Partner with Sukaone for a complete digital experience – Part 2 Reviews and Testimonials

In the previous article we have seen how Ms Kainaat has decided how to take her brand online and create a strong online business identity. She has her brand name in place along with the logo. House of Arts is now ready for the next big step. In this article we shall see how reviews and testimonials will take House of Arts to the next level. But the big question, is it going to help her business.

Partner with Sukaone for a complete digital experience – Part 1

What are reviews and testimonials

All business establishments love a positive review. Restaurants and hotels have visitor books. Others have letters of appreciation carefully framed and displayed. Today an online review is worth its weight in gold because it is picked by the Google search spiders as a positive in favour of your brand and service. A testimonial is a sworn statement regards to the good part of the product or service. A review is more of a informal description of the same. In the digital world, both carry the same meaning. The following are places where a review can be left by customers and clients.

• Website has a dedicated section for reviews and testimonials
• Facebook Page has a dedicated review section
• Business marked on Google Maps has a reviews tab

Process to collect reviews

Lets face it. People don’t post reviews naturally. For a startup or emerging business, you will have to consistently remind your customers to do so. Infact specifically asking for a review should be a part of your business process. You can also go to the extent of asking your customers to describe your product and experience in a little bit detail. Share the link for your Facebook page and Google Map marking to ease the process.

Please note people usually have a tendency to mark a positive review with four or three stars without understanding its implications. For your business a four star review is a disaster. So please reach out back to the reviewer and ask for the five stars.

Remember this

Posting of reviews

• Reviews posted on your Facebook page has to be from your customers own Facebook account.
• Likewise for the Google Maps the reviewer has to post it from his or her google account linked to the smartphone.
• Before you post the same review on your website, you need to take permission from the customer to post their name along with their photograph and link to the original review.
• Always remember to thank the person who writes a review.

Take the constructive criticism

A negative review is a golden chance to improve your product. Goes with the saying keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer. Of course you also have those people who will support you but criticize you harder. Remember to put a good work in for the negative or low star review too. You may also like to ask the reviewer a re visit to your product after the necessary corrections have been done.

Collecting reviews is a digital marketing nightmare

What business owners should understand is that there is lots of work in collecting reviews from customers. Long hours of phone calls and convincing and accepting rejections. Between creating a post and boosting it, the bulk of the hard work is getting organic reviews from genuine customers. But as they say hard work pays. A good reviews will certainly boost your business and help get more customers.