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Wondering why you should respond to your online consumer reviews? The answer is simple. Responding to customer reviews is high-quality social proof that builds trust and creates user-generated content. It shows that you care about their experience with your brand.
These reviews are also very important to your potential customers. Most of them take the time to read them before making a purchase decision.
The goal: to evaluate the quality of the customer experience. But they don't only focus on the feedback left by their peers. They also pay attention to the seller's responses.
Responses to customer reviews instill a sense of trust in your prospects. In addition, when faced with negative feedback, you can provide explanations. You can highlight the measures taken to correct the points highlighted. This will reassure your prospects and customers.
That being said, the way you respond also counts. So how should you go about it?
In this article, you will find:
✅ What impact do review responses have on revenue?
✅ Should you respond to all your customer reviews?
✅ How do you sign a response to a customer review?
✅ How to respond to customer reviews in foreign languages?
✅ Why is copy/paste prohibited in customer review responses?
✅ Spelling mistakes in customer review responses: what impact on your brand image?
✅ What is the ideal time frame for responding to customer reviews?
✅ How can you improve your customer review response rate, and why is it important?
✅ Why do you need to respond to all your good reviews?
✅ How to improve your review response rate?
✅ Why personalize responses to customer reviews?
✅ How to create a library of responses and response templates?
✅ Why should you respond to all your customer reviews?
✅ How to respond to reviews on each platform? Google, TripAdvisor, Facebook...
Step 1 : Download the FREE Chrome extension SoLike
Step 2 : Get review replies instantly with the AI review response generator
- You will save lot of time (12 hours / month on average)
- You will ensure high quality content with human-Like AI answers
- You will optimize your online reputation with 100% response rate
Is responding to customer reviews time-consuming because you have trouble finding the right words? Don't know how to start or finish your response?
Follow our 11 tips to offer your customers clear and pleasant-to-read answers.
You should respond within a 24 to 48 hour deadline. Indeed, responsiveness is a sign of quality customer service. This is even more useful for negative comments posted by your customers. By reacting in time, you avoid the review circulating on the Web and generating a bad buzz. In this case, responses to reviews allow you to set the record straight and propose a solution in case of errors on your part. Customers will appreciate your gesture.
Being polite is always greatly appreciated. Whether the review is negative or positive, always thank your customer for taking the time to share their feedback. Start the response with a thank you to the reviewer. This shows that you are grateful for the time they took to share their experience.
This principle applies even to a negative review. Show empathy and appreciation even if the customer doesn't seem satisfied with the overall service.
This is a gesture of appreciation to the customer for the initiative they have taken. This is essential whether the feedback is positive or negative. Besides, in either case, the comment always brings you added value. Positive feedback is an advertising tool and will help you attract new customers. Negative feedback, on the other hand, can provide you with areas for improvement. They also reinforce the veracity of your reviews. All of this is worth your thanks to the author.
This point is very important, especially in negative reviews. Recalling a positive point about your hotel softens the criticism that may have been said before.
During a positive review, it is recommended to recall a strong point stated by the customer, it shows that his opinion has been heard and understood.
Customers read the reviews of an establishment before they go there, but they also read the responses of the managers. So you need to be professional in writing your responses. This means they should be well-written and free of spelling and syntax errors.
Personalizing your responses is a way to get close to your customers. For example, you can use the customer's first name if it is mentioned in the review or recall a moment spent with this customer during their stay. However, be careful not to become too intrusive.
Responding to customer reviews can indeed be time consuming. But it is important to personalize the response.
Avoid the easy way with the same copy and paste answers. Address the message personally to the author if their name is mentioned. If he or she gives details about his or her experience, take the time to emphasize the points you consider essential.
Did they mention the quality of your service? Emphasize that you have a team that is professional and involved in their work, ready to meet the needs and expectations of each client.
Here's your clients' worst fear: copying and pasting!
A customer won't like to read a trite response that could address any review. So write each of your responses trying to personalize them as much as possible.
Many establishments only respond to negative reviews. This reflects poorly, so it's best to respond to both bad and good reviews.
It is often difficult to keep calm in responding to a negative review. This can lead to a thoughtless and aggressive response. If the things mentioned are wrong, it is better to be constructive by saying that the complaints were not founded or in the worst case, report the review.
It is very appreciated by customers when an establishment wants to receive it again. Slip a little phrase at the end of your response that will encourage the customer to return. It works especially for 5-star review.
This last point is a bonus that will make you stand out from your competitors. Use your imagination or use humor, it gives a good customer feel.
A friendly and sympathetic tone will be appreciated in the responses. It shows that you have a sense of welcome and service. Of course, it must be in line with your brand identity.
It is essential to be polite, regardless of the tone adopted. In addition, you should always be professional. Whether you're dealing with an amazing review or negative feedback.
Along with best practices, there are mistakes to avoid when responding to customer reviews. They can indeed impact your brand image or sometimes raise tension with your interlocutor. The opinions of your customers should not be neglected. For every company, managing interfaces like Google, TripAdvisor, Expedia, LaFourchette, Yelp, Yellow Pages, Booking and many others becomes almost a matter of survival. Engaging in conversation with your customers requires a few basic rules, so today SoLike gives you its tips on what not to do when responding to a negative or positive review:
Take the time to get the anger out before responding to negative feedback. Then craft a professional response with a personal touch. Proofread it before posting it on the platform.
Indeed, an inappropriate comment can easily lead you to a bad buzz. And your online reputation will inevitably be impacted.
Do not respond with "boilerplate" answers. You need to emphasize your reviews and personalize the response as much as possible. This shows a genuine interest in the customer and their opinion.
