Whether you are a small-scale or a large scale business, customer reviews are essential. Most people read the customer review first and then reach out to you for your product or services. Thus, it has become vital for businesses to focus on local SEO and boost their overall presence. If you are uncertain about local SEO strategies, connect with the best local agency in Thane - Bricks Media. We will manage the end-to-end activities.
But, what is the exact role of customer reviews and how to optimize them? Let’s uncover it through this blog.
Importance of Customer Reviews in Local SEO
- Affects the Local Search Rankings
Reviews are the most valuable aspect in local SEO, especially when it comes to Google’s Local Pack. This pack refers to the top 3 results that are shown on Google Maps. The quantity, quality and the fresh piece of reviews impacts the perception of the audience and thereby increases the visibility in the local search results.
- Boost Credibility
Positive reviews help to win trust of the potential customers. This increases the chance of them preferring your business over your competitors. This is because customers are more likely to trust a business with a high star rating and good reviews.
- Increase CTR (Click Through Rate)
Listing on Google with positive reviews and high star ratings can help to get clicks from the search results. Remember, more the clicks, the better the traffic. Apart from that, review stars that appear besides your business can also help to improve the CTR significantly.
Now that you are aware about the importance of customer reviews, let’s understand the ways to get them.
How to Get Customer Reviews?
There are many ways to get customer reviews. Some of the winning strategies are as follows:
- Encourage Customers to Review
The first step to this is to encourage the existing/satisfied customers to review your products/services. This can be done through emails, SMS or calls. Next, you can use QR codes that directly take the customer to the GMB profile and make it easy for customers to write a review.
- Set Automated Follow-ups
Adopt email marketing tools or CRM to plan and follow-up emails mentioning aboir reviews after an interaction with customers. Also, don’t forget to politely request customer with a link that directly re-directs to the review page.
- Give Incentive for Adding Reviews
Incentivize the feedback/review of the customers in the form of freebies, discounts. But in such a scenario, be mindful about following Google’s guidelines, as it may disapprove the review if it finds it to be fake.
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Moving forward, let’s understand how to manage them.
How to Manage Customer Reviews?
Getting the reviews of your customers is not enough. Managing them ethically is the key.
- Monitor Customer Reviews on Regular Basis
Keep an eye on the customer reviews using tools like Google My Business, and other social media monitoring tools to stay aware about new reviews. Platforms such as ReviewTrackers, BrightLocal can aid in managing reviews various different channels.
- Respond Immediately
Maintain a habit of responding to the customers in a professional manner. Whether it be positive or a negative review, ensure you are addressing each of them promptly. For positive review, acknowledgement is a must! While, for negative ones, constructively apologize for the inconvenience and offer support ti resolve the issue.
- Avoid Posting Fake Reviews
To attract audience, ensure you do not post any fake reviews or indulge in paid ones. This can lead to penalties by Google. On the other hand, you must report spam or fake reviews immediately to main the authenticity and trustworthiness of your business profile.
Thus, customer reviews play an integral role in creating trust and reliability among your customers. Encouraging honest reviews, setting automated follow-ups can ease the process and maintain credibility of your business. To get expert assistance in managing customer reviews, you must connect with the most prominent local SEO agency in Thane.