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12 ways to get more value from your 5-star reviews
You’ve done the hard work securing some great customer reviews. Now what?
It’s tempting to think that you’ve done the hard work and now you can put your feet up, and let the sales roll in. Surely customers will see your 5 star rating on Google (or Facebook) and start buying right away??
Nope, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, getting a load of five star reviews is only half the job. Now you’ve got to make sure that the right people see them at the right time in their buying journey.
There is. That’s by turbocharging your great reviews into new customer conversations.
Turbo Charge Your Reviews
A turbocharger takes the energy from your car’s exhaust to compress more air into the engine’s combustion change, creating more power, and more exhaust…a positive feedback loop. Your reviews can do exactly the same thing for your business. Sharing these reviews from current customers with prospective ones at just the right time in the buying cycle boosts confidence and trust, and ultimately sales, leading to more sales and eventually more reviews.
The ultimate goal of marketing is to win the hearts and minds of consumers. Consumers trust the word of friends and families over advertisements any day of the week. If you get great reviews online, this word-of-mouth “free” marketing messaging is a gold mine.
“92% of people will trust a recommendation from a peer, and 70% of people will trust a recommendation from someone they don’t even know.”
Nielsen Research
Here are 12 easy ways to use great reviews to generate even more business.
Our Top 12 Ways to Use Great Reviews
Take those great reviews and repurpose them into winning the hearts and minds of your customers.
1. Display Reviews on Your Website
We all know how important it is to display testimonials on your website. Testimonials give potential customers confidence you’re the right company to do business with. Instead of only using testimonials on your website, use your great reviews.
Great reviews should be visible on every page of your website, not just one. Rather than muddy the marketing waters, choose one review for each page. That’s easy when visitors are going from one page to another; they don’t feel bombarded with a string of reviews that become intrusive.
By using a different testimonial or review on one page at a time, it’s a subtle reminder to visitors that you are a great company to do business with. One testimonial or review per page is better than many testimonials on one page. It’s the frequency of great reviews that dives deep into the consumer’s subconscious mind.

2. Use Reviews as a Market Research Exercise
Feedback and market research is how you make sure what you offer is what consumers want and need. It can cost a fortune to employ a market research company and for most small businesses conducting a survey is just another job on an endless to-do list. Reviews and testimonials are an easy effective way to ensure your product and service offerings are hitting the mark.
Think of reviews as feedback as they give you insight into what you are doing well and what may need to change. For instance, should you get constant poor reviews about a particular product or service, this indicates a problem. These insights are vital to keeping your product and service offering fresh and relevant.

3. Use Reviews as Case Studies
When you get great reviews, it means you’ve done something right. You’ve made a difference in someone’s life, personally, professionally, or in business. By taking a great review, you can turn this into a case study as social proof that you offer solutions that work.
Consumers love case studies. It’s because they can then see what problems your solutions resolve or what opportunities your solutions provide. A case study is simply an analysis of a problem or an opportunity and how your products and services offered the right solution for that customer.
Consider every review as a potential case study as a great way to showcase what you do well.

4. Use Reviews in Your Marketing Material
Never let great reviews pass without considering how to use them in all your marketing efforts. Add the review or testimonial in brochures, sales sheets, along with other marketing collateral. Anytime you give out a brochure or sales sheet, you are reaffirming to potential customers, your products or services helped others with the same problems or opportunities they are seeking.
5. Print Reviews on Your Business Cards
When you include one of your top reviews on your business cards, it makes a lasting impression. According to Social Media Today, 88% of consumers trust online reviews and regard them as personal recommendations. Reviews give your business card an extra level of credibility. That means instead of tossing the business card in the trash, consumers will keep the card as they will see it as having more value.

6. Attach Reviews to Your Pricing Packages
You want consumers to see the value in your product and service offerings, not just the price. When you attach reviews to your pricing packages, you are essentially building trust and confidence that your pricing structure means value for money.


8. Use Reviews To Drive Conversions
Anytime you send out an email or have a lead magnet download on your website, use reviews to help consumers take action. All your Call to Action (CTAs) should include a short review to help drive conversions. If someone is sitting on the fence and not sure if they want to push the button, a great review near the CTA is what might get them over the line.
Ensure that you use a testimonial or review that’s relevant to the product, services, or download you wish to promote.
7. Showcase Reviews on Your Blog
Every time you write a blog, consider if you have a great review hidden away that is aligned with your blog title and content. By incorporating reviews and testimonials or even a mini case study, builds your credibility. Reviews and testimonials weaved into a blog article give social proof you are a great company to do business with.