Keep calm! Don't respond hotly to your reviews and above all, stay calm. Never insult your customers and always find a more appropriate way to respond, apologize or else report the review if it is untrue or questionable. We have a tendency to get defensive when faced with criticism that is deemed inappropriate. This attitude is obviously not recommended. On the contrary, we should remain calm and professional.
When faced with an unhappy customer, you must find a way to change the customer's negative perception of your service. Put forward a solution for the items mentioned. Don't forget to apologize. A humane and positive response will help you gain your customer's trust again. You show that you are listening to them. Also remember that your potential customers will be paying attention to your responses.
Responding to your negative reviews is good; it’s even essential in reputation management. But what do you do with your positive reviews? Replying to your positive reviews is also very important because you should always thank your customers, and build their loyalty! Moreover, these reviews highlight your establishment, so don't hesitate to add a layer of it!
In general, it is better to respond to a review within 72 hours, especially if the review is negative. This expresses a real commitment on your part following their stay. And you don't take the risk that potential customers who read your reviews, only have one side of the story.
Proofread, proofread, proofread! Spelling mistakes take away from your credibility, so pay close attention!
Spelling mistakes can be perceived as a lack of professionalism on the part of your institution. To avoid them, it is necessary to proofread your answers before publishing them. You also have online proofreading tools that allow you to check them.
Sure, platforms like Google or Booking allow you to delete bad reviews. However, this alternative should not serve as a solution for all the negative reviews you receive. Moreover, studies show that customers are suspicious of establishments that do not post any negative feedback. Therefore, it is recommended that you respond rather than spend time deleting a negative review.
A negative review should not be seen as inevitable. Dissatisfied customers and mistakes are indeed things that happen to you. If it does happen, however, consumers expect you to make it up to them. You need to explain in your responses the steps you have taken to prevent the mistake from happening again.
These five best practices will ensure a positive brand image and a good reputation on the Web. Leaving a quality response is all the more essential in a context where customers are particularly attentive to the opinions of their peers. These comments now have a significant impact on the purchasing decision.
You can also contact us for more tips and tricks to manage your customer reviews well.
Responding to online positive customer reviews are part of the daily routine for business owners. A task that becomes more and more complex as time goes by and the number of reviews increases. It is difficult to find the right kind words for each feedback left. To avoid these empty passages and save you time, we have listed here positive review response templates for responses to your positive testimonials on product/service.
Positive reviews are very rewarding for the establishment that receives it. Moreover, they help reassure potential customers and contribute to improving your e-reputation. Beware, however, that many companies choose to respond only to negative reviews. However, responding to positive reviews helps build loyalty among existing customers. Also, don't hesitate to leave a thank you note.
Here is the structure for responding to a great review:
1/ Greet and write “thanks for sharing” to the author;
2/ Emphasize the positive points that you consider valuable in the content of the review;
3/ Encourage the customer to return;
4/ Greet and sign.
"We would like to thank you for your valuable feedback following your stay at our establishment. "
"Thank you very much for your valuable insights about your dining experience. It is always nice to see that our efforts are appreciated by our guests."
"We make sure our rooms are welcoming and pleasant. Thank you for pointing that out."
"We offer great rates and promotional offers throughout the year. "
"We are delighted that you enjoyed our location not far from the center of Paris."
"It's great that you have enjoyed our restaurant ambiance and our quality products"
"We are at the disposal of our guests to make their stay enjoyable."
"A public parking lot is located near our establishment, secure and offers correct rates."
"We hope to welcome you back very soon"
"We look forward to seeing you again"
"We hope to have the pleasure of hosting you again soon, please feel free to go directly to our website to book your next stay."
To find out what signature to leave, read the section below dedicated to this no less important element of responding to reviews.
Now that you know the structure, let's move on to some response templates you can use:
Hello Reviewer’s name,
We thank you for your valuable feedback.
It makes us happy to read that you enjoyed your stay with us.
Indeed, we always make sure that our rooms are welcoming and pleasant.
Thank you for pointing out our excellent customer service.
We hope to welcome you again soon.
See you soon,
The SoLike team.
Dear Sir,
Thank you very much for your great comment.
It is always nice to see that our efforts are recognized by our customers.
We are delighted that you appreciated everyone's professionalism and hard work. We are indeed at the disposal of our guests to make their stay enjoyable.
It will be a pleasure to receive you again in our hotel.
See you soon,
Brian and his team.
A review is mixed when the customer is neither fully satisfied nor completely disappointed with their experience. In this case, intervention is needed to ensure that the negativity left behind does not prevent him or her from returning. In other words, the objective of the response is to encourage them to try again despite what happened. In this case, you must convince him of your improvements or want to correct the situation.
The structure of the response will be as follows:
1/ Greet and thank the customer;
2/ Emphasize the positive point made;
3/ Advance a response to the negative comment;
4 Greet and sign.
"Hello XX, thank you for your comment."
"Dear Guest, we thank you for this review of our facility and our team."
"We show more than mixed satisfaction nevertheless considering the rating given, we assume that you still found some benefits from staying with us."
"We are very happy to read that you enjoyed the comfort of our rooms."
"Thank you for highlighting one of our best strengths: the diversity of our breakfast."
"Indeed, our breakfast buffet is highly appreciated for the quality and freshness of the products offered."
"We are sorry that the bedding did not satisfy you, despite the care we took in choosing them."
"We are sorry that the service and delivery did not meet your expectations."
"However, we hope to have the opportunity to have you back with us again soon. Hotel XX"
"We hope to have the chance to host you another time and change your mind"
Hello Camille,
Thank you for your 5-star rating.
We are very happy to read that you appreciated the comfort of our rooms.
