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This article is the fourth in our series dedicated to ensuring your business understands the local customer journey. Reading all articles in this series, you can develop a healthy understanding of the local customer journey, how it impacts the marketing tools you purchase, and how to maximize the customer cycle to achieve business alignment. 

Specifically, this article will discuss the reputation stage of the customer journey. This third stage focuses on your online image.  

What Is Reputation?

In this context, online reputation refers to what customers think of your business and how they discuss it online. 

Imagine the following scenario: A customer who knows your business exists, is looking for your products or services, and finds you online. If they use many search engines, like Google or Yelp, they’ll see reviews of your business. If they see a slew of five-star reviews, they will likely do business with you.

As such, you must understand that reviews are critical to a customer’s sales journey. You must do whatever you can to ensure satisfied customers leave good reviews. 

How Can You Increase Your Reputation Among Customers?

Online reviews and reputation are among the best sales tools you can have. When used properly, online reviews can boost sales and convince more customers to do business with you. As such, you should engage in the following behaviors.

Actively Solicit Reviews

Every business should engage in a series of steps to get them more five-star reviews. Examples of specific tactics include reaching out to prospective reviewers before they review a website, having them contact you before making a post, and ensuring that these reviews are easily publicized. If you have satisfied customers, you should ask them to leave positive reviews.

Respond to Reviews – Positive or Negative

By responding to reviews, you can incentivize people to leave good ones while also addressing any concerns brought up by negative ones. Responding to reviews is almost always good: It shows customers you value their opinions and care about their satisfaction.

Monitor for Reviews

Monitoring for reviews is critical. After all, there are many websites — including Google, Yelp, Facebook, and more — where customers can leave reviews. Your challenge will be to track this information, which can be impossible without the right technology.

What Tools Do You Need to Increase Reputation? 

Increasing your reputation is all about using the right tools and understanding where your customers spend their time. First, you need to ensure you have the following:

  1. The right technological tools — so you can track customer sentiment and determine what customers are saying about you
  2. A formal process in which you respond to reviews and address any concerns mentioned
  3. Appropriate business incentives for individuals who leave positive reviews
  4. A process in which you encourage individuals to leave reviews

As you can see, increasing your online reputation is not just about asking nicely. It involves creating multiple business processes and using the right tech tools to track customers’ opinions. At EZtransition, we can help build a formal process that enables you to engage in this process. Book a 30-minute call today and learn how our all-in-one marketing platform can help you respond to customer reviews, seek positive reviews, and achieve business growth.