MARKETING MATTERS

4 Online Review Tips

Managing your business’ online reputation is becoming increasingly important

how can you best manage the intricacies of your business’ online reputation? This task can feel daunting to any retailer, especially independents and small chains. Here are four targeted suggestions from eyecare professionals and online experts for effectively simplifying matters.

RESPOND TO GOOD & BAD

While it is crucial to address negative reviews, it is also important to foster the positivity proclaimed by a good review. “Our recommendation is to respond to both positive and negative reviews,” says Jamie Erhardt, account supervisor at the New York City-based EGC Group, which provides real-time online reputation tracking, review response, and social media management for eyewear chains. “We tell the stores we work with that consumers want to be heard and online reviews are definitely the avenue they are taking these days.”

Erhardt encourages stores to respond to reviews promptly, thanking customers who went out of their way to leave a positive response.

Kevin Cambra, franchise owner and operator of three California-based Site for Sore Eyes locations, notes that Yelp enables business owners to either leave a public message on their page in response to a review or send a private message to the user who left the comment.

“One thing that’s important to remember with the Internet is that if you leave a public response it lives there forever, so always be sure to conduct yourself in a professional way,” says Erhardt.

IMMEDIATELY ADDRESS NEGATIVE REVIEWS

According to Cambra, the most important thing is to respond as quickly as possible to negative reviews. When he receives a review, his protocol is to respond right away from his cell phone.

“I once received a negative review that I saw on my phone while I was sitting in the stands at my son’s baseball game in Southern California,” says Cambra.

Because he responded immediately, the customer called him and they resolved the issue right away on the phone—changing a one-star review to a five-star review on Yelp.

“Timing is very important because it shows the customer that, as the owner, you care and you are taking the time to resolve the problem immediately,” says Cambra. “I don’t always publish all the information publicly as we work it out, but I do publish a note showing the public that we are trying to resolve the issue as quickly as we possibly can.”

GET NOTIFIED

While it can be difficult for busy eyecare professionals to keep up with online reviews on top of everything else on their plate, there are some tools that can help.

“With Yelp, every business owner is able to set up a business site, and you can then respond to every review you get whether it is positive or negative,” says Cambra. “You also can set it up that you receive an email notification when any new review or comment hits your site.”

ASK FOR REVIEWS

ECPs can benefit from asking existing patients who have had a positive experience to write a positive review on the business’ Facebook or Yelp page.

“I am big on being proactive and asking patients to review me,” says Eric White, O.D., with Complete Family Vision Care in San Diego. “Positive reviews are a great way to grow a practice.”

— Erinn Morgan