Review Management

Review Management is, as the name suggests, about controlling and managing your online reviews. When potential customers search for your company name, one of the first things they see will oftentimes be your online reviews. If the user is considering buying from you, entering into a partnership with you or perhaps applying for a job at your company, they are also likely to search specifically for reviews from previous customers.

That is why it is important to be aware of the online reviews that exist about your business – and how to manage them. Today, online reviews have a much greater impact on your business and its success compared to the past. Review Management is therefore becoming an increasingly important practice for businesses of all kinds.

To what extent are your existing and potential future customers influenced by online reviews? As it turns out: Far more than many people might think. Studies show that 96% admit that online reviews influence their final purchasing decision.

In other words, both your previous and potential customers may search for your business and read about other people’s experiences. If negative reviews are visible online, your business could end up losing 27% of all potential purchases and agreements. Therefore, it is surely worthwhile investing specific effort in Review Management.

Would you like more insight into how your online reviews affect potential customers? Continue reading on this page to get a clear picture of the effects of online reviews – and what businesses can do in order to handle reviews in the best way.

This leads us to the solution – how does your business manage online reviews? And what is actually possible? In fact, there are a surprisingly large number of strategic steps a business can take to ensure that its online reviews do not have a negative impact on the online reputation. Many businesses are under the impression that they are helpless as soon as they receive a negative review. However, with the right Review Management strategy, you can take significant steps to minimise the damaging effects of negative reviews and maximise the value of positive feedback. Many businesses will benefit from having a clear Review Management strategy in place in advance, so they are prepared when they receive a new review.

Good and bad online reviews both influence potential customers’ purchasing decisions. Businesses will therefore benefit from a Review Management strategy that takes both types of reviews into account. As a starting point, it is good practice within Review Management to respond to all reviews. When you take the time to respond to each review, you send a signal to customers that they are being heard and taken seriously. If you receive a large amount of reviews, it may be sufficient to respond with a “like”. At the same time, a strong Review Management strategy should define how you respond, especially when it comes to negative reviews. Poor handling of negative reviews can have serious consequences, while an appropriate response can lead to an outcome that satisfies both you and the customer. That is why every business can benefit from developing an effective Review Management strategy.

A single negative review can have major consequences for a business. Review Management aims specifically at minimising the damaging effects. With Online Reputation Management, there are several possible solutions, when the business receives a negative review. If a review is illegal or somehow violates the guidelines of the relevant platform, it may be possible to report it and remove negative reviews. This applies, for example, to reviews containing defamatory content or accusations. Another solution for removal of negative reviews is done through steps such as contacting the reviewer, where a review is handled so effectively that the customer eventually removes it completely. The last resort in Review Management is suppression, where the aim is to generate enough positive reviews to make the negative reviews less visible. A strong Review Management strategy takes both aspects into account and combines both methods of handling negative reviews. With a good plan, you have tools for both approaches.

As mentioned, you should respond to both positive and negative reviews. However, while it is easy to say thank you for praise, it is more difficult to formulate an appropriate response to a negative review.

Review Management is about knowing when and how to respond to negative reviews. As a leading agency in Review Management ATAK Nordic has developed strategic guidelines for managing negative reviews effectively. In the best-case scenario, you can start a constructive dialogue with the customer and eventually have the negative review removed completely.

Review Management is largely about creating a strategy for the specific business by deciding who should respond to bad reviews, and how this should be done effectively. This is the best way to minimise or completely remove the negative effects of bad reviews.

Negative reviews can influence potential customers’ purchasing decisions, and good reviews can do the same. The right Review Management strategy should therefore focus specifically on how to collect more good reviews for your business. Review Management is closely linked to “Reputation Marketing”, which is all about building a strong reputation and using positive online publicity to attract new customers. The best strategy for collecting positive reviews must always be tailored to the specific business. One way of collecting good reviews is done by encouraging satisfied customers to leave feedback. When you receive positive feedback, you can then share it on your company’s social media channels and website. In this way, Review Management can also be about suppressing a negative review with more positive coverage, which helps minimise the damaging consequences of negative reviews.

To manage reviews effectively, you first need to know that they exist. If your business wants to remove bad reviews on Google or remove a Trustpilot review, awareness is the first step. Part of your company’s Review Management strategy should therefore define a strategy for monitoring online reviews across different platforms. Online reviews can be posted in many places, including Google Business Profile, Trustpilot, Facebook and many other platforms. When working with Online Review Management, you should therefore include a plan for how to monitor different review sites. Continuous monitoring is also useful if you have already responded to negative reviews. This is a good way for a business to ensure that a negative review does not develop further and become worse.