9. Highlight Reviews Via Video
As promotional videos are becoming increasingly popular, why not use this as another opportunity to showcase why people are happy with your products and service offerings. Live video reviews are more engaging and resonate with potential customers.
Consumers relate to people giving live testimonials on video more than just in print. That’s because consumers can relate to a real person as opposed to words on a page or website.
Like written reviews, be sure to scatter video testimonials throughout the website – not just on a single page. Avoid using more than one on each page to keep up consumer interest.
10. Include Reviews in Your Email Communication
Never let an opportunity showcase your business, especially when it comes to email communications. Choose a favorite customer review and add it to your email signature.
Change them up from time to time, especially when sending out emails to your subscriber list. This is a gentle reminder that you are the right company to keep on doing business with.
Ensure that the testimonial message is aligned with your mass communication objective.

Check out the Google Marketing Kit which will help you create social ready posts using your Google Reviews…
11. Share Them on Social Media
Remember any time when preparing social media posts, include the great reviews and testimonials you’ve received. This is just another way to boost credibility. In addition to looking at the number of followers or likes your page has, consumers will naturally look at your reviews. Make sure any reviews are readable and prominent.
12. Reviews are a Great Morale Booster
Positive reviews are great for morale. There’s nothing having your people acknowledge with fantastic reviews. It helps them to work harder at getting even better reviews by delivering exceptional service.
In Conclusion
Using great reviews as a marketing strategy is vital to the continued success of any business. When customers are looking to finalize a purchase decision, it is often a great review to persuade them to push the purchase button.
Managing your reviews forms part of an overarching reputation management strategy. At Rethink Marketing, we understand the power reviews have on bringing credibility to your business. We also know the damage poor reviews can have. Contact us today to find out how best to manage your online reputation and turn every great review into a new customer magnet.

How to successfully responding to reviews
Consumers today have access to a world of information at their fingertips and often use reviews as a “trust barometer” before making a purchase decision. A bad review could be the difference between a consumer choosing another business over yours. Responding to reviews, both positive and negative, on your Google, Facebook or Trip Advisor accounts can send the right message to your target clients and even increase your customer base. Always remember to ensure that your response is always polite and professional regardless of the content of the customers review and if you can add value by highlighting other aspects of your business then you can turn the review into a great PR opportunity.
Responding to negative reviews
A negative review can hurt and its totally natural to feel upset. Your business is important to you. However, retaliating or responding with a negative comment is not the way to handle this situation. Responding in a timely manner and having a formula in mind when answering negative reviews will give you the right tools to move forward. The suggestion below can be used across the board but ensure your addressing the customers individual situation.
- Address them personally – Dear Adam not Dear Guest.
- Thank the customer for their feedback.
- Let them know you’re sorry it happened – “We apologise that our service didn’t match your expectations”
- Give them the details of who they can make further comments to. Attempt to take the issue offline and into the real world.
- Let them know you’d like the chance to make things right.
Figure 1: http://www.reviewtrackers.com/guides/examples-responding-reviews
Responding to Rating-Only Reviews (No Text)
Sometimes customers will click a star rating and not leave any comments. This is tricky to respond to but keep it brief. Simply provide your contact details and ask the reviewer to contact you privately to elaborate on their review.
Responding Quickly
Customers expect a swift response when they write a review. Assigning the duty of responding to one person and setting up alerts on each site ensures your reviews are handled quickly.
Responding to Positive Reviews
A positive review is an opportunity to showcase your business and inspire loyalty from your customer base. Great reviews are a powerful tool for attracting new customers. Crafting your timely response to a positive review is just as important as that of the negative review.
- Address them personally.
- Thank the customer for their feedback.
- Identify the specific things your customer liked and mention them in the response. “Others have commented on the amazing views from our rooftop restaurant.”
- Let them know you’ll pass on the feedback to those people mentioned. “I’ll let Mike know you loved his Chicken Parmigiana.”
- Tell them you’d love to see them again.
Responding to Reviews with Mixed Feedback
Many reviews contain constructive criticism and that is certainly not a bad thing. Neutral reviews should be handled by following the steps listed for both positive and negative reviews. Remember to reinforce the positive points and address any negative issues that have arisen.
Remember that online reviews can have a very real and measurable impact on your business growth. Responding to reviews, positive, negative or neutral, will ensure your putting the right image forward to the public. Your business and your reputation are important. You can improve the publics perception of your brand and shape your businesses future simply by responding to reviews in a timely manner and with the right formula.

