t properly bolstered for potential customers and critical reviews aren’t effectively channeled to resolve issues that arise That’s where hapigood comes into play!

 

This one-of-a-kind customer review and reputation management platform is designed to put businesses back in the driver’s seat when it comes to client feedback. hapigood makes it easier for businesses to source reviews, promote positive testimonials, respond to negative client experiences, and reap all the myriad benefits of customer feedback.

 

If you’re interested in learning more about what hapigood can offer and how your business can benefit, contact us today. We’re already helping a host of small businesses improve their review and reputation management. Your business should be next!

7 Tips for Boosting the Number of Customer Reviews for Your Business

Posted on by AnaBerestean

Customer reviews are a powerful tool that can help your business boost online exposure, improve reputation, perfect customer service, build loyalty, and so much more. The more reviews you have, the more potent the benefits. If you’ve been struggling to get customers to share their experiences, follow these 7 tips to open the testimonial floodgates.

 

1.   Ask for reviews.

The first step to boosting customer reviews is to ask for…well, reviews. That’s a painfully obvious starting point, but it’s also painfully underutilized. A whopping 70% of customers are more than happy to leave a review if a business asks. That’s right! Simply requesting a review can elevate the number of client testimonials your business curates. Most customers aren’t actively deciding to NOT leave a review. Instead, it’s not something that crosses their minds. A request is all the nudge most clients need to share their thoughts.

 

2.   Catch customers right after their purchase.

Recency is critical when encouraging customers to leave reviews. Generally, people are more motivated to leave a testimonial right after working with your business. As more time passes, that eagerness gradually decreases. The trick is to catch clients immediately after buying a product or paying for a service. This immediate follow-up increases the likelihood they’ll share feedback and ensures they remember specific details about what made the experience so great.

 

3.   Give a specific time.

Time is one of the top reasons customers refuse to leave feedback even after a positive customer experience. When presented with an open-ended request for a review, clients are uneasy about dedicating an undisclosed amount of time to leave a testimonial. This problem is easily solved by offering a fair heads-up about how long it will take to write a review. You can say something like “Take a few minutes to fill out…” or “It’ll only take 2 minutes to complete…”. A little transparency can go a long way.

 

4.   Offer the possibility of anonymity.

Some people are skeptical of sharing online reviews because they don’t want their information shared online. You can ease this concern by making it clear to potential reviewers that none of their personal info will get shared. Furthermore, you can allow a customer to omit their last or full name from the review, depending on their privacy preferences. You’ll be giving customers peace of mind knowing their information is protected while still getting the real reviews you need to improve your business.

 

5.   Ask for emails at checkout.

Despite the variety of modern marketing channels, email is still among the most effective methods of communicating with customers. In fact, 72% of consumers prefer email as their primary source of contact with businesses. What relevance does that have for customer reviews? Well, collecting emails during the checkout process – whether that’s in-person or online – is a great way to send follow-up review requests. It’s easy to implement, and there’s no burden on customers. Plus, you’re building an email list at the same time which will come in handy for marketing efforts.

 

6.   Offer an incentive for reviews.

Everyone loves free stuff, especially after spending money. Offering even a small thank-you for a review can considerably increase the number of clients willing to share their experiences. Coupons or gift cards for future businesses are an excellent strategy as you’re securing a review while encouraging customers to come back and spend more money with you. Be sure to make these incentives prominent so customers know what they’ll get in return.

 

7.   Use powerful review management software.

The unsung hero of an effective customer review strategy is a committed management system. Google, Yelp, and other common review sites fail to give businesses the oversight and management needed to make the most of reviews. hapigood, on the other hand, helps businesses curate, manage, and publish customer feedback in an organized, effective, and scalable manner. It funnels all reviews to one, convenient location where businesses can figure out the most appropriate way to utilize them.

 

If your business is struggling to get the most out of customer reviews, contact us today to learn more about how hapigood can help.

 

 

3 Ways Customer Reviews Boost Brand Awareness (And How to Take Advantage of Them)

Posted on by AnaBerestean

Brand awareness is the level of familiarity consumers have with your business. This recognition is a core component of building a successful business due to its positive ramifications. The greater the awareness, the easier it is to generate interest, convert paying customers, build loyalty, establish authority, and so much more. There are plenty of factors that contribute to a business’s brand awareness, but customer reviews are easily the most overlooked. Let’s see just how impactful testimonials can be on brand awareness.

 

1.   Customer testimonials improve SEO.

Search engine optimization (SEO) encompasses all strategies used to increase your business’s online exposure. More specifically, SEO methods are aimed at ranking a company’s websites, blogs, social media profiles, and other web-based content high on related Google searches. Generally, a business’s ranking increases in proportion to the amount of high-quality, authentic, and recent content published. Customer reviews are a perfect candidate since they demonstrate to Google that your business is well-regarded, serving real customers, and still open for business. Each testimonial acts as a boost to your business’s online exposure, making it easier for potential customers to find.

 

2.   It increases word-of-mouth advertising.

Word-of-mouth advertising might seem like an endangered species among the rapid evolution of modern marketing strategies. In reality, it’s still recognized as a highly decisive factor in a business’s overall success. In fact, 64% of marketers view word-of-mouth advertising as the most impactful marketing style. Customer reviews bridge the gap between real-world and virtual advertising because they encourage people to talk about your business. When customers leave a testimonial, they’re going to be more motivated to share that experience with others. People place a lot of stock in what their friends, family members, co-workers, and even acquaintances say about particular businesses.

