Successful Internet Tools

I am frequently asked, “Should I use incentives to get customer reviews. Some experts reject incentives; others experts embrace incentives. In this post, I will share my answers on using incentives to get online customer reviews. Let me start with a short story that illustrates the complexity of the question.

A Story on Customer Incentives

In my carpet business, we decided to test out an incentive program for customer referrals. If a customer sent us a referral, they would receive a new area rug for their home. As part of the test, we called several of our best customers to get their input.

I called Barb who had bought carpet from me several times over the previous years. Here is what she said. “I think it’s a nice idea and I understand why you want to do it. However, it doesn’t inspire me to send referrals to your business. I send them because I love your products and services. I am happy to help others find a similar experience. And besides, I just finished carpeting my entire house. I don’t really need an area rug!”

My story illustrates the challenges with incentives and customer reviews.

Challenges with Incentives and Customer Reviews

• Which customers need incentives?
• What motivates customers to help?
• The timing of incentives
• Providing incentives meaningful to customers

Let’s consider both sides of the question.

Those Who Reject Incentives with Online Customer Reviews

The negative side would say incentives come across as “buying” a customer review? Do good work as a business and the customers will freely respond to your online customer review process. In surveys, 70% of the people said they did online customer reviews because they hoped to help other people with their buying decisions. Incentives are not necessary. “Helping others is the only incentive needed!”

Those Who Support Incentives with Online Customer Reviews

Coupon World. We live in an incentive world! The world is now being shaped by “Groupon”. Everyone is looking for a deal. Businesses are always offering sales or incentives as part of their business process. Why should online customer reviews be any different?

Rewards. An incentive for doing a customer review can be seen as a reward for the extra work involved in doing the online customer review.

Customer Loyalty. A customer who does a customer review gives you more than a review. The process of making a review can turn them into a champion for your business. You reward loyal customers with appreciation in other parts of your business, why not reward them for providing a customer review?

Different Groups of Customers. Every business has different levels of customers. Some customers totally love your business and will do most anything for it. Other customers are on the fringe. For them an incentive may motivate them. Every business has different levels of customers and yet they are all customers.

Break the Direct Link Between Customer Reviews and Your Incentives

If the customer or the public online sees your incentive as a direct payoff for completing a customer review, negative consequences can follow. Break the link so that it is not seen as a “tit for tat” transaction between you and the customer. You give me a review, I give you XYZ. Here are four alternatives you can use.

Four Alternative Incentives for Getting Online Customer Reviews

1. You can use coupons or discounts on future purchases. Many businesses use incentives to reward loyal customers. By using a future discount for getting customer reviews, you are getting the reviews and getting loyal customers back into your business. Double value!
2. You can provide an “appreciation” gift card. In our carpet store when we were late for an appointment or failed to meet one of our promises, we offered a $15.00 Baker’s Square coupon. Baker’s Square has the best pies in the world. We were not trying to “buy” off the customer by giving them equal value for our mistakes. (You can never win this game). Customers appreciated our effort without trying to provide direct compensate them for our mistakes. The same can be said for customer reviews.
3. Contests or drawings work well. You can have a monthly drawing with a prize going to one of the customers that enter a customer review for that month. Because its only one prize, it can be more valuable. Customers now compete rather than being bought off for their customer review.
4. Donating to a cause can be another incentive. There may be a popular local non-profit, a school project, a well publicize family in need. For every customer review you receive, you donate a certain amount of money to the cause. Using this incentive, people are not only helping you with the customer review, they also know they are helping others with their efforts. This is a feel good incentive.

Conclusion on Using Incentives to Get Customer Reviews

In a perfect world, customers would be so excite about your business that online customer reviews would come naturally. Most small businesses do not live in a perfect world. Given the importance of online customer reviews for moving your business to the top of the local search Map, use any of the suggested incentives listed in the above paragraphs. Modify or shape them to fit your own business situation. Bottom line, use whatever tools work in your business situation to get customer reviews. They are critical to your online reputation and position on the local search Map.

Credit for the chain link image. http://th18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/gjc41/Excursions/th_links-in-a-chain.jpg

I invite you to share your questions and comments on using incentives for getting online customer reviews in the Reply Section below.  Thank you.

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If you read my last post, A Framework for Negative Reviews, you have a tool for effectively turning negative customer reviews into golden opportunities for your online reputation, making lemonade out of lemons! In this post, I will provide a detailed process for dealing with negative reviews to help move you to the top of the local search maps. Enjoy and prosper.