We regret however that the bedding did not satisfy you, despite the care we took to choose them. Your remark is taken into account.
We hope to have the opportunity to have you back with us soon.
Sincerely,
Employee name + Company name.
Dear customer name,
Thank you for sharing your positive experience on [business name].
It is a pleasure to read that you enjoyed the breakfast thanks to the quality and diversity of the products offered.
However, we are sorry that the service was not up to your expectations. We take your comment into account and will do our best to improve on this point.
We hope to have the chance to welcome you another time and to change your mind.
Sincerely,
Guillaume and his team.
A negative review is not a tragedy in itself, you just need to know how to respond politely to your customer and listen to them. Above all, don't answer in a hot moment in order tomaintain a positive online presence. The goal being to make the author of the review come back and reassure the readers. Your answer must help to restore the truth and provide a solution to the problem mentioned.
Its structure will be as follows:
1/ Greet and thank the customer;
2/ Dedramatize the situation;
3/ Propose a solution;
4/ Greet and sign.
"Dear Guest, Thank you for taking the time to write this detailed review on specific details."
"Dear Sir/Madam, Good morning, Thank you very much for this review of our establishment"
"We take note of your suggestions, in a constant effort to improve our services."
"Your remark is not a detail for us. We are doing our best to improve our service in order to prevent this kind of inconvenience from happening again."
"We quite often get positive feedback on the service provided by our teams. We are sorry if on the day of your visit it did not live up to your expectations."
"Hoping to keep your trust and see you again for an experience that will live up to your expectations. Sincerely"
Dear Guest,
Thank you for taking the time to write this detailed review.
We regret that your experience in our establishment did not meet your expectations.
We take note of your suggestions, in a constant concern of improvement of our services. Please be assured that we will do our best to ensure that this incident does not happen again.
Sincerely,
The Management.
Dear Sir or Madam, good morning,
Thank you for your comment on your stay.
We are still sorry to see your disappointment with your experience at our establishment.
Your remark is not a detail for us. We will do our best to improve our service in order to avoid this kind of inconvenience from happening again.
We hope to see you again in our establishment to offer you an experience worthy of your expectations.
Sincerely yours,
Mr Durand and his team.
We hope these templates will help you better manage your customer reviews as customer support. And for more pre-written responses that will make your daily tasks easier, try our SoLike solution. This smart assistant is able to respond to your positive as well as negative reviews on its own.
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Responding to customer reviews is no longer a choice, but a necessity today. Indeed, responses are an integral part of a brand's communication strategy. They can bring you positive results (including local SEO) as much as your different marketing actions.
Dealing with customer reviews can enhance your brand image and customer retention
Responding to customer reviews improves your SEO
Responding to reviews means increasing your conversion rate
Do you run a business that receives customer reviews? Are you a hotel? A restaurant? An e-commerce site or a real estate agency?
Then yes, customer reviews can get on your nerves.
Yes, you sometimes have a feeling of injustice.
Yes, we don't all have time to respond to reviews. But the answers are essential in the eyes of your customers!
They will also have an impact on your sales. Responding to a review left by an online customer, positive or negative, can indeed increase your sales.
Of course, it is not a question of responding in any way. The words and tone used must be chosen carefully. The overall response should also reflect a positive brand image.
The Internet offers real opportunities to companies. Indeed, it allows you to make yourself known and to get closer to your customers. Besides, you are not alone in conducting the work. Your customers can contribute by sharing information about your structure. Or by leaving their opinions.
Of course, this freedom can come at a price. And for good reason, you can get as much positive feedback from great customers as negative. Most of the time, companies are alarmed by negative customer reviews. However, you shouldn't just respond to this type of feedback. All of them deserve your attention if you want to improve customer relations, and in the process, increase your revenue.
All reviews left by customers online should be addressed, whether positive or negative. This is because your response is a sign of recognition and consideration on your part.
You are showing your customers that you value their feedback. Positive reviews also help to improve your brand image. Your response proves to your customer that you are grateful for his gesture.
In addition, the response lets the reviewer know that you have read it. It shows that you care about their feelings and experience.
Change the customer's perception through responses to negative reviews.
Whether the review is positive or negative, the response returns a positive image of your brand. It is all the more useful if you are faced with an unhappy customer, dissatisfied with your experience with you.
It will serve to reassure them in this case. It shows that you pay particular attention to their experience. It also gives you the opportunity to highlight the solutions adopted to remedy the problems encountered.
The response to a negative customer review will help you regain their trust. They may even try again. But it will be necessary to put forward a relevant solution. This one will add credibility to your potential customers who may come across the negative review.
Mixed is the right word for 3-star reviews. They are not completely negative. But it's also hard to consider them as positive feedback. So the customer is neither completely satisfied nor dissatisfied.
This perception deserves special attention. Your response may lead the customer to change their mind and come back to you. Sometimes, the review includes no details, only a note.
In this case, inviting your customers to give more details would be ideal. They can send them to you by e-mail for example. The information given will help you to better understand their feelings. They will also indicate you the bridges to improve.
Managing customer reviews will certainly take your time. Responding to all the reviews can thus seem difficult. Especially since you have to add your usual tasks to it. However, there are some time-saving solutions.
The first is to use an online notification management solution. You can then centralize them on a single platform. This type of platform gathers all the comments received for your establishment, regardless of the publication site. You can also respond directly.
With these management solutions, you can combine our automated response tool. It allows you to automate customer review responses and provides pre-written and personalized responses. Indeed, the tool is able to identify the customer's feeling thanks to the content of the review. It then suggests appropriate responses.
