Life was simpler for businesses even just a decade ago. Of course, reputation was as crucial for a company then as it is now, but in the intervening years the way that customers and clients interact with business has changed radically. No business can please one hundred percent of their customers, but, whereas back in the day that might have meant a complaint, some bad word-of-mouth, or at the worst a letter to the media, in a world where everyone with a grudge and an internet connection can make themselves heard by millions, every business has to take reputation management seriously.
Think about the typical process by which a customer chooses a company to do business with. In many cases, they pull out their phone; do a quick search with Google, on a social media network, or on a dedicated review site like Google Places; scan through the results, and pick a business with the best reviews. Even in a street full of coffee shops and restaurants, customers no longer choose by wandering along and checking out the atmosphere or perusing the menu. Both of those factors will be trumped by a smartphone and a set of bad reviews. Everyone checks reviews before making a purchase more significant than a few dollars.
This is actually a wonderful way for things to be. Customers have the power and market forces can do their work weeding out the bad businesses, but, it doesn’t always work that way. Happy customers are far less likely to make any comment at all than are customers with an axe to grind — a disparity that can lead to the vocal 1% of displeased customers having a far greater impact than the satisfied 99%.
To combat the bias towards negative reviews, businesses have to be proactive about responding to criticism. That doesn’t mean being defensive, an attitude that has landed many business in trouble. Nor does it mean trying to hide negative reviews; the Streisand Effect is an insurmountable obstacle to white-washing, although the creation of high-value content can help a business push negative material down in the SERPS. What it does mean is that business need to use tools and implement processes to get out ahead of negative content, to explain, to apologize, to placate, and to learn what they are doing that creates disgruntled customers in the first place.
Earlier this month, Google introduced a tool to help businesses do just that. Google’s Reviews in Google Places For Business (snappy name) allows businesses to monitor and respond to reviews from across the internet. It’s a smart application for Google’s search technology, providing a specialized interface that allows businesses to keep a close eye on what their customers are saying about them.
If you aren’t already using Google Places for Business, you should be. It’s an excellent tool for improving local SEO and making sure that Google is giving potential customers the right information about your business.
Most of the features of Google Places for Business are free, including Reviews, which is a lot less than you’ll pay for most reputation management tools, so it’s definitely worth checking out if you want to be kept abreast of the scuttlebutt about your business.