Michael Podolsky, Cofounder and CEO of PissedConsumer, a review platform that helps consumers be heard and brands improve their service.
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Online reputation isn’t just window dressing; it’s an integral component of success in a feedback-driven market where consumers increasingly depend on online reviews and peer recommendations when making their decisions.
A brand’s entire online reputation is colored by these public opinions, which are published online in their hundreds of thousands. This online reputation is one of the most powerful ways to manage brand reputation and is, therefore, vital to a business's prospects.
Based on my long experience in customer service provision, I’ve seen how proving a reliable partner through the continuous delivery of exceptional customer service can result in positive reviews and more satisfied and loyal customers. Above all, your brand then becomes synonymous with trust and assurance.
The Importance Of Online Reputation Management
According to my company's survey, 63% of customers always consult online reviews before settling on a purchase. This underlines the weight that a brand’s online perception carries and how consumer opinion shapes and guides future purchasing behavior.
Indeed, a 2024 survey found that 88% of consumers said they would likely use a business that replies to all its reviews, whereas only 47% said they would buy from a business that neglects to reply to reviews at all.
Evidently, engaging with online remarks needs to be part of every business’s customer service strategy, lest it grow increasingly alienated from its target market.
Here, I’d like to briefly provide an overview of four approaches to online reputation management that I’ve found to be the most effective at building up brand trust.
1. Prompt And Pertinent Communication
A quick response that dispenses with useless chatter and platitudes and instead sticks to the facts and salient points will go a long way to making the customer happy—helping guarantee they come back to deal with your company again down the line. If and when complications arise, as they inevitably will, it's crucial that your customer service team communicate swiftly and in a tone that projects empathy, sincerity and a genuine willingness to put things right.
Build on a foundation of some basic customer service hacks to keep things simple and relevant, for consumer expectations now demand a swift, accurate response to their inquiries; use this opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction.
2. Empowered Employees
Public perception of your brand will rely heavily on the performance and capability of your customer support staff. Therefore, they are and should be regarded as a highly valuable asset. As such, give them all the tools they need to perform to the highest level through training, sufficient resources and ready access to any and all the information they need.
This approach will help you produce highly adept and confident staff who will be able to think laterally and problem-solve. Once you've trained this type of team, make sure you also give them the freedom and leeway to use their own initiative.
3. Setting Strategy With Smart Analysis
Truly understanding what moves have the most impact on consumers' attitudes towards your brand requires continuous attentiveness and constructive use of data available from, for example, online reviews.
Reputation management tools and processes furnish your business with the indispensable ability to identify trends as they emerge, be this purchasing behavior or patterns in complaints, and get the jump on a problem to nip it in the bud before it escalates. This analysis can help you move ahead of the curve and maximize the payoff from upcoming opportunities.
4. Shaping Perceptions Through Positive Action
All customer interactions should be viewed as a fresh chance to demonstrate your company’s dedication to customer satisfaction. Through care and personalized attention, both large corporations and small companies can impact their growth in a constructive way through nurturing a positive brand reputation.
A robust reputation management strategy involves developing frontline staff to excel in customer interactions and prioritize the customer experience. By integrating deep data analysis into this development process, you can create a brand image associated with exceptional customer service and high-quality standards across the board.
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