Get Online Reviews: 14 Typical Mistakes + How to Avoid Them

In 2022, 97% of Internet users read online reviews before doing business with a company. In the same vein, 72% of Internet users rely as much on these reviews as on the recommendations of their relatives. In this context, it has become crucial to regularly monitor the various notification platforms to ensure your company’s good reputation.

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Despite appearances, the acquisition and day-to-day management of positive reviews is a complex process that requires several steps.

What is the concrete impact of your customer reviews on your company? How can you optimize your processes to get online reviews? To shed more light on the subject, here are fourteen typical errors in managing online reviews as well as valuable tips to avoid them!

Why is it important to get online reviews?

While we are in an era where digital is increasingly ubiquitous, customer reviews play an important role in the decision-making process of Internet users. Online reviews have become a source of reference, but also of visibility for companies. To this end, it has become essential to get online reviews and manage them well to ensure the success of your business.

To better understand the influence of online reviews, here are six direct impacts of reviews on your business:

• Customer reviews have a direct impact on your SEO (organic SEO): Google wants to offer its users the best possible experience. In this sense, it favors websites with many positive reviews rich in information, since they attest to the credibility and reliability of the company. This is why it is important to get online reviews!
• Your customers take the time to give you a review: This is an opportunity to show that they are important to you. Whether it’s a positive or a negative review, each customer gives you time when you get an online review. Take the time to thank them and show them that their opinions are being considered. This is a great way to show your existing customers and prospects that customer satisfaction is at the heart of your priorities.
• Your reviews give you the opportunity to interact with your customers: Responding to your negative reviews is a golden opportunity to resolve certain customer dissatisfactions. This interaction will allow you to learn more about your customers’ perspectives to improve your experience based on their feedback. This way, you will show users that their opinion is considered while optimizing your customer experience according to their specific needs.
• Internet users do more research before making a purchase: As previously mentioned, the majority of Internet users take the time to inquire before making a purchase. In this sense, it is crucial to look after your reputation to show your prospects that you are trustworthy. Many online reviews will allow your prospects to find out about the quality of your services and attest to your reliability. This is a good practice to build trust with your future customers!
• Positive reviews strengthen your credibility: According to OnDeck’s study, 72% of customers decide to do business with a company only if it has many positive reviews. With this in mind, take care to regularly acquire positive reviews from your satisfied customers. This will facilitate the acquisition of new leads in addition to optimizing your positioning on search engines. Keep this in mind when you get positive online reviews!
• Positive reviews increase your annual income: Did you know that 96% of purchases come from products with reviews of four stars or more? To this end, take care to ask your customers about their satisfaction with the product purchased. This will help you get more online reviews and significantly increase your annual income!

The typical errors made when managing online reviews

Now that you know why you need to get online reviews, you need to optimize your processes to improve their management. However, getting and responding to online reviews can become a real puzzle, especially if you’re not familiar with the various customer reviews platforms.

How can you optimize your management of customer reviews? And how can you respond to online feedback to promote a good brand image? To enlighten you on the subject, we address fourteen typical errors in the management of online notices and we explain how to avoid them.

1. Not responding to your reviews on your customer reviews platforms

Imagine: you are doing research online to buy new clothes. You come across a shop that, at first glance, seems ideal. Yet, as soon as you try to find out about the quality of service of this store, you notice that it does not seem to care about responding to customer feedback.

No employee bothers to respond to customer reviews on the various platforms you visit. Satisfied customers feel that their opinion doesn’t matter to the company. Unsatisfied Internet users, on the other hand, are abandoned without any support. This is clearly an example of poor management of customer reviews!

According to BrightLocal’s study, 89% of customers will prefer a company that responds to their online reviews. To this end, when you get online reviews, be sure to respond quickly and regularly to them on your various platforms.

Thank your satisfied customers for their time and ensure that their good feedback motivates your employees to give their best. When a customer dissatisfaction occurs, apologize for the bad experience, then write down the customer’s complaints in order to correct some flaws in your customer experience. Finally, offer a solution related to the problem addressed to correct the situation. This way, you can improve your customer experience with your online reviews while showing your customers that their well-being is a priority.

2. Removing negative Google reviews

The key to your company’s success is to get online reviews to ensure your online visibility. To this end, you probably want to show Internet users that your organization is trustworthy.

Of course, it can be tempting to remove negative online reviews that harm your Google My Business account. However, before you take action, do you know the concrete impact of such a practice on your company?

According to Oberlo’s study, 62% of customers are wary of companies that censor negative feedback from their customers on online review platforms. In addition, deleting your customer reviews on Google is strictly prohibited when they are not spam or fake reviews.

Indeed, Google tries to offer the best possible experience to its users. As a result, it is illegal to manipulate your company’s reputation by removing real negative Google reviews from your customers. Such management of your customer reviews could result in severe penalties, including reduced visibility on search engines.

