You might have heard the saying ‘reputation is everything’, writes Elise Balsillie, Head of Thryv Australia. And this particularly rings true for small businesses.

A positive reputation can give you an edge over competitors by building trust and helping you stand out for your services, whereas a negative reputation can precede you, slowing growth and preventing new customers from engaging with your business.

From positive word-of-mouth recommendations to online reviews – having a strong reputation will help you to attract customers, build trust and drive positive engagement. As 90 per cent of consumers read reviews before they take the next step in the buying journey, proactively generating and managing your online reviews is crucial.

That said, managing reviews across multiple channels is becoming increasingly challenging. Social media’s growing role means customer reviews aren’t limited to your website or Google anymore. Customers are also seeking out reviews on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram and sites such as Trustpilot, Amazon and Zomato.

Here are my top reasons on why small business owners should actively focus on reviews for building a reputation – and a few tips on how to manage them:

The proof is in the (social) pudding

Social proof in marketing describes the evidence provided by users who have purchased a product or service. It’s proven to be so effective, because of its roots in a phycological cognitive bias called the ‘bandwagon effect’. Essentially, our natural reflex is to look to what others have done, to influence our judgement as to what we should do for ourselves.

In application, positive reviews can help small businesses so dramatically because they play into this bias and serve as social proof that others have had a good experience with your offering.

Reviews are opinions from customers who either enjoyed or didn’t enjoy your business and other customers can use these as part of their decision-making journey on whether to engage or not engage.

If the majority of the ‘bandwagon’ have positively reviewed your business, this builds brand trust gives credibility that money can’t buy.

Reviews help your ranking in search engines

If you want to be found online, showing up in local search engines is the most effective way.

Good reviews and ratings are proven help your business to rank higher on search engines like Google, and act as a signifier that your business as a trustworthy and credible option to recommend to searchers.

The more reviews you gather and the stronger your online rating, the easier it will become for customers to discover you. After all, your online reputation relies on customers being able to find you in the first place.

How can your business generate positive reviews?

While the benefits of positive reviews are clear, many business owners I work with find that they don’t have enough time in the day to give reviews the level of attention they deserve.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Fortunately, there are a few quick processes and tools that can help you to generate and manage your reviews – all while saving time.

As a first step, the fastest way to drive reviews is to simply ask customers to leave a review once they have purchased a product or service from you. A recent survey found that over 60 per cent of consumers are likely to leave a review if a business follows up with a link asking for a review, showing that taking a direct approach is the right strategy.

Once you’ve got a system in place to encourage customers to leave reviews, I recommend bolstering this with digital tools that automate the customer review management process.

For example, digital solutions can help you to:

• Effortlessly monitor and reply to reviews from one screen
• Scan ratingsand collect feedback
• Send automatedtexts and emails to keep customers engaged
• Always know where you stand with customers by generating positive reviews and referrals

Aside from how great it feels to hear customers praise your business, there are real tangible benefits proving that online reviews will help your business thrive.

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https://www.kochiesbusinessbuilders.com.au/handling-customer-complaints-online-here-are-a-few-tips/