If these two solutions are not enough for you, you can delegate the management of your customer reviews to our team. We will take care of monitoring for you. The comments are processed daily. This allows us to react quickly in case of negative reviews. We will inform you of this type of comments. Our team then imagines with you an appropriate strategy to avoid an impact on your e-reputation.
The signature represents the final touch of a response to a customer review. It is not a detail. Like the entire response, it reflects the image of your establishmentor. For this reason, it must also be chosen with care. Find out what options are available and our tips for choosing well.
You've probably already come across a response with a signature like:
- "The team of / team at"; with the business name ;
- "The Management;
- "Customer Service" with company name.
This is called a generic signature. It does not refer to a specific person, but rather to a department and its entire team. So it's up to you to choose according to your activity and the branches that exist within your establishment.
It is also common for the writer to sign directly with their name. In some cases, the name is followed by the position. For example, "Richard Dubois, General Manager." This happens when the person signing holds a management position or a specific function within the institution.
If you wish to remain anonymous, you may choose a name at random, and use it. The choice can be made freely. A first name, such as "Alice, Martin" will suffice.
In this case, no matter who answers the customer reviews, the person can use the name chosen. By the way, in case of departure, the signature can be kept and used by the new writer.
At SoLike, we recommend using a custom signature. This can be the name of the establishment's manager, or the person in charge of customer reviews.
This proves that behind each answer, there is a real person. This type of signature also shows that you care about your customers' opinions, feelings and experiences.
Whether you're a hotelier, restaurant owner, or retailer, you've probably already come across a customer review in a foreign language. Reviews in English, German, Italian or Spanish are particularly common. Some choose to answer in their own language, others in English, or in the customer's language.
The choice of language is a subject that deserves special attention, as the customer relationship and the brand image depend on it. Also avoid making the mistake of not responding, it will impact your reputation.
Responding to online reviews enhances the relationship with customers. It shows that you care about their experiences and feelings. However, the response must be personalized. This is where the question of language comes in.
Ideally, you should use the same language as the customer. This makes it easier to communicate and reassures the customer that you understand them. This also contributes to a positive brand image. The customer will appreciate your efforts to speak their native language.
That said, this can be difficult to implement. It requires that you or one of your employees speak the native language of your customers. In the case of a French hotelier, for example, you need to be fluent in English, German, Italian, Dutch or Spanish to cover a majority of reviews.
That can only be good news if your staff knows one or more of the customer languages. If not, another issue arises, as you will need to recruit people who are at least bilingual. Recruitment necessarily involves a financial cost. The process can be expensive and is not within the reach of all companies.
Google has its translator, so you can reply in French, the reader will have the option to translate your reply into their original language of the review. But the translation will not be perfect. Unlike Booking, Google displays all reviews in all languages to all users. They will display automatic translations.
SoLike tip: Reply in the customer's language or in English because the automatic translation will be better
The reviews left on TripAdvisor are more detailed than on other sites. So it is advisable to answer clearly, and in detail. The automatic Google translation is available with the manual button (Example below). But to facilitate the understanding of your answers, we advise you to answer in the customer's language.
SoLike tip: Answer in the customer's language.
Check this article : How to respond to a review on TripAdvisor
You should know that on Booking, you must reply in the language of the customer review or in English. Responses in any other language will not be put online or translated.
In addition, the booking will display the reviews of compatriots first. They will display the reviews of Spanish customers to Spanish people. So answering in the customer's language will allow you to differentiate yourself from the competition.
SoLike tip: Respond in the language of the customer.
Expedia will be where we find the most foreign language reviews. Indeed this site is frequented by a generally international clientele. That is why we advise you to answer with the same language as the review. This is important for the sender of the review and the readers. They will understand your answers. The latter will have an even greater impact as Expedia generates fewer reviews than booking.com and Google.
Otherwise, use English to manage the relationship with foreign customers
English is an alternative when it is difficult to speak each of your customers' native languages. It is recognized worldwide as the language of business and international trade.
In addition, English is the most widely spoken and learned language in the world. By using it to respond to notices, you have a high chance of being understood by your interlocutor. Customers are also aware of its place in international relations.
The use of English offers more security if you have a better command of it than the customer's native language. It is important to take into account the subtleties of language, terms and phrases specific to certain languages. Choosing a language you know reduces the risk of making mistakes and being misunderstood by your interlocutor.
Technology is your best ally when it comes to handling foreign language customer reviews. For example, you can use an online translator like the one from the Google search engine. These tools will help you when you don't know much about the language of your reviewer. You can translate the review before writing the response in English.
These technological solutions allow you to overcome language barriers. With these solutions, you can respond to all online reviews regardless of the customer's language. Most of them integrate several languages at the same time besides English. Google Translate, for example, has 108 languages and dialects. The tool is available for free and unlimited. But the quality of the translation is not always perfect. You may end up with surprising answers.
Managing foreign language reviews can be time-consuming, between translation and writing the response. However, we have a solution to optimize their processing. You can rely on our Review tool.
Review is a solution designed to help restaurant and hotel owners manage online reviews. It provides personalized responses that take into account the content of the review and the sentiment of the customer. 24 languages are listed in its database. It can understand reviews written in these languages. The response is in French, English, German, Spanish and Italian if the review is in a foreign language.
Using our review response solution will save you time. You will no longer have to translate the review yourself before writing the response. Just use the SoLike interface. Three responses in the customer's language will be suggested automatically.
This also ensures a 100% response rate. You can then respond to all reviews regardless of the language used by the customer. Try the free version to discover its features!
Leaving feedback on the web after a purchase has become an almost normal gesture among consumers. They might as well get used to reading these comments before making a purchase decision.