To avoid being subject to sanctions, when you get a negative online review, take care to validate if it’s spam or a false review before deleting it. This crucial step will allow you to show users that you are honest in the face of your customers’ satisfaction. In addition, it will ensure that you appear in Google’s search results. This is a must in the management of online reviews.

3. Not having a good strategy to get online reviews

Before recommending you to its users, Google’s algorithm analyzes your number of reviews as well as their volume to assess your level of trust. With this in mind, it is necessary to put in place a good strategy to get online reviews to ensure good positioning in Google’s search results.

If no strategy is put in place, you will receive few Google reviews, which will be less optimal and will have impacts on your SEO. This lack of certification of the quality of your services and evidence of your reliability will discourage Google from recommending you to potential customers, since you will have less credibility on search engines. In addition, the lack of positive reviews will certainly discourage leads from turning to your company, since they will have some difficulty finding out about the reliability of your services and the nature of your services through external sources.

In order to get multiple positive online reviews, put in place a good strategy to improve your e-reputation. Respond frequently to your online reviews, correct customer dissatisfaction, check what your company says on your various platforms and always ask your satisfied customers for a positive review. This way, your customers can attest to the quality of your services and show your prospects that you are trustworthy. Remember this valuable tip to win many customers while improving your search engine positioning!

4. Not having recent reviews

Did you know that the recency of your online reviews plays a crucial role in the decision-making process of your prospects? Indeed, a study conducted by Review 42 confirms that 85% of customers think that reviews of three months or more are not representative of the quality of your services.

In addition, the frequency of your Google reviews has a direct impact on your SEO. As mentioned earlier, a regular update of your information and reviews prove to Google’s algorithm that you are reliable and still in service.

Be sure to regularly get online reviews from satisfied customers after their experience. This information-rich feedback will show the algorithm as well as your prospects that you are still active, but also that you are trustworthy. This will improve your positioning in search results. Keep this advice in mind when you get online reviews!

5. Including your company’s name in a response to a negative online review

When Google’s algorithm positions you in its search results, it targets your name and keywords to present the best possible recommendations to its users. If this is an asset for your SEO, it is also a double-edged blade in case of customer dissatisfaction.

By signing your organization’s name in direct response to a negative review, you allow Google’s algorithm to identify it to any search involving your company. In addition, your prospects will most likely be directed to a negative review as soon as the slightest search. This will likely deter many potential customers from doing business with you!

To avoid this error, never include the name of your company in your responses to negative reviews. Instead, respond by signing with your own name to establish human contact and then invite the customer to continue the conversation using another medium, such as the phone. This will allow you to learn in detail about the reason behind customer dissatisfaction while avoiding attracting attention.

6. Losing your temper when getting a negative online review

Your employees are the heart of your company and reflect your brand image and organizational culture through the quality of their services. In addition, this also applies to their management of your online reviews.

While customer dissatisfaction is sometimes difficult to manage, it is important to always be professional. An employee expressing anger or irritation at negative feedback may make the situation worse. Not only will it deter the customer from returning to your organization, but it will also spread a bad brand image that will deter any potential prospect from doing business with your business.

To avoid such a disaster, be empathetic. Always use a calm and polite tone when responding to negative reviews. Apologize to your customer, then invite them to explain the situation to you. Not only will you learn about some of the flaws in your customer experience, but you can also rectify the situation. This is an example of how to properly react when you get a negative online review.

7. Invalidating the feelings of a dissatisfied client

Imagine the following scenario: a product you ordered online arrived several months after the initial delivery date. Disappointed, you write a negative review to let the company know your dissatisfaction with the situation. However, rather than getting support or any solution to your problem, you are faced with a derogatory employee who completely relinquishes responsibility for the situation.

As the conversation continues, you understand that the employee has no intention of compensating you for the problem. Abandoned and insulted, you finally decide to stop all contact with the company and share this bad experience with your loved ones. This is a perfect example of poor management of customer reviews!

During a negative customer review, take care to apologize to the customer concerned. Using an empathetic and professional tone, validate their emotions and offer a relevant solution to the problem being addressed. This will allow you to rectify customer dissatisfaction and maybe even change the negative review into a positive review!

8. Not acting internally to improve practices following a poor online review

When you get a negative online review, it is important to note in detail the source of customer dissatisfaction in order to share it with your team.

A lack of internal communication or proactive resolution will create a vicious circle where dissatisfaction multiplies for similar reasons. This will prove your lack of professionalism, internal communication and will dissuade your customers from returning to your company.

As soon as you get online reviews, share them with the rest of your team to correct some flaws in your customer experience. Empower your employees by embracing empathy and proactive behavior that will instill confidence in your customers. Thus, you will solve many customer dissatisfactions and even manage to turn some negative reviews into positive ones!

9. Inducing or buying false positives reviews

Google seeks to provide its users with the best possible experience. In addition, it will analyze your credibility as well as your online reputation before recommending you to its users.

