Google is not only a search engine, but it also provides you with business solutions by acting as a review management platform. Once you have set up a business, you will need to manage the Google reviews and here is how you can do it;
Simplify the Whole Reviewing Process
The more simplified your process is, the more likely a customer is going to leave a review. Customers don’t like to go through a lot of steps and pages to write a review, in fact, they will be frustrated and will opt to not giving a review at all. A small widget by Google will be enough to prompt the customers to leave a review before they leave your site. Being simplified in your review game makes your Google review management a lot easier.
Send an Email Asking For a Review
If a customer buys a product from your website but doesn’t leave a feedback or a review then you might ask them kindly for the feedback. You can easily manage the reviews of customers from a review management platform which means the tracking of the customers who didn’t leave a review after the purchase.
It is quite normal and nothing to be worried about as many people tend to use the product and take their time in giving feedback. You can always remind them of giving a review by reaching out to them via email so that they can be reminded and give a review on Google.
Assess the Feedback
Before going public with the reply on the feedback, you must assess the feedback on your own and see if it’s actually genuine or inappropriate. Online reputation is a very delicate matter and that reputation can be destroyed within seconds if you reply negatively to a review that is already negative. Internally solve or assess the issue before going out to the public. Not only this will assess your problems but if the feedback is actually genuine, you will be able to pinpoint a flaw and try to fix it in steps of providing flawless services.
Flagging Reviews
Once you have assessed and looked into the matter of feedback, you can flag a review as good or bad. Google gives you the option of flagging a review as helpful or not helpful but as an owner, you can control what is highlighted on your feedback menu. Flagging positive reviews as helpful will make them appear on top of your feedback page which attracts new customers.
Since there are positive reviews there will be negative ones; ones that are fraudulent, inappropriate, out of context or even abusive. You don’t have full control of what to do with these comments, but you can flag/report them so that Google can take steps so that it can be deleted. A small flag icon is shown which can flag the review as inappropriate which will link you to a new tab where you can state the reason for objection. If the objection is right then after Google’s assessment, the review will be removed.
Replying To a Negative Review
Replying to a positive review is as easy as something as simple as a thank you can is sufficient, but the real challenge lies when replying to a negative review. Managing your reviews is important and replying to them is just a part of it. If the problem seems genuine after assessing it internally, you must try to listen to the customer and apologizing at first even if the fault isn’t yours. Apologizing will cool the customer down and addressing them with their name is a cherry on top. Try to resolve their problem to the best of your abilities.
Chances are they will be solved by a simple walk-through however you must try to understand the issue they are having whether in using the product or something else. You can even reward these customers for their inconvenience by offering them to sign up on a test product you are launching. You can offer this to overly positive customer reviewers too.
Google has a very good business tool and with Google review management, you can easily manage and monitor your product reviews.