Guarding Your Online Business Reputation
Tuesday, August 18, 2009 21:44If you get an unhappy customer, these days the entire world is likely to know about it. It’s not just enough that business owners tend to their offline customers, they have to know what their online customers are saying and become proactive in maintaining a positive business image online. This can mean visiting sites where users can leave comments about products and services, and getting feedback this way. It can be hard to stay calm when you spot a negative feedback report on sites like Yelp or CitySearch, but trying to squelch or intimidate a customer who provides the feedback can mean instant bad business karma for the inexperienced business owner. Likewise, ignoring a bad review is going to impact the bottom line, which in turn can show up in other areas like when you seek merchant funding. Here’s what to do to help maintain good vibes for your company online.
Respond Carefully And Honestly
It may be the customer has a point. In that case, take steps to ameliorate the situation and respond online to how you’ve managed the situation and thank them for their feedback. This can be a very disarming approach, rather than trying to intimidate or squelch the offending review. If you do try to squelch the review by threatening a slander or libel lawsuit, be assured that information will also show up online too, and no one likes a bully.
Don’t Get Caught Stuffing Review Sites
It may be tempting to ask your employees to put in in fake reviews of your products or services, but it will come back to bite you in the butt. If it’s ever confirmed that this is the case, your online credibility is shot and your customers will drop out of sight. Do ask your existing, satisfied, customers, every chance you get, to post reviews online and give them information on where they can do that with a URL.
Check Regularly To See What Others Say About You
All you have to do is put in your business name in a search engine to find out what others are saying about you. That small bit of effort can lead to valuable market research and help you guard your online business reputation before the damage is irrecoverable.