To ensure the quality of its recommendations, Google prohibits any manipulation of reviews that could result in falsification of your true popularity. To this end, you are not entitled to:

• Encourage people who are not your customers to leave positive opinions about your company;
• Exchange positive opinions for money or material goods;
• Organize contests to get online reviews.

Such practices will penalize you by significantly reducing your visibility on search engines. To this end, be sure to check regularly whether your reviews actually come from your customers. By deleting your spam and not encouraging false positive reviews, you will keep your good positioning in the search engines.

10. Not monitoring your online reviews

Did you know that according to GlobalWebIndex, 47% of Internet users write at least one customer review per month? In this sense, if you don’t ensure a regular monitoring of your reviews, your negative reviews can quickly result in a bad e-reputation!

A company that does not closely monitor its reviews is exposed to many risks. By not responding to customer feedback, it shows Internet users its negligence towards the well-being of its customers. Similarly, an organization that doesn’t note customer dissatisfaction will never have the opportunity to improve the experience offered based on the real needs of its customers.

To minimize customer dissatisfaction, monitor your reviews regularly. Write your company’s name in the search engines to verify what is being said about your organization. With centralized review management software like InputKit, you could even get real-time notifications to respond faster to your online reviews on your Google My Business account! In this way, you will be able to improve your service offer while making a good follow-up of customer satisfaction. This is a must to get more positive online reviews!

11. Not having a centralized tool to manage your online reviews

Regardless of your area of expertise, your prospects will check your reviews online before proceeding with their purchase. As a result, you need to optimize your processes to ensure your good reputation while responding to your customer reviews, both positive and negative.

How can you manage such a large number of reviews to improve your visibility on search engines? Implement a centralized tool to better manage your customer reviews!

Without such a tool, you will have no real-time notification of your customer reviews. In addition, you will have no way to filter your reviews answered, which will ultimately result in many hours to respond manually to each online review.

On the contrary, with a management software such as InputKit, you will get a centralized management of your reviews online. Using a filter of unanswered reviews and real-time notifications, you can provide quick and personalized responses to customers based on their level of satisfaction as well as the service provided. Keep this tool in mind when you get online reviews!

12. Asking to get an online review too late after a purchase

To optimize your e-reputation, it is crucial to ask your satisfied customers for online reviews. However, it is sometimes complex to know exactly when and how to ask to get an online review. Too soon, the client may think your insistence is suspicious. Too late, the customer will likely have already forgotten their experience, which will affect the quality of their feedback.

According to best practices, it is recommended to wait for one to two hours after the purchase before asking a satisfied customer for a review. This will give them time to assess the quality of their experience while writing the review according to their availability. In this way, they will be able to write precise and detailed feedback to attest to the quality of your services.

Such feedback is a real gold mine of information for your company, but also for search engines. By analyzing the content of these reviews rich in details, they can better recommend you to your prospects. That’s why it’s important to ask for reviews online at the right time!

13. Not suggesting to continue a discussion offline

In order to fully identify the various reasons behind a negative opinion, it is necessary to engage in a detailed conversation with the dissatisfied customer. However, we recommend that you do not use your notification platforms as a means of communication.

By chatting with an unsatisfied customer on your review platforms, you expose the flaws of your experience to your potential customers. In addition, a single wrong comment can cause a real scandal and destroy your brand image.

To avoid monopolizing the attention of Internet users, invite your dissatisfied customers to continue the conversation offline. For example, give them your email address, and phone number, or make an appointment with a customer service representative. In this way, they can express themselves freely and you can learn more about the reasons for their dissatisfaction. This is an excellent practice to keep in mind when you get online reviews, and also a great opportunity to turn your detractors into promoters of your brand!

14. Asking a dissatisfied customer to leave a review on your review platforms

If it is recommended to encourage your satisfied customers to leave a positive review on your review platforms, executing the same request with a dissatisfied customer can be detrimental to your business.

The unhappy customer will take the opportunity to leave a negative review on your platforms. A detailed description of an ineffective customer experience will damage your reputation and deter your prospects from doing business with you. In addition, if the invitation is made in an automated way, your negative reviews will multiply and will greatly affect your visibility on the search engines.

Be sure to only invite your satisfied customers to leave you an online review. In case of customer dissatisfaction, why not write an automated invitation to contact your customer support, or even your customer service representative? This will certainly benefit your reputation!

InputKit, the solution to help you get and manage online reviews

If you want to simplify the management of your customer reviews, the InputKit online review improvement solution is for you!

At the end of each customer survey sent, our solution offers your satisfied customers to leave you a positive review online. This will allow you to get online reviews, and gain valuable insights to improve your customer experience while increasing your positioning on search engines.

Running out of time to properly manage your reviews online? If so, our customer review software is for you!

Our dashboard, accompanied by a filter for unanswered reviews, centralizes the management of your customer reviews on your Google My Company account. This way, you can easily read and respond to your reviews without worrying about having forgotten a comment or not having made any feedback about customer dissatisfaction. These features are real assets for managing your e-reputation!