Blog

Even insurance agents and companies have to think about online reviews these days. Consumers talk about and evaluate everything they buy online—and they may be talking about you, too. Whether positive or negative, a single review can have a huge impact in whether or not prospects decide to work with you. And reviews are becoming increasingly more prevalent in search results as well—so your online reviews are often the first thing people see, well before the link to your website, when they search for you.

This can be scary, because you have no control over what people say in their online reviews. However, you can make the reviews work in your favor—even when they’re negative. Here are a few ideas.

Know how visible you are. Are people already talking about you? Go on sites such as Yelp, Google+, AgentReview.net, and other sites to see if anyone has already mentioned you. In some cases, you can set up your own business page on these sites so people can have an opportunity to leave reviews. This has the added benefit of giving you an SEO boost.

Respond to all feedback—especially the negative. If you do a search for yourself and find some negative feedback, don’t panic. Respond immediately in a gracious, proactive way, offer an apology, and present some solutions or offer to get in touch to resolve the situation. This will work in your favor—not only will it help mend fences with the customer leaving the review, it will also show others reading that you care about customer service and will address their concerns quickly if they have them, as well. It can do a lot to engender trust.

Ask for and encourage online reviews. Even if online reviews make many business owners nervous, it’s best to encourage them—having an online track record of success builds credibility and trust. Encourage your customers to leave reviews by leaving a link to your Yelp profile in your email signature or communications, publishing or mailing cards with instructions on leaving reviews, and even asking for them specifically in your marketing and face to face. A large influx of new reviews will help bury any older negative reviews you have, as well as keeping your profile current.

Use your positive reviews to best effect. You can highlight your positive reviews by repurposing them on your website, LinkedIn page, company newsletter, Facebook presence, and a diverse array of other places. You can also build enthusiasm among your employees by sharing them internally. Positive online reviews are a powerful tool for self-promotion, and should be reused as much as possible.

Negative reviews aren’t necessarily the end of the world. If you respond well, you can actually make them work in your favor—and demonstrate how well you handle customer service issues.
Track your online reviews, respond quickly to address any issues, encourage your customers to leave reviews, and disseminate the positive ones far and wide—and you should be able to use them effectively to build your business.