For retailers, hotels or restaurants, the difficulty lies in managing customer reviews on a daily basis. It is important to respond to them in order to preserve a good brand image. But dealing with these feedbacks one after the other takes time.
To go faster, some may be tempted to copy and paste the answers. However, we do not recommend this practice. It can indeed have repercussions on your brand image and the relationship with customers. Responding will show you are a top-notch business.
The temptation to copy and paste responses is great when reviews start to pile up. Avoid giving in, however.
Indeed, offering an identical response suggests that you pay little attention to your customers' feelings. To them, it shows that you are just answering without caring about their experiences. Although the feedback is positive, this gesture can be taken the wrong way and cause you to lose customers.
So if you've thought about responding to your customers' feedback, you might as well do it right. Moreover, a personalized response will encourage them to leave a review again on their next visit. And the positive reviews that multiply improve the notoriety of your establishment. They will help you win more customers and close more sales.
The sight of a copied and pasted response can be perplexing or even annoying if you're dealing with a disgruntled customer. It suggests that you care little about the problem he or she has encountered.
Your action may therefore aggravate an already complex situation. And the risk is not to be minimized. You may lose a customer. Yet, he has a chance to stay with you and buy again if you have managed to calm the situation.
Your answer can also be shared on social networks. This is how a bad buzz is born. Your e-reputation will be impacted, and you may lose more sales opportunities than you think. Potential customers might turn away.
In the eyes of a customer, a response is a sign of recognition and consideration on your part. Therefore, it proves to be important, whether it is a positive or negative comment.
Consumer perception will be even better if the response is personalized. This kind of reaction shows that you care about them. It also proves that you have qualified customer service. It allows you to keep the trust of your customers.
Such a response helps to retain existing customers and arouse the interest of potential customers.
Lack of time is what keeps companies from responding to customer reviews or causes them to copy and paste. However, there are solutions to reduce the time spent on each customer.
First, we recommend using a tool to centralize your customer reviews. Choose a solution compatible with the review and social media platforms on which you are present. Whether it is TripAdvisor, Google, Yelp, Facebook, booking or others.
You can also use the SoLike assistant. This is a tool designed with artificial intelligence, which allows you to automate responses to customer reviews. With this technology, it can understand the content and sentiment of a customer review. It then proposes a personalized response.
However, if you don't have the time to take care of your reviews, SoLike offers the "Serenity" option. With this offer, you have a dedicated team that looks after your brand image and manages all online reviews.
You can focus on your core business by using the solutions we offer at SoLike. They also increase your response rate and improve customer relations.
A man or woman's spelling mistakes are his or her fingerprint, said Stephen King. Admittedly, however, mastering the subtleties of any language is far from easy. Are these spelling mistakes acceptable or intolerable in customer review responses? SoLike conducted a survey and the answers speak volumes about the expectations of Internet users, authors or readers of these publications.
We conducted the survey via the LinkedIn platform. A simple question was asked to users what they think about spelling mistakes in customer review responses. 54% think they are unacceptable. Only 4% of participants say they don't perceive any mistakes made.
Consumers pay attention to all the content you publish that relates to your establishment. Whether it's responses to customer reviews or posts on your website and social media. One or more mistakes identified in these contents can damage your brand image.
A company that accumulates spelling mistakes is perceived as an unprofessional organization. You lose credibility in the eyes of customers. And a decrease in credibility will translate into fewer customers. Your competitiveness will also be impacted as prospects will turn to your competitors.
From our survey, we found that 29% of respondents tolerate small mistakes. Only 14% of the participants believe that the answer is more important than the mistake made. However, these proportions are still small to let misspellings in customer review responses pass.
Spelling mistakes are sometimes the result of a typo while writing the response. Mistakes can be made and go unnoticed from one response to another. Fortunately, there are solutions to reduce these risks.
Spelling mistakes and typographical errors can be seen as a lack of seriousness on your part. In order to limit the risk of these typos being published for all to see, proofread your response. In addition, proofreading is part of the good practices to have allows you to make a final adjustment before publication.
The level of attention can be altered by the accumulation of reviews you have to manage. Tools like Merci App are a great help in this case. This proofreader notifies you of all spelling, grammar, conjugation, and semantic errors. It integrates with apps like Gmail or Google Chrome.
The longer the sentences, the higher the risk of making mistakes. Therefore, favor short and simple sentences that are easy to read and write. The reader will also appreciate them.
You are likely to make more mistakes by writing the answer at the end of the day rather than at the beginning. This is because fatigue impairs concentration. You may miss some mistakes even when you reread the answer. Ideally, you should write the answer when you have time and your full attention.
You have two solutions. One is to build a response library. This one offers response templates for all the situations you will likely encounter. In the case of a hotel, for example, it should contain sample responses for reviews about the room or the service. Make sure that the sentences you list are free of errors. You can then simply copy and paste them and adjust them when responding to reviews.
The second solution is to use an automatic response generator such as SoLike. This tool, which works on the basis of artificial intelligence, can understand the content of your reviews and the author’s sentiment. It automatically provides you with personalized responses.
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Responding to happy customer reviews maintains the relationship with them and improves the brand image. More and more companies are now aware of this and are investing in managing these returns. That being said, finding the time to do it is sometimes difficult. For this reason, you may want to postpone the task. Avoid taking a little too much time, however.
48 hours is the time limit to respond to new customer reviews. Indeed, reactivity is just as important as the response. The latter shows that you pay attention to the experience and feelings of your customers. Perception can change if you are slow to respond. So to maintain customer satisfaction, be responsive!
In addition, recent reviews are highlighted on the web. Most Internet users will see them and think about reading them before making a purchase decision.
