Reviews have been an important for online businesses since the beginning, but they’re even more important now.

Consider:

• Consumers require an average 40 online reviews before believing a business’s star rating is accurate (up from 34 in 2017)
• 85% of consumers think that online reviews older than 3 months aren’t relevant

The authors propose mulitple strategies to use to get more reviews for your business, here are their best:

1. Deliver an Outstanding Customer Experience (if you’re not, don’t bother with getting reviews)
2. Ask Every Customer
3. Respond to Positive and Negative Reviews
4. People Have their Preferences, Select Sites Customers Use
5. Make Leaving A Review Simple
6. Time Your Request
7. Automate Requests
8. Play the Long Game

And finally, when creating an online reputation management program, it’s important to understand the important difference between 1st and 3rd party reviews

• 1st-Party Review: Feedback or testimonial given directly to your business by a customer. The business owns the content.
• 3rd-Party Review: Feedback given to a 3rd-party review site like Google or Trip Advisor. The site owns the content.

Read the full article at: gatherup.com