Online review management refers to controlling and influencing a business`s or individual`s reputation. Online review management is concerned with taking care of the results on websites that evaluate companies services and make referrals. Various local business listings provide customers the ability to leave reviews of their experience with a business.

Reviews can often affect not only your online reputation but also impact a potential new customer’s likelihood of choosing to do business with you. If your business is good, then the number of good reviews will greatly outnumber the bad reviews. However, if you have been in business for a long time, you will get a bad review every once in a while. Here are some of the ways you can manage reviews online.

1. Ignore minimal complaints and resolve issues privately when possible
2. Address problems constructively. Avoid using responses to advertising
3. Become professional and polite. The world can read your response
4. Do not attack the validity of a customer’s complaint because it will often be read as a personal attack
5. Respond appropriately, quickly, and personally

Create a policy to address negative reviews and one person to handle these situations. Each time a negative review appears, respond quickly, most likely through a private message, hoping you can determine the reviewer’s contact details and identity. Acknowledge their discontentment, describe how you decide to resolve the cause of it and invite them back for a free or a discounted service.

Do not offer incentives

We all strive to make every customer happy every time or else we would not invest so much time, energy, money and emotion into being a business owner. However, it is impossible to make every customer happy every time. People have bad days and sometimes customers can have unrealistic expectations.

Be active

The idea that we can fully control every aspect to totally eliminate bad reviews is unrealistic. By actively encouraging every customer to share their experience online, the number of good reviews will outweigh the impact of a minimal number of bad reviews. One should be cautious when responding when responding directly to bad reviews. Be sure to reduce or even eliminate emotional responses. They are more often counter productive. And since responses are public and in most cases permanent, you may want to choose your words wisely.…

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