Reactivity is even more important if you have a negative review. A negative review can indeed go viral on the Web and your establishment may be subject to a bad buzz. A phenomenon that will be even more difficult to manage and whose repercussions are enormous. You might as well respond directly to the review and give an explanation that will be published for all to see.
You can request the removal of a fake review from the platform on which it is published. However, the processing takes several days. Also, it is also advisable to provide a response and clearly explain that the author was mistaken or trying to harm your establishment. Indeed, by the time it is removed, the publication will be seen and read by Internet users. The response will help you preserve your e-reputation.
It must be structured and courteous even if the review is false. The goal being to show your professionalism and protect your establishment.
During busy periods, responding to all customer reviews proves complex. Some merchants choose to process a part of them in this case. The question is then whether to go back to the reviews that have not been answered several months before.
The answer is YES. Indeed, prospects pay attention. In this regard, you should respond to all negative reviews published on your profile, regardless of the date of publication. These old comments are among the most consulted feedbacks and your answers are therefore of utmost importance. You can go back up to one year for positive comments, but not more.
Good organization is necessary to avoid accumulating unanswered reviews. Nothing beats an immediate response in the eyes of prospects and customers. If you don't have enough time, you can use solutions like SoLike. This is an intelligent assistant that responds to your customer reviews by itself. SoLike can respond to all customer reviews, positive or negative, and handles 24 languages. It uses artificial intelligence that allows it to understand the content of the review and the sentiment of the author.
Response rate is the ratio of the number of reviews you receive to the number of responses you leave. At 50%, you are responding to half of the reviews on your profile. A 100% rate is better, it means that all of your customers got a response to their feedback.
But why is it important to respond to these online comments? And above all, how can you save time and simplify this time-consuming and tedious task? SoLike explains it all and offers you the solution.
Customer reviews are the new word of mouth in the digital age. Customers now support and recommend brands by leaving a positive review. They want to challenge the merchant and warn other consumers by writing a negative review. Online reviews are therefore a sales lever, just as they can be an obstacle to purchase. For this reason, they deserve your full attention. They need to be addressed and here are the reasons why.
Dealing with customer reviews is an integral part of customer relationship management tasks today. You need to respond to these reviews as much as you do to complaints and queries received via email or social networks. However, you should not limit yourself to negative reviews. You must respond to all comments received, positive or negative.
The response shows that you pay attention to your customers' experience and that you are listening to them. It is an act of recognition for the time they have dedicated to writing the review. Your intervention will be perceived positively and builds trust among consumers. It proves your commitment to developing a relationship based on listening and transparency.
E-reputation refers to the perception of your establishment by Internet users. It is based on several elements, including customer reviews as well as the responses you leave. A study commissioned by Trustpilot, indicates that 81% of consumers read reviews before a purchase. This figure shows the importance of online reviews and their role in a purchase decision.
Responses are just as important; they give you a positive brand image. To do this, they must be carefully written and show professionalism even in the face of negative reviews. It is thus recommended to always answer with kindness, with the right words, and with an appropriate attitude. Getting carried away or insulting a customer are actions to be avoided, whatever the content of the comment left.
Google has a list of criteria that it considers when ranking search results. The average rating you get from customer reviews is one of them. A high rating on your Google My Business listing thus gives you access to a better position. To increase it, you already need to collect more positive reviews. The responses will help you to do this. Customers will appreciate your gesture and will be happy to share their feelings on future visits.
Reviews and your responses will also be displayed in search results. Including the name of your establishment, location or a keyword related to your business will help you be listed.
Customer review management sometimes takes a back seat due to the lack of time and resources. However, the impact it has on your e-reputation, sales, and turnover makes this task indispensable. It is even vital for your company. Fortunately, there are solutions to simplify it and save time.
Accumulating customer reviews over several days makes the job complex. It is better to give them a few minutes every day rather than waiting for two or three days. In addition, the quality of responses might decrease if you have to process several reviews at the same time. Some people are even tempted to copy and paste. However, it is necessary to personalize the responses if you want to maintain a positive brand image.
Feel free to create response templates based on situations you often face, positive or negative. The idea is to design a library of responses with all possible answers. Just pick one and adjust it when you process your customer reviews. (More details on how to build the library below)
You also have the option of using a solution that offers personalized responses to customer reviews. Using artificial intelligence, it understands the content of your reviews and recognizes the author's feelings. After analyzing the review, it automatically generates three responses that you can customize before publishing.
SoLike has a library of 11 billion different responses. So you can be sure to get a variety of responses for your reviews. Moreover, it handles 24 languages including French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, etc.
An answer generator like SoLike is designed to help your in-house staff and save them time. However, you may want to offload the tasks of managing customer reviews from your team. In that case, SoLike can take over (Serenity option).
Our team will process your customers' feedback for you, positive or negative. The management is done on a daily basis to limit the impact of possible negative comments on your brand image. We also warn you about very negative reviews.
The above-mentioned solutions will help you improve your response rate to reviews and take care of their quality while saving time. They guarantee the efficiency of your team on a daily basis and a better customer relationship.
Customer reviews are a real growth lever for a company. Reflecting their satisfaction, they will help you convince and attract new prospects. However, it is not enough to collect them, it is also important to answer them.
The answer must be written with care, avoiding copy and paste. By taking the time to structure your responses to customer reviews, they can bring you many advantages. They are beneficial for both the visibility and the notoriety of your establishment.
Leaving a review on Google or on sites like TripAdvisor represents a natural behavior among customers today. It must be the same for brands when it comes to responding to these reviews. Indeed, publishing feedback online is now an integral part of the customer journey. And as a marketer, you need to be there until the end of the buying cycle.
