It’s one thing saying, as a business, how good your customer service is but quite another to demonstrate it for all to see. Businesses who do highlight their customer service via their online reviews are set to capitalise on one of the most effective ways to engage new customers and grow their business profitably, effectively and quickly.
Why do we say that? Well did you know that 81% of customers are willing to pay a business more for a better customer experience? Wow! What an opportunity for us all right there! However, did you also know that whilst 75% of businesses believe they are customer-centric only about 30% of customers agree.
So, how do you use your online reviews to demonstrate your good customer service and what can you do about any less than glowing customer service online reviews?
Well, as we’ve mentioned before in our blogs, the time to ask for a review is as close to the purchase as possible. It’s also about making the process of leaving a review as quick and easy for your customers as possible. To that end, do think about providing a QR code or a clickable link which takes them directly to where you want them to leave their review.
Next up, if you want your customers to talk specifically about their customer service experience ask them to mention that. You could say that you’re really keen to hear how their experience was or that you’re looking to further improve the customer experience and want to know what they particularly liked about it as it stands right now. If you’re concerned that this latter approach could possibly give you what could be perceived by some as a negative comment then, please, don’t be.
First of all, positive reviews are considered far more important and impactful by those reading them than negative reviews – particularly around the issue of customer service (many of us have wildly differing ideas about what good customer service is, after all). Secondly, by running a consistent online review strategy where you always ask a customer for a review you’ll ensure that you get plenty of good reviews that will, when read or scanned by a potential new customer, clearly and very visibly demonstrate just how consistent your business is, your products/services are and how good your customer service is.
Believe us when we say that online reviews give the very best customer service narrative because they are, quite literally, your customers very own words about their recent experience with you – nothing can be more powerful than that!