Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 20
small business matters
Responding to the Dreaded Online
BAD REVIEW
Angela DeLong, UGI Energy Services
I
t happened. Someone just slammed your company online
with a bad review. Or two or three of them. Maybe you had
an off-day, or maybe the review is inaccurate, unfair, or just
downright malicious. How you address that review online can
greatly negate its bad effects, or even - stay with me here - help
your business's reputation.
One unhappy customer can now publicly trash your reputation
on as many online platforms as they care to find - Google+,
Facebook, Yelp, Angie's List, YP, HomeAdvisor; the list goes on.
How you address this situation can make all the difference in the
world.
Understanding Why You Need Online Reviews
Tempting as it may be to just ignore the whole online universe,
to do so could be extremely detrimental to the future of your
business. The way we as consumers do business has significantly
changed in the past decade. Think about the last few purchases
you made, be it for a movie to watch this weekend, a patio for
your home, or a hotel for your next vacation. Chances are that you
did a little bit of research first. Is that movie considered a "Rotten
Tomato"? Does that landscaping company have an "F" rating on
Angie's List? Is that hotel only rated as 2 stars and riddled with
comments about dirty sheets and cockroaches? Chances are, if
any of these were true, you continued searching for better options.
And so, too, would your customers.
The bigger the purchase, the more important that online
reputation will be. While I may be willing to take my chances on
a ten-dollar book with mixed reviews, will I go so far as to give ten
grand to a roofing company with a 2.5 rating? Probably not.
It's become critical that you have a presence on at least the
most common online review sites for your industry, and that you
gather a good amount of reviews. If your company does stellar
work then the overwhelming majority of your reviews will be good.
This alone will help to minimize the effect of the one-off poor
reviews - one bad one out of twenty isn't really all that bad.
20 COMMERCE QUARTERLY SPRING 2017
Your everyday, satisfied customers are not nearly as motivated to
take the time out of their day to tell everyone that you lived up to
expectations, as is someone looking to vent their frustrations. The
easiest strategy to help you gather more reviews is to simply ask -
in person or via email.
There are also many companies out there that specialize in
helping small businesses to gather reviews. Depending on your
industry and the number of reviews you are able to gather on your
own, this may be an option worth considering. If your competitors
have dozens or hundreds of reviews, you probably should too.
Claiming Your Listings
In order to respond to your reviews, you'll need to claim your
listings on various sites. The process for doing this will differ
slightly based on the site, but can usually be accomplished by
bringing up your listing and looking for a button that says "Is This
Your Business" or "Claim This Listing." In an attempt to verify
that you are, in fact, the owner of the business, many sites will
require some form of verification. Google+, for instance, will send
a postcard with a verification code to your listed address. You will
then need to use that code to complete the verification process.
Other sites may call the phone number on the listing.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 1
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 2
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 3
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 4
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 5
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 6
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 7
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 8
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 9
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 10
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 11
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 12
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 13
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 14
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 15
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 16
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 17
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 18
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 19
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 20
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 21
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 22
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 23
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 24
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 25
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 26
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 27
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 28
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 29
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 30
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 31
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 32
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 33
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 34
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 35
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 36
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 37
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 38
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 39
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 40
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 41
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 42
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 43
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 44
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 45
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 46
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 47
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 48
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Fall2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Summer2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Spring2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Winter2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Fall2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Summer2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Spring2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Winter2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Fall2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Summer2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Spring2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Winter2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Fall2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Summer2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Spring2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Winter2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly_Fall2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly_Summer2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly_Spring2017
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com