5 Different Ways You Can Respond to Good Reviews

Most business owners nowadays realize the importance of having good reviews. You must deliver outstanding service and go above and beyond to deliver a customer experience that will warrant an amazing review from your customer. No matter what happens after you do get a review--whether it's good or bad--it’s very important to respond to the review.

Reviews help boost your customer loyalty. If a person is taking time out of their day to write you a review, then they are either happy with the services that your business provided or they had a bad experience that should be addressed. 

Who's Reading Online Reviews?

The search engines can see every single word of the review. Even better, the search engine algorithms that read the reviews are now artificially intelligent. Not only can they see the words of the review, but they can also interpret them.

Potential customers are also reading your reviews--especially your negative reviews. They are trying to see if you’re a reputable company: one that they would want to do business with. In a recent survey that was done, 84 percent trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. 

In fact, 90 percent of people will first check out what others are saying about a business before making the decision to move further. Over the last ten years, reviews have started becoming an even more common part of consumers purchasing decisions. The average person roughly spends around 13 minutes reading reviews before making the final decision. 

How to ask for reviews

Did you know that seventy percent of consumers will leave a review if you just ask them to. But how do you go about doing this? Do you just bluntly ask them to write you a review on the service that was provided?  The short answer is yes. We recommend that you ask your happiest customers to write you a review on one of the top three platforms (Facebook, Google, Yelp). Don’t always pick just one, though. You need to make sure your reviews are balanced between the three. You don’t want to have all your reviews on one platform and none on the others.

Responding to good reviews

The top 3 platforms, Yelp, Facebook and Google allow business owners to respond to their reviews. Most business owners understand that it’s important to respond to bad reviews, but did you know that it’s just as important to respond to your good reviews? It is.

A simple thank you for their review is the bare minimum that any business owner should do. But since everything is marketing, great reviews deserve a unique communication for your customer’s appreciation. 

While it’s fantastic to thank a customer for their nice review, it’s far better to write them a little note of appreciation. There are many ways you can do this. 

Examples of a Response

1. You can thank them for the review and offer compliments on their wording and tell them they're a great writer. Something like “Hi (Customer name), thank you so much for your kind review. We appreciate it. Your review was so well written that I read it out loud to my team. You made our day.”

2. You can thank them for the nice review and talk a little bit about the services that you did for them. Something like “Hey (Customer name), thank you so much for your nice review, it was truly a pleasure to help you cure your back pain.”

3. You can thank them for their nice review and make them a special offer. Something like “Hey (Customer name), thank you so much for your very well written and kind review. Because you were so kind as to write us a nice review, I would like to offer you 20% off your next service.”

4. You can thank them for their kind review and make them aware of some other services that you provide that they may not be aware of. Something like “thank you so much for your kind review, we really appreciate it. We were so happy that we were able to fix your laptop after you spilled wine on it. Just to let you know, we also make house calls. If you ever need anything right away, we're happy to send one of our technicians out to your home.”

5. You can thank them for their kind review and elaborate on the purchase that they made. Something like: “Hey (Customer name), thank you so much for your beautifully written review. We appreciate you buying all your wedding flowers from us. Make sure to keep them in a cool and moist place until the day of the wedding.”

Of course, you can simply just say thank you. But why pass up the opportunity to build upon the relationship with your customer? Clearly, they are happy with your service or they wouldn't have written you a nice review. You can make them a customer for life by continuing your outstanding customer service after the purchase has been made, and they have already been made happy.

The bottom line is this: make sure to respond to your good reviews as it can often lead to more business not just with the reviewer but with potential customers. It's never a waste of time to nurture a relationship with your customer.