Responding to a customer review shows that you care about their experience and enhances your relationship with them. The task may seem time-consuming and tedious, but the benefits are numerous. Responses allow you to both retain existing customers and attract new ones. They effectively convey a positive brand image, that of a company that cares about its customers. Finally, they represent additional content in the eyes of search engines that you can use to optimize your SEO.
Although the activity takes time, our advice is to deal with all your reviews, positive and negative. Some companies make the mistake of only responding to negative reviews to reassure dissatisfied customers. However, it is essential to maintain the relationship with even satisfied visitors to encourage them to return.
The response is a sign of recognition on your part that customers will appreciate. They took the time to write a review, your response allows you to thank them. However, the multiplication of feedbacks can encourage you to copy and paste, which should be avoided. Personalizing the response is essential for several reasons.
A personalized response shows that you really take into account your customers' feelings. You prove that they are unique, not just another consumer. This gesture generates trust and proximity.
There are different ways to personalize responses to customer reviews. For example, start by using the author's first or last name for the greeting. You can also use the content of their review in your response. If one of your employees or your team is mentioned, don't hesitate to mention them.
A personalized response gives you the opportunity to highlight the strengths of your brand. Some of your offers may not be known by your customers. This is your opportunity to promote them. You can use your response to promote customer benefits such as promotional offers or a loyalty program.
Responses to customer reviews are considered as content in their own right and will be analyzed by search engines. They allow you to display your establishment in the results pages. To do so, you will have to insert keywords related to your activity and your location.
Brand image is now associated with customer reviews and the responses you leave. A well-written, personalized response guarantees you a good reputation. On the other hand, poorly structured sentences can lower your reputation.
Sometimes, however, time is short and responses are written quickly. In this case, the risk is to make spelling and syntax mistakes. The rush also sometimes leads to writing a response that does not even correspond to the contents of the notice. To avoid these disappointments, it is highly recommended to use customer review response templates.
A template is a file containing templates for your customer review responses. You need to create it yourself, write the response sentences, and then make them available to different users. To do this, you have the shared storage solutions. You can secure them and select the people who will be able to access them.
Answer templates have a practical advantage above all. They will save you time since you only need to customize the templates and publish the response. They also save you from spelling mistakes and typos. In this case, you need to check each sentence thoroughly before offering the file to your team.
Besides the convenience, a response library helps you preserve your e-reputation. This is because you will have structured responses that do not contain any mistakes. In addition, these templates allow you to standardize your approaches. This is especially true for hotel and restaurant chains as well as for professionals with multiple brands. The team will use the same tone in the responses and can each participate in the management of customer feedback.
Your template will also serve employees who fail to respond to reviews because they don't know how to do so. They will have a guide to act effectively. In a nutshell, a review response template solves the lack of time or confidence that sometimes prevents you from handling reviews. It gives you the ability to handle all your reviews, positive or negative, with the agility you need.
There are a few simple steps to creating a review response template:
1/ Set your company tone (You, you, smiley, signature...)
2/ List the topics most often mentioned by your customers
3/ Write 20 responses per topic (10 positive and 10 negative feelings)
4/ Create 3 columns in Excel: Subject / Sentiment / Sentence
5/ And if you're really hot, do the exercise again for each important language
Personalization is an important step since it is necessary to adapt the answer to each interlocutor. You can isolate the fields to be personalized by using brackets. It is also recommended to compose your answers with relevant content that reassures the prospects who will read them. Adding keywords related to your business is also crucial for SEO.
How long ago it seems, the time when a restaurant was never empty thanks to word of mouth and gastronomic guides. The reputation of an establishment is made and unmade on the web. Social networks (Facebook reviews, Twitter, Instagram, Google, booking, TripAdvisor, the Yellow Pages, the Petit Futé, the Fourchette ...) all these websites collect reviews, ultra-valuable. Today, they have become a primary source of information when choosing a hotel. It is, therefore, imperative for hoteliers and restaurateurs to have an impeccable e-reputation. An optimal rating is a guarantee of being complete. On the other hand, negative comments or a bad rating is the certainty to see the number of reservations drop dramatically and see the establishment depopulate day after day.
All the e-reputation specialists say it over and over again! It is absolutely necessary to respond to the reviews posted on the various existing platforms. Be careful not to make the mistake that most hotels and restaurants make: only respond to negative reviews. To ensure an optimal e-reputation, you must not only respond to negative reviews, but also take the time to respond to positive (and neutral) reviews.
It is crucial to devote the necessary resources to responding to reviews because it will allow you to:
- Improve your SEO. And yes, responding to reviews improves your natural SEO. You will be able to gain some precious places in the ranking of Google or TripAdvisor search results.
- Create a positive image of your local business and your team. By taking the time to answer a comment, your customer will feel listened to, valued. He will be sensitive to this attention from you and will come back.
- Develop a community around your restaurant. You are friendly, responsive and attentive. Internet users will want to follow you and visit you.
Responding to a customer review is not as obvious as one might imagine. In order to respond effectively and appropriately to a review left by a customer, a few basic rules must be respected:
- A response within 24 hours is imperative. It is important to respond as quickly as possible. By answering late to an Internet user, he will have the impression of not being taken into account, which will generate disappointment. He may not come back.
- Thank you! Do you like polite customers? Internet users like courteous hotel and restaurant owners. When the customer's opinion is positive, you must thank him. It will make them feel valued.
- Professionalism. This is where it all comes down. You must remain professional in your response. Even if you think the comment is unfair, unjust, you must show professionalism by responding to the comment in a courteous and well-argued manner. Remember that spelling and grammar must be impeccable in your responses.
