When implemented correctly, an online reviews monitoring service can truly benefit your business. What’s key about that sentence, though, is the term “implemented correctly” because when implemented incorrectly, an online review monitoring company can drain your company finances while providing subpar service, even worse, they can destroy your company reputation completely.
What Does an Online Reviews Monitoring Service Do?
Hiring a reputable service to monitor online reviews of your company means hiring a company that actively monitors mentions and reviews of your company online (specifically on review websites like YELP! and Google Business). They also reply to these comments and reviews when necessary, request removal of inappropriate comments and reviews, and generally curate your company presence to stay actively engaged with clients. It’s crucial that while doing these duties, however, that the company you hire is courteous and personable and that they abide by rules, regulations, and most importantly, the law!
How You’re Probably Getting Ripped Off By Your Online Reviews Monitoring Service
There are many professional tools that companies can use to provide you with the services above, but they all have one thing in common – they are useless without a necessary human element. Yes, a tool can flag a review below five stars to signal that it needs attention, a tool can even submit a form letter to request removal of a review, but without actual human attention, these tools are minimally effective at best.
Imagine being a disgruntled customer of a business and posting a negative review of that business because of your poor experience only to have that review replied to with a form letter. It’s worse than receiving no reply at all and it certainly won’t win back any clients!
And while we’re on the topic of the “human factor”, it turns out that online reviews monitoring service companies are only as good as the people that they hire…who’d have thought! So, even if a company isn’t ripping you off by leaving out the “human factor”, they may still be ripping you off by putting that human element of customer care in the hands of the wrong person.
Why Is This a Problem?
One question that we’re frequently asked by clients who have had this type of experience with other companies is “why is this a problem”? They want to know at what point customer service skills became so poor. After all, shouldn’t a company that provides customer relation services have customer service skills and know-how to professionally interact with customers on a regular basis?
We believe that a lot of the reason that companies try to get away with this lack of personability when it comes to serving customers is our increasing reliance on technology. Don’t get us wrong, technology is an incredible asset, but the generations who are just now joining the virtual service workforce tend to be so tech-centered that they lack the personal interaction skills that were so necessary for brick and mortar businesses. These days “there’s an app for that” and unfortunately, that has become an excuse for overreliance on technology and the decline of interpersonal skills.
Are All Online Reviews Monitoring Services Ripping You Off?
Of course not! There are many great businesses out there that can help you to convey just how important your customers are to your business while also promoting a positive portrayal of your business online. And, yes, many of those businesses are run by “tech generation kids”! But there are also far too many businesses out there that fall into less desirable categories, so it’s important that you fully research any company that you are considering putting in charge of your online business reputation.
Making Sure You Hire a Reputable Online Presence Management Company
As Florida’s top online presence management company, here at OPM, we know a thing or two about what it means to provide good review management services. So what do we suggest that you look for?
- Look for companies that aren’t afraid to meet with you face to face to discuss your business needs.
- Ask for client references and a portfolio of work and actually look into those resources to see just how personable their approach is to customer care.
- Find out more about the people who work for the company – Are they personable? Do they have a background in customer service or any type of service industry? This certainly isn’t necessary, but it does mean that they have experience in dealing with customer interaction.
Online Review Management in Tampa
Online Presence Manager is the top review management company in Tampa, Florida and if you live in or around the area, we would be happy to have you join our family of clients. We can help you to monitor online reviews of your company, to respond to client reviews in a positive way that promotes healthy business-client relationships, and most importantly, we can help you to learn more about your clients so that you can grow your business based on reliable customer research.
If you are interested in learning more about how we can help you to project a healthy business image online and grow your business presence and consumer base, give us a call today at 727-475-6460.
