Google reviews impact your online visibility and carry significant weight in a consumer’s decision-making process. They help a business gain valuable insights and scope for improvement. As a business owner, it is essential to manage reviews on Google using the right tools and strategies.
Importance of Google Reviews
Google reviews are an excellent tool to establish trust among your customers. An increase in positive reviews helps you gain prospective consumers and also acts as proof of your success. On the other hand, you can manage negative reviews with empathy and commitment to make your business better.
Moreover, Google reviews increase your online presence, leading to more people checking out your business. They play a crucial role in search engine optimization (SEO) by influencing Google’s algorithm based on the number and quality of your reviews. Along with that, you get insights into your business’s strengths and weaknesses.
How to Manage Google Reviews?
Before you manage Google reviews, set up your account by creating a Google My Business Account. Verify your business and complete your business profile to get started.
To manage your Google business reviews, find the Google review link to share with your customers. Sharing this link makes it easier for your customers to submit reviews.
- Search for your business on Google.
- Click on “Write a review” in the Google My Business box on the right side of the search results.
- Copy the URL from the address bar which is your Google review link.
Now, share this link with your customers via social media, your website, email, or SMS. Remember to respond to all reviews and show customers you value feedback.
How to Manage Google Reviews for Multiple Business Locations
Multi-location refers to a business having more than one geographic location. This could be franchises or multiple stores or branches in different cities, states, or countries.
- Corporate Management of Google Reviews
Businesses with multiple locations face unique challenges in dealing with location-specific issues, maintaining consistency in review responses, or managing the sheer volume of reviews across multiple locations.
All these challenges can be resolved with a well-designed strategy. For instance, businesses can adopt a centralized review management approach where a corporate office can manage all the reviews. This can help in maintaining consistent communication and efficient control of brand image.
- Individual Management of Google Reviews
Another method to manage reviews on Google is by opting for individual management of Google Reviews. While a corporate office can provide broad strategies for handling reviews, a location manager forms the primary contact for managing and responding to these reviews.
For instance, a corporate office can be unaware of the ground scenarios for each location, leading to errors of judgment. This issue can be resolved by having location managers who can streamline the communication process. Location managers can swiftly gather relevant data, adapt the strategy to the local context, and respond promptly to reviews to ensure there is no damage to your brand’s reputation.
Google Review Management Strategy for Franchise and Multi-Locations
Follow the below strategies to effectively manage your Google reviews page:
- Update All Your Business Locations
The foremost strategy which is also a basic step to manage your Google reviews is to make sure all your business information is listed accurately on Google. This helps ensure you don’t lose out on any business opportunities or confuse leads with outdated info.
Check your Google Business Profile regularly and check that it contains the right address, email, phone number, and the correct operating hours for your business.
- Automate Reviews Using Software
Automation tools can enhance your review management process. You can utilize review management platforms, review management software, or advanced tools to set up automated responses for common queries and alerts for new reviews.
Using efficient software and tools makes it easier to manage Google My Business or GMB reviews. You can manage the reviews and analyze them from the GMB dashboard. Using such tools helps you reduce the time to respond to customer queries or feedback and creates a strong and positive brand image. For example, you can automate a thank you response for every positive review and flag negative ones for quick attention.
Additionally, it makes your review management process more efficient as you can manage the negative reviews and mitigate risks. This helps you make better decisions for your business.
- Analyze Feedback and Align with Your Strategy
Read Google reviews carefully so that you can understand which areas you need to improve. Customer feedback can also help you uncover trends and identify opportunities for new products or services.
Moreover, if you have businesses in multiple locations and their locations significantly vary from each other, it’s better to assign an individual location manager for each location. This can help in analyzing all the different types of feedback for each location. In this case, the parent company can provide advice and strategy but it is the responsibility of the location manager to execute the final strategy.
- Decide the Level of Control
It is critical to decide the level of corporate control you want for your review management process. More people dilute the process. Due to this, proper training is integral where location representatives, often from the native place, can connect well with customers. They can analyze the ongoing trend and effectively use feedback to reflect positively on the business.
- Create Templates and Guides
Create specific strategies that suit your brands with respect to the different locations. Based on this, you can craft different templates to address common customer queries. Focus on developing a brand voice to increase your brand visibility along with its identity.
Conclusion
Thus, reviews play a significant role in influencing your customers. Effectively managing these reviews determines the success of your business. So, leverage relevant strategies for your business to manage the reviews and utilize different software and tools to level up your process.