Customers love to ask questions before they place all their trust, time, and money on any service or product. In the past, customers would have to contact you directly for answers and this gives you a chance to win them over.
Now, with review sites and Google My Business listings, other customers, strangers, and trolls can do all the answering.
You might already know about the Q&A prompt on your GMB page. Some business owners work hard to maintain their reputation by responding to these questions as quickly as they can. Or even by answering FAQs before they’re posted. Any question asked and answered by you or third parties stays on this page.
So, while this has its fair share of benefits and dangers, you can take control of the situation by responding quickly and professionally. What you might need to worry about is the all-new feature implemented by Google a few months ago. This one sits squarely on your review summary!
The new feature allows customers or potential customers to ask a question as usual but once that’s done Google pulls up related reviews to answer it.
If you don’t know what this means, we’ll fill you in.
For customers – It means customers can now get the answers they need without speaking to anyone from your business at all. It is easy, time-saving, and helps them make instant final decisions.
For your business – It means Google can pull up both positive and negative reviews to answer their questions.
Unsettling, right?
Well, that’s not all. Because these reviews are not been handpicked or manually selected there may sometimes be an issue with relevance.
For example, a person can type a question about one thing and Google would pull up reviews about another thing that is not related to the question. The customer may have no choice than to contact you for a better and correct response or walk away.
In all of these, you have more work to do than ever to manage your business reputation.
Now customers don’t have to leave just positive reviews, they need to be more elaborate about their experience.
Negative reviews in this situation become more damaging than ever. If a negative review is the only one that speaks on a subject, then you can be sure of losing the potential customer.
How do you make this work for you?
Ideally, Google is trying hard to provide the answers to your customer’s questions. But they cannot help you manage your reputation too.
- Encourage happy customers to leave reviews with content that describes their experience.
- Pre-populate your Q&A page because they can come up too with the reviews, if relevant.
- Keep a sharp eye out for a question that pops into your Q&A. Remember anyone can answer these questions, including your neighbor who holds a grudge or a complete stranger. Do not stay silent and let some people give your customers the wrong idea.
- Quantity is vital now. Having a few reviews won’t help Google help you. More reviews (positive) increases the chances of finding an answer for your customers.
That’s where we come in. The Review Generator can help get your business more positive reviews online from your actual customers. With our program, you can even show your customers prompts asking them to be detailed about the services you provided them.
If you’re ready to start taking control of your online reputation, get in touch with us today!
