Responding to reviews
A reply is read by every customer who comes after. It is one of the cheapest improvements available to a local business.
Why replies matter
The review is for the person who wrote it. The reply is for everybody else who is deciding. A thoughtful answer to a complaint can do more for a business than an extra star.
Good replies to good reviews
Thank them, and add one specific detail from the job so it does not read as a template. Short beats long: two sentences that sound like a person are better than a paragraph that sounds like a policy.
Handling a bad one
Answer quickly, stay factual, do not argue, and take the detail offline with a phone number. Never dispute the customer's experience in public, even when you believe they are wrong. If a review breaches policy, we report it, but most are simply answered well.
The routine
Every new review gets a reply, drafted and posted, and older unanswered reviews get worked through in the first month. It is a small monthly habit that compounds in exactly the place customers are looking.
Why the reply matters more than the rating
A four star review with a thoughtful reply often reads better than a five star review with nothing beside it. The next customer is looking for evidence that you pay attention, and the reply is where that evidence lives.
That is also why we reply to the good ones with real detail rather than a template. It is read as information.
A workable routine for a busy owner
You do not need to write them. We draft every reply, post it, and flag anything sensitive for your approval before it goes up. In the first month we also work back through the reviews that never got an answer.
By Eddie Roman, Founder, R Squared. Eddie owns R Squared and works on every account himself, with 20+ years in marketing for local businesses. More about Eddie.
What it costs, and the next step
Starting at $199/mo
Reputation Management is run by one small team, with the HighLevel CRM included and no long lock-in. If this is the piece you need, it can be added to the Reputation Management work on its own.
Common questions
Should I delete a bad review?
You cannot delete somebody else's review, and asking them to remove an honest one is usually worse than answering it. Google removes reviews that breach its policies, and that is the only route we use.
Who writes the replies?
We draft and post them in your voice, and you can review anything sensitive before it goes up.
Related
- Reputation Management · the service this guide sits under
- Review Generation
Every guide is written for the reputation management work. See pricing or the case studies for what it produces in practice.