The reality is Google reviews are a double-edged sword: they can help tremendously, but they can also hinder you greatly. Through no fault of their own, of course. This is because once a customer leaves a negative review on Google, your search results suffer. Users will see those comments on your Google Business profile. You automatically would want to seek to remove those negative reviews, but it’s easier said than done.
So what can you do about Google reviews?
It’s a numbers game, even with generative AI. And the trick is happy customers won’t often leave any reviews at all…. Unless you ask them! Hence you absolutely have to have some sort of process in place to proactively send to these customers of yours who had positive experiences with your business any sort of CTA or ask on leaving a “happy” review.
It’s about balance.
You know you’ll get the occasional ‘bad’ review, but if you’re working vigorously to balance those out with the ‘good’ ones, the ‘bad’ ones then simply get pushed down the list. That’s honestly how you actually remove them. Think of it as putting the outdated products that were on your sales floor for years farther back while your newer stuff sits at point-of-sale. Chances are pretty good your customers most likely will just buy what they first see!
So we can’t do anything about bad reviews then?
By all means, no! Respond to them. Make great offers. Get them to turn around their attitudes! What could turn into a negative review might actually become a constructively positive one overall. Sure, it’s a lot of legwork on your end, but at the end of the day, it’s well worth it to maintain your brand reputation.
You could, however, get some assistance to help maintain that reputation. And it just so happens….
Apello Warm Up Services might be able to help
Because we won’t lie: managing online reputations with respect to Google reviews all by itself can be a full-time job. And let’s be honest: your full-time job should be about selling your brand, not trying to play damage control.