 

3.   Potential customers learn about your business.

It’s tough to cultivate a sense of trust and familiarity with people who have yet to use your products or services. At the same time, establishing that confidence is essential for converting potential customers who are on the fence. Customer reviews resolve this dilemma by providing unbiased and dependable testimony to boost your business’s credibility and quality. The more reviews people have to read about your brand, the more familiar it will become. This is another foundational way customer accounts can further boost brand awareness. Although your business’s online information is important, online visitors tend to place more trust in what customers are saying.

 

How to harness the brand-boosting power of customer reviews.

At this point, it’s important to note that customer reviews can elevate brand awareness, but this benefit isn’t automatically realized. This is why so many business owners are afraid to encourage customers to share their experiences. With standard review portals such as Google and Yelp, businesses don’t have any sense of control over the impact of customer reviews. One bad review has the potential to undermine years of hard work. However, the problem isn’t customer testimonials but the poor design of the review sites. That’s where hapigood is different.

 

This one-of-a-kind review and reputation management system is redefining how businesses can leverage customer feedback to their advantage. Instead of automatically publishing reviews without your input, hapigood curates each customer testimonial individually to determine the most effective way to handle the review. Positive testimonials are published on your website, social media accounts, and other online platforms, and negative feedback is sent to your customer support team to resolve the issue. In short, hapigood reduces and responds to the negative while increasing and promoting the positive.

 

Tired of feeling like the impact of customer reviews is entirely out of your control? It’s time to get in the driver’s seat so you can take full advantage of what customer testimonials have to offer. Feel free to contact us today to learn more about hapigood and how it can help your business simplify review and reputation management.

SEO Basics: How Web Management Will Improve Your Search Engine Rankings

Posted on by AnaBerestean

Search engine optimization is the fuel that rockets your website to the top of Google and other search engines. Without this fuel, sites are doomed to remain on the ground. The resulting lack of exposure translates to lower conversion rates, lost leads, and inevitably fewer sales.

Not only will users not be able to find your company through search engines, but they’re also less likely to work with a company without a professional site. Here are some ways web management will improve your search engine rankings and why your wallet will thank you.

 

The relationship between SEO and sales.

Before we jump into web management and SEO, it’s important to draw a clear connection between rankings and sales. Having a spot at the top of a Google search sounds nice, but is it really that important? Yes, it is! But don’t take our word for it. Let’s see what the research says.

On average, over half of the traffic your site receives will come from organic searches as opposed to other sources such as paid ads. What’s more, those leads directed to your site through SEO are 8x more likely to convert into paying customers. In other words, the more SEO you have, the more $$$ you’ll see. These are results earned through organic means which you won’t have to spend on ads to get.

 

Winning the virtual popularity contest.

If curating a website feels more like a popularity contest than a business strategy, it’s because that’s exactly what SEO boils down to: building the most attractive and well-ranked site. Taking this analogy a little further, the algorithms set forth by search engines are the judges which determine the quality of your webpages. Your company’s site receives an overall score based on several factors that ultimately determine your ranking in the search results. The most attractive and well-dressed sites are going to end up being more popular.

 

How a management team will improve your SEO.

Hiring a team to manage your site’s SEO would be like hiring an experienced coach to help you win that frustrating popularity contest. These experts not only know how to build an attractive site for visitors, but they also understand the factors that help it rank high in search engines. Here are some specific things a management team can do to improve SEO on your company’s site:

  • Running a blog.

Blogging isn’t just important for holding the interest of repeat visitors, it also plays a major role in determining your site’s ranking. In fact, companies with an active blog see 55% more visitors  than those with an empty site. Google views blogging as a badge of credibility and activity. With web management, you’ll have a team churning out high-quality content on a regular basis to help maximize these benefits.

  • Managing reviews.

Customer interaction is another metric search engines use to determine your site’s SEO ranking. When you’re busy dealing with the business side of things, a team managing your site will be working around the clock to organize customer reviews and respond to questions. All of this interaction helps to establish your site as a reputable authority.

  • Maintaining links.

Search engines like to see an interplay of links between your company’s site and reputable webpages. This gives your site a sort of “credibility by association”. A web management team knows how to maintain enough links both internally as well as externally to catch Google’s attention.

  • Integrating social media accounts.

Social media has a big impact on your site’s ranking. Being active on these platforms is a great way to strengthen link-building and can even convert visitors to your site. Using a team of experts will make it easier to integrate various social media channels into your company’s site to take full advantage of what these accounts have to offer.

  • SEO optimization.

There are a bunch of other ‘tweaks’ that a web management team would handle to further boost your site’s ranking. These smaller changes, typically thrown under the umbrella term SEO optimization, include image descriptions, the use of keywords, page summaries (a.k.a meta-descriptions), and much more.

 

If you’re finding it difficult to transform that napkin doodle into a real business, consider working with HostDoodle (a service of burnett media group) to handle all of your web-based needs. Our team will tackle website hosting, development and design, domain registration, and everything in between so you can focus on building your business in other areas.

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