Thanks to the digital world, customers can now access all the information they need about their business of choice online. In fact, 90% of customers read online reviews before transacting with any business. This means the online world can either build or destroy your business.
Maintaining the reputation of your business on the internet is crucial. A good reputation is what will see you attract and retain many customers. This is because a good reputation builds trust, confidence, and credibility of your business.
But how do you know whether your business needs online business reputation management? Here are five telltale signs to look for.
1. Negative Reviews Means Poor Online Business Reputation Management
Thanks to social media, customers are now more empowered and can voice their opinions online without any restrictions. Even a single negative review can have dire consequences on your business. If you don’t work on your reputation, you won’t escape negative reviews.
While most customers won’t tell you right to your face how poor your services are, they’re quick to post them on social media. What’s worst, bad news spread so fast. A negative review has the potential to reach hundreds of people within a very short time.
You’re not going to erase those negative reviews, especially if they’re not posted on your site. But you can combat them by building positive endorsements. You can do this by offering good services to your customers and encouraging them to post positive reviews in return.
With dozens of positive reviews under your name, you’ll slowly work your way out of the negative testimonies. With time, the negative reviews will be void because the positive feedback will overpower them.
2. You’re Not Attracting Talented Employees
A good reputation not only attracts customers to your business but also brings a pool of talented employees. You need to work with professional staff if you want your business to succeed. These are motivated people who share your success vision and business goals.
However, when your job posts don’t seem to drive a high number of people, or you don’t get random job application requests, then you have a lot of work ahead of you. Top talents are highly hunted by reputable companies and if you can’t do that, consider working on your reputation.
Qualified candidates will always do a background search on your company before applying for your job opening. If your company is not reputable, you won’t even manage to retain your employees as they’ll keep leaving for better job offers.
So, to ensure you hire and retain the best talents, start by working on your reputation. Don’t just work on customer satisfaction but also the happiness of your employees. Read more here about building business reputation management online.
3. Your Trustworthiness Is Questionable
A good online reputation leads to higher trust. But if your customers keep writing negative things about your business, it will be hard for you to command trust. If you can’t get customers to trust your brand, you’re going to get it rough selling your products.
Think about it, up to 83% of customers trust brands recommended by their friends. 70% will trust opinions from other buyers rather than advertisements. This means you need to make your business transparent so that customers can see opinions from other buyers.
An online business reputation management helps you ensure the transparency of your business in the right places. It gives customers the freedom to air their opinions, whether good or bad. Your business should also take time to address customer grievances and respond to queries.
If you engage with your customers online, you will improve your business reputation and build trust. Make sure you work towards getting more positive reviews on your website and social media channels to build your credibility.
4. Your Business Is Not Generating Sales
You’re in business to make sales, but these sales are closely related to your brand’s reputation. Since people do a quick online search on your brand before making a purchase decision, any negative review can put off your buyers. A bad reputation will see you miss out on big sales.
Having a good online reputation will make many people buy from you. With a good name, you don’t even need to spend much on marketing and advertising. After all, consumers don’t base most of their buying decisions on adverts but reviews.
You need to get an online business reputation manager to help you attract good reviews on the internet and boost sales. A reliable reputation manager will not only focus on reviews, but the business core values and customer needs.
5. Your Business Is Continuously Earning Bad Reputation
Without a reliable online business reputation management strategy, your business will continue to sink. Without a reputation manager, your company will continue to go through systematic problems. Your situation will not change by the day, and if you’re not careful, your competitors will throw you out of business.
This can also be associated with the ‘broken window’ theory. This theory states that a warehouse with broken windows will attract more vandals. It’s not going to be easy to leverage your business after a tarnished reputation.
But you can’t remain there forever unless you plan to close down. Consider hiring a reputation manager to save your business and repair the damages. This way, you can reduce the reputation risk and save your business from sinking even further.
Get Started With Online Reputation Management Today
Working on a good online business reputation management strategy is not going to be a waste of time. You need to start paying more attention to what your customers have to say and start addressing their grievances.
You must do all it takes to build trust, credibility, and confidence. Keep an eye on your customer feedback as well as that of your employees. You not only need to sell good products but also have good customer service.
If you need more tips on growing your business and attracting customers, please read other articles on this site.