The power of customer reviews

What our clients say

"We are delighted with the service and results that Sodafizz has provided us in managing our social media and website content. They are knowledgeable, responsive and friendly, and we wouldn’t hesitate in recommending them as a digital marketing agency to others. They ROCK!"
Michelle Mitchell
Principal, LJ Hooker Lismore
"Since working with Sodafizz, we have seen the caliber of our web and social presence grow to reinforce our years of experience in the real estate industry, as well as our knowledge of the local Bangalow community."
Janice Maple
Principal, Elders Real Estate Bangalow
"We hired Sodafizz to create an integrated digital marketing strategy with the aim of boosting our profile as a leading Australian artisan bakery in the wholesale and retail sectors. We have some informative and engaging new websites, great social media channels and are very happy with our improved Google rankings on key terms relevant to our business."
Robert Gils
Sales and Marketing Director, Wild Breads
"We engaged Sodafizz to write new website copy for us to boost our search results ranking in a pretty competitive industry. Within the month, we were not only on the first page but ranking 1 & 2 for ‘real estate photography Byron Bay’! Visits to our website have increased 160%! We couldn’t be happier with this result."
Saul Goodwin
Owner, Property Shot Photography
"Isaac Brandon and the team at Sodafizz were an outstanding company to work with. We initially engaged Isaac to manage our search campaigns for Lexus. Isaac was also brought on to help with other clients under the TMS banner. You are guaranteed quality work and quality advice."
Matthew Joyce
Former Digital Director, TMS Australia
"Through our partnership with Sodafizz, Isaac has been an amazing source of innovation and has been responsible for increasing the efficiency and cost effectiveness of our search campaigns by a significant margin."
David Morgan
Respondent Acquisition at Ipsos Interactive Services
"Sodafizz has been consulting to Coco Republic on many different aspects of digital marketing for the past two years. We highly recommend the team who are approachable, knowledgeable and really assisted us in taking the first step with search and social media. "
Justine Hall
National Marketing Manager, Coco Republic
“Sodafizz are smart, innovative and make it their business to understand how to use the web to grow your business. I would have no hesitation in recommending Sodafizz to your organisation if you are open to growing your results exponentially.”
Danin Kahn
Founder & Chief Eco Officer, Todae Solar
“When you're seeing ROIs in the 1000%s, you know you're getting quality service. Sodafizz 'gets' our business - and they certainly know theirs - the consistently impressive results speak volumes.”
Adrian Kennedy
Former Chief Executive, Skydive Australia
“We contracted Sodafizz to provide a complete digital newsletter production service - writing content, design, send and reporting. The resulting newsletter has been crucial communication tool for our organisation. We recommend the Sodafizz team for their experience, dedication and flexible approach.”
Naomi Dinnen
Former Executive Officer, GTANA
"Sodafizz has delivered a number of services to CS&HISC over 6 years including: feature writing, website content management and social media, and production and distribution of a monthly online newsletter. Sally’s work was always of a high-quality and delivered on time and to budget, making Sodafizz an integral part of our communication planning."
Rhoni Stokes
Communications Manager, CS&HISC

Aug 20, 2014
Sally Schofield
search marketing

Generating good customer reviews online will boost new business. Just back from three weeks in the USA, I know all too well how important online customer reviews are in the consumer purchase process.

Planning the trip, I used Trip Advisor and on the ground, Yelp and Eatability to determine the best places to eat, drink and be merry. 84% of Americans do the same thing*.

As a user of these sites, I can tell you that I didn’t consider visiting places that had a less than outstanding review. But even after visiting great restaurants, hotels and other venues, I did not hop on Trip Advisor, Eatability or whatever to add my own review. Apparently, only 28% of customers do*.

(Source: Saurage Marketing Research, 2014).

Generating great customer reviews is a really important part of creating new business, particularly in the hospitality, travel and tourism and retail sectors. Customer reviews are now appearing in search results pages too, often directly under the company website.

So how do you encourage customers to give online feedback, without being pushy?

These steps will help boost your reviews:

1. Get listed

Check out your business’ profile on relevant review sites such as Trip Advisor, Eatability (if you’re in food or tourism) or a relevant product review website for your sector. Customers can’t review you if you don’t have a profile page.

2. Advertise

Advertise that you are on Trip Advisor or Eatability etc at your point of sale, on your marketing materials and of course on your website. This gives customers a reminder that they can post a review. You could opt to post to social media inviting customers to post a review of their recent experience or send a call to action in your email newsletter to customers (you do have one, right?).

3. Respond

Businesses are quick to defend and remedy negative feedback reviews online, but responding to good feedback is important too. Remember a customer has taken the time to share their thoughts (they are one of the 28% who followed up) so it’s only fair that you take time to reciprocate. If the feedback is not so rosy, remember to respond professionally…

4. Be polite

A bad review can stay online forever. That’s a long time to be haunted by the words of a disgruntled customer when a quick response could have resolved things and made you the hero in the end. Be polite and apologetic, even if you think the customer is not right… A quick, ‘Sorry that your experience with our product/service was not to your satisfaction’ is far better than a rant at the customer.

5. Promote

When you receive a cracking review – share it around. Post it prominently on your website or social media channels. But also share it internally so that your team knows that they are doing a good job.

Online customer reviews boost your SEO, influence consumer decisions and generate free content. Find out more…

Comments are closed.