Who’s driving the bus?
Every business you\’ve ever worked with or for has a primary driving force. It is this force that is driving the business forwards.
Often it is a reflection of the values their founders or leaders hold most dearly. This drive is the cultural lifeblood of everything they do, it becomes the norm, \”the way things are done here\” mantra that they live (and die) for.
At the sales-driven company, you\’ll see a massive focus on taking your product to market. It\’s their job to convince, persuade, cajole and eventually win you over to their way of thinking. If you\’ve worked for them, you\’ll hear chatter about \”the numbers\”, closing deals and not so much about the customer. This approach works…sometimes. It relies heavily on the influence skills of their sales team. Customers are often seen as the means to the end. Relationships are measured by what they get out of it.
The product-driven (or engineering-driven) firm focuses wholeheartedly on building the very best widget. Their internal dialogue is all around features, capabilities, specifications and performance of the said widget. There is a belief that bringing the best widget to market is the best road to success, and sometimes it is. For firms like Ericsson and perhaps even Google, they\’ll often build great solutions to problems that don\’t exist. Sometimes these will appear to outsiders as failures, but the breakthroughs they make, lay the foundations for future successes. Product-driven firms build amazing products, then look for a market for them. Their internal dialogue if often, focused on innovation, better ways of doing things and beating the competition to market with their brilliant new idea.
Marketing-driven firms often look the slickest. They are always \”on message\” presenting a story to the market that communicates the value they claim to offer. They are smart, focused on the offer, presenting a wafer-thin veneer of credibility to the market, often while their product people work furiously in the background trying to match the reality to the glossy brochure. Get beneath the surface (as an employee or customer), and things are not so pretty. Often these are the first who spend the most time talking about \”roadmaps\” with new features coming soon. These are the businesses you\’ll see looking for that one silver bullet, the magic Facebook hack, shiny new branding or just about anything that avoids having to do the hard work of creating value for their customers.
Market-Driven firms, however, are different. Their sole focus is on solving the problems that matter, to the people they exist for. They are continually seeking more insights into the issues facing their market and finding better and more efficient ways of solving these problems. They hear the market place, but perhaps, more importantly, are heard by the market place, and through their genuine engagement change the way they see the world. They\’ll do the hard work of building empathy into their business systems, such that they understand the hopes, dreams, frustrations and feelings of their customers. Being market-driven is hard work, but ultimately it lasts.
Choose your driver wisely, because ultimately they will decide where you\’re business goes.

We screwed up, here’s what we learned

TL;DR;
- We all screw up sometimes; don\’t miss the learning opportunity.
- Use it as an opportunity to figure out what happened
- Recognise that there are usually multiple causes
- Figure out where YOU went wrong, and fix it.
- Feedback is a gift, don\’t throw it away.
Failing is never fun, but it is only excruciating if you fail to learn from your mistakes.
Recently, we discovered that a project we had commenced for a new client had gone horribly off the rails. In our haste to meet a set of incompatible requirements we bypassed many of our processes and checks, we\’d ended up in a place which was a long way from our values. The situation was unrecoverable, and I was devastated.
So here are the three lessons we learned…
- It\’s never just one thing! As a keen reader of the disaster genre, I know that it is never only one thing that goes wrong. True disasters require a series of bad judgements, bad circumstances to accumulate before the \”bad \”luck\” can kick into gear. Trust your gut to pick up the early signs, and take action.\”
- Know your customer, and have the courage to say no, as soon as you realise that their expectations are incompatible to what you can deliver. Work harder to see the world through their eyes, and if their expectations are radically different from that, you know your business can achieve, make sure that it is clearly communicated.
- Recognise that your work is not for everyone. We all fall into the trap sometimes of thinking we can help everyone, all the time. It takes a special kind of empathy, to be able to say \”Here\’s the phone number of my competitor, I think they might be able to do a better job for you than I can\”
Don\’t let an opportunity like a failure to deliver on a customer\’s expectations go to waste. Complete a full audit of everything that went wrong (and right) leading up to the final outcome. Find the gaps in your systems, your marketing mistakes and sales slip-ups. When you\’ve identified all of the rot and branch causes, take action to fix them.

Does SEO still matter?