Negative reviews do happen and even with the best service in the world, you will receive them. The best attitude to adopt is to respond with professionalism while remaining factual. Staying professional and factual will allow you to respond effectively. This way, you avoid debates that can quickly degenerate and create a catastrophic situation (especially on social networks). Even if the comment hurts your feelings, stay calm. Be cool to avoid responding in a nasty way. This attitude will be counterproductive, even harmful for your image.
One last solution is to drown the negative comment under an avalanche of positive comments. This is very simple to implement. You just have to ask your customers via a tool to post their opinion after their visit. This little trick allows you to easily generate a maximum of positive comments and improve your position on sites like Tripadvisor. This approach will also allow you to involve your employees around a common objective: the excellent reputation of your establishment. Responding to comments, positive or negative, is time consuming. Many companies have specialized in this niche and offer quality services that will help you optimize your e-reputation.
If you only respond to reviews, it is a mistake. Only unhappy customers have the right to a response? Satisfied and loyal customers do not have the right to a response?
Responding to ALL your reviews is essential because it impacts your turnover.
Moreover, you can use these responses to place commercial messages.
Between 2016 and 2017, Google had the highest growth in the number of reviews and generated more reviews than TripAdvisor in 2017 (source: Customer Alliance Study).
This web giant is therefore a key player to consider when managing your e-reputation.
Unlike Booking and Tripadvisor, Google asks its users to rate only the place with the option to add a comment.
The reviews posted on this site are generally short and very direct without the usual polite formulas. To respond to Google reviews, you will need a Google MyBusiness account and respond to either excellent or negative reviews.
At SoLike, we believe responding to these reviews in the same tone and form is important.
Indeed, it would seem out of place, even ridiculous to use polite formulas such as "My team and I thank you for your comment on our establishment" or "We look forward to seeing you again.
We therefore advise you to use short and direct formulas, as your answers will be addressed to a young clientele looking for immediate and relevant answers.
It is important to note that since the beginning of 2018, Google also displays the comments posted on Tripadvisor and Booking, but not the responses of hoteliers or restaurateurs made on these media... It therefore appears all the more necessary to write a response directly to Google reviews so that they appear.
The average age of people posting on Tripadvisor is generally higher than that of people posting on Google.
They are customers who travel often and take the time to write more detailed reviews.
On TripAdvisor, it will therefore be appropriate to write more constructed responses in several steps:
1/ Introduction: Dear Customer, Dear Carine, Dear Sir
2/ Acknowledgement: Always thank the customer who took the time to write a review about you " We thank you for taking the time to give us your opinion about our hotel "
3/ Recall your strengths: A large majority of reviews mix positive and negative comments.
First, you can confirm the positive point raised by your client by adding some of your strengths.
Example: "You are right, our bedding is very comfortable, we make it a point of honour to ensure that our customers sleep well in our establishment, "Our regular customers also appreciate the privileged location of our establishment near public transport".
4/ Responding to negative comments: This is the most delicate point to deal with.
The priority will be to make the customer understand that the inconvenience encountered is an exceptional event that cannot be repeated.
This will only work if the problem in question is indeed a one-off event that does not correspond to a recurring problem to which you do not provide a definitive solution (unpleasant odor in the rooms, damaged furniture, unpleasant staff, etc.).
Indeed, the repetition of negative comments on the same point by different customers will suggest that you do not really care about the opinions by providing solutions.
5/ Conclusion: Depending on the response, it is wise to invite customers to come back and make their reservation directly with you during their next visit in order to show them your interest and your involvement.
Relatively few reviews are posted on TripAdvisor compared to Google and Booking.
Therefore, it is important to write comprehensive responses that will be viewed for years to come.
We have written a complete article on how to manager reviews on TripAdvisor.
Facebook is the only platform that allows customers to respond to your response. It is therefore essential to comment on the reviews left by your customers in a variety of ways. Some business owners may think that this is a waste of time, especially when faced with rude or unpleasant comments.
However, it should be noted that an aggressive response on your part is enough to degrade your image in a lasting way.
We have noticed that the ratings left by customers are, on average, higher on Facebook than on other platforms. Indeed, it seems that Facebook is perceived more as a support platform than a venting platform.
However, if your reviews are very negative and you can't control them, you'll still have the option to stop posting reviews.
Booking encourages customers to post both positive and negative reviews. They post the negative review first. Booking reviews are shorter than TripAdvisor reviews, but longer than Google reviews. These reviews and your responses significantly influence the conversion of hotels on this site. You have the advantage of tracing the customer who posted the review and identifying the room allocated. You can answer in the same way as on TripAdvisor, but slightly shorter. Indeed, the multitude of reviews on this platform encourages customers to browse the answers quickly. Try to limit the polite phrases and focus on recalling your strengths and de-dramatizing the negative point(s).
This site generates few reviews, but its reviews are visible on all the company's sites (Expedia, Orbitz, Ebookers, Venere...).
Your answers will be all the more important since Expedia's customers often generate a higher average shopping basket than its competitors. All you have to do is access the Expedia extranet to respond to the reviews on all the company's sites. The response format should be similar to TripAdvisor
TheFork encourages its customers to post reviews. Reviews come from real customers who are likely to return. Feel free to thank your customers and encourage them to book directly over the phone next time. These reviews and your responses have an important influence on table bookings on this platform. You can respond in a friendly manner by reminding them that your establishment offers great value for money (LaFourchette customers love a good deal).
Yelp generate very few reviews, but it regularly appear in the search results of companies. We advise you to create an account on each platform to be informed of new reviews. Your responses will be even more important as these sites display your establishment's ratings on the first few pages of the search result.
Conclusion: When writing a response to a customer review, think about the hundreds of potential future customers who will read your response, not just the one customer you are responding to.
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