Sorting Your Negative Reviews

“A rose is a rose is a rose.” Not so with negative customer reviews. Some negative reviews can improve your business reputation; others will hurt it. Some reviews call for a response; others don’t. Sorting out the differences between these reviews is the first step in the process.

Here’s a simple sorting system you can use. You may wish to add additional sorting criteria that fit your business.

You goofed up! You have a bad product for the customer situation. You made promises you did not keep. You missed an appointment. The customer feels wronged. Respond.

The facts are wrong. Misunderstandings can arise about the product or your business. You feel that with the right information, the customer would feel differently. Respond.

A bad review sparks a wild fire. One negative review gets piled on by others. The negativity is spreading across social media channels with Tweets and Facebook comments. You cannot afford to have this wild fire destroy your business reputation. Respond quickly.

Customer is having a “bad hair day.” Some people have a negative bent about life. If you think this is the situation, don’t go to war over it. It’s a war you will never win. Let it go.

Someone has faked a bad review. Competitors in some industries are known for writing false and negative reviews about their competition. Make sure it is a legitimate review. Verify.

Key Ingredients for Responding to a Negative Review

Address the negative review quickly and in real time

The longer a customer broods about their negative situation, the bigger the problem becomes and the more difficult to resolve. Respond in real time using the same social media channels where the negative review was found. Customers and potential customer will use “time” as an indicator about your level of concern for the issue.

Make Contact with the customer

You can do this online, on the phone or with email.

Remain Calm and Thank the Customer

No business likes to be criticized. Charging wildly into the situation will not help resolve the issue. When others see you being defensive online, they will think less of your business. It’s always good to start by thanking the customer for the negative review.

Listen

The best starting point is always to have the customer articulate their issue. Ask questions to further understand the issue. Listen to the answers. Listen to what is not being said. Sometime, just being a good listener goes a long way to resolving the issue. Make sure the customer knows you care about them by the way you listen.

Be Honest

If you have made a mistake, admit it. Don’t make excuses. Explore ways to resolve the issue that works for you and the customer.

Be a real person

Identify yourself as the owner of the business. People feel good about dealing with the “boss.” Too many companies hide behind business policies. Or they come across as being very “official”. Right or wrong, the customer feels wronged. Speak to them in words that come from a real person and not a policy or business procedure.

Fix the Problem

Offer to fix the problem. Your job is to make the situation better and to satisfy the customer. Your ability to do this will determine whether a negative review becomes a positive for your business.  Give the customer an outlet for resolving the issue.

Promise to do better

Some situations may not have a perfect solution. It’s important that you promise to do better in the future. Potential customers will see your promise online.

Go the extra mile

By going the extra mile for the customer you show a commitment to having them as a long time customer. Others who see this online will be impressed with your commitment towards customers. Resolving negative customer reviews is now part of your customer service program.

Example of Negative Review Resolution

Here’s an example on how one business dealt with negative customer review.

On a Saturday afternoon in March, Precision Door of NJ got a scathing review from a very unhappy customer. The next day this unhappy customer received a telephone call from the Owner.
The owner thanked the customer for taking the time to submit a review of his business on Google. He let the customer know that he took reviews seriously and that he appreciated the review because it gave him the chance to fix the problem. He also used the time to understand the customer’s problem and see if he could rectify it.
It turns out the customer had a legitimate gripe. A couple of things had gone wrong on the call, and on top of it the customer was charged for something he probably shouldn’t have been.
Doug was able to use this opportunity to refund the customer’s money. And as importantly, he was able to get additional training to an employee he wouldn’t have otherwise known needed it.
Although the customer still wasn’t thrilled he went back to Google and posted another review of the business – A 3-Star Review.
Tim Coleman

Conclusion

Now you have information on when and how to respond to negative customer reviews. In the next post, I will provide some tools you can use for this process. I want to thank a number of authors for their input to this subject. I took bits and pieces from each of them. Click on their names if you want to see more of their information.

• DIANE CHARTO
• Erin Mulligan Nelson
• Yvonne Gaudette
• Danika Atkins
• Jason Keith
• Matthew Hunt 
• LISA BARONE
• SEO Igloo Blog
• Jay Baer 
• Chris Book

Share your questions and comments in the Reply Section below.  Thank you.

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