How to Handle Bad Online Reviews for Your Small Business

How to Handle Bad Online Reviews for Your Small Business
Gmail Opens Decrease by 18 Percent, Jury Out on Tabs
Benefits of CRM Software and How to Choose a Platform
GoDaddy Acquires Locu, Boosts Small Biz Digital Presence
How Far Is Too Far: 5 Lessons From Retail Stores On Technology

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 04:00 PM PDT

A good reputation is vital to the success of a small business. Today, with so many customers researching businesses online before they decide where to buy, a bad online review on sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, Foursquare, Google Places, and even your own social media pages can do some serious damage to your reputation. In some cases, these bad online reviews can end up on the first page of results when people search for your business.

How should you respond if your reputation comes under fire and you receive a bad online review?

The tips below will help you perform damage control the right way, and even turn negative experiences into a positive influence for your small business. But first, let’s take a look at what you should not do because there are steps you can take in response to a bad online review that will only make things worse.

What Not To Do When You Receive a Bad Online Review

Deny the Problem Exists

When a customer has a complaint, insisting that they're wrong in a public forum is a big mistake. Even if you're convinced that the problem was on their end, you should acknowledge the issue.

Argue with the Reviewer

It's only natural to feel hurt or angry when someone posts negative criticism about your business. But responding in anger could cripple your reputation permanently because information stays on the Internet forever. In other words, never do this.

Game the System

Some business owners, faced with multiple negative reviews, have paid people to write positive reviews and counter the impact. This is not only a bad idea, but also comes with the very likely possibility that you'll get caught. Some consumer review sites, like Yelp, have systems in place to warn readers of suspected paid reviews.

Do Nothing

While a few negative comments are obviously the work of people who just like to say nasty things, for the most part, ignoring bad reviews in the hopes they'll go away is a poor strategy. It sends a message that your business doesn't care when people have negative experiences.

What To Do When You Receive a Bad Online Review

In order to take action against negative online reviews, you have to be aware of any that exist.

It's important to monitor your social media pages and respond to concerns there. But you should also check out major consumer review sites like Yelp to see what people are saying about your small business. The simplest way to do this is to set up a Google Alert for your business name. You can also use a free tracking tool like Social Mention to keep up with online reviews.

If you find any less-than-stellar reviews:

Take an Objective Look

If the review or comment is obviously not serious, or if the poster is using anger and abusive language, your best option is probably to ignore it. If possible, have it removed. Most consumer review sites offer a way to flag or report reviews that violate their terms of service.

Respond with Tact

When addressing a negative review, keep it professional. Passive-aggressive or sarcastic comments will only fuel the flames. You can choose to respond privately (useful when you disagree with a reviewer's take on a situation) or publicly, which helps to demonstrate to other readers that you're addressing the problem.

Apologize and Ask for Input

Most often, the best response to an upset customer is to say you're sorry without qualifying the apology to redirect the blame toward the reviewer's feelings. Admit that a mistake was made, and ask what you can do to resolve the situation.

Most importantly, keep it consistent. When you actively respond to negative online feedback about your small business, other potential customers can see that you're engaged and that you care about your customers.

With a consistent response policy, you can turn a bad online review into a positive outlook for your business.

Dislike Photo via Shutterstock

The post How to Handle Bad Online Reviews for Your Small Business appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Gmail Opens Decrease by 18 Percent, Jury Out on Tabs

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 01:30 PM PDT

gmail tabs unread

You can understand why small business owners and other email marketers get worried about email opens. After all, if a person never opens your email, they never see your great offer. No open, no sale.

And you can definitely see why these same people freaked out when Gmail introduced a new tab format to its inbox. Essentially, promotional emails were placed in a completely different tab or archived immediately, perhaps not to be read until much later.

So, it’s no surprise that conclusions could be drawn when an email analytics firm like Litmus says it has seen an 18 percent decrease in Gmail opens in the last three months.

No Rush to Judgement

But wait. There are a few things to remember before making any assumptions.

First, only about 7.75 percent of this decrease happened since May 29 when the new tabs were introduced.

Second, only about 19 percent of Gmails are actually opened in a Gmail account. Other users may open Gmail in Outlook, Apple Mail or mobile devices which may or may not support tabs, said Litmus marketing director Justine Jordan.

Add to that the fact that Gmail opens have fluctuated a bit in the past, from as low as 2.9 percent to as high as 5 percent. Though the trend has generally been upward, this could simply be another fluctuation.

As low as those numbers sound, opens can still be an excellent opportunity to build a customer relationship or make a sale.

The Size of Your Gmail Customer Base

In the end, Jordan observes, remember that Gmail opens only represent about 4 percent of total email opens and less than 41 percent of those occur in an account that supports tabs.

So, while there are certainly steps you can take in your email marketing strategy to compensate for the new tab fo, you may want to ask yourself how many Gmail customers you really have on your list.

For more analysis, see Jordan’s full video below.

Image: Wikipedia/Google

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Benefits of CRM Software and How to Choose a Platform

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 11:00 AM PDT

benefits of crm

Forming and maintaining relationships with customers is one of the most important aspects of any business. Without positive relationships, it's hard to thrive in any industry and long-term success can be jeopardized. That's why it's so advantageous to implement a customer relationship management (CRM) system into your operations.

Let's discuss the basics of how this technology works, the benefits of CRM and some guidelines for choosing a CRM platform.

Function

The primary purpose of CRM software is to streamline all major areas of customer interactions. This can include managing contacts, setting appointments, monitoring a marketing campaign, handling customer service, and numerous other tasks.

CRM software makes use of a dashboard, analytics and reporting tools to provide business owners with an all-encompassing vantage point of operations. By spotting patterns and identifying trends, this puts you more in control of customer engagement so your business can run more efficiently.

With that being said, there are some major benefits of utilizing CRM software.

Task Tracking

Meeting deadlines is very important in today's business world. By inputting information like scheduled appointments and important tasks, it takes the guesswork out of project completion. Many platforms also allow this data to be synced with a calendar to keep you informed of upcoming tasks and deadlines.

For instance, if you have a sales call scheduled with a valuable lead, CRM software would send you an email in advance so you remember to make the call. Whenever a customer has an upcoming birthday, you or a sales rep would be notified so you promptly send out birthday wishes. Consequently, you can make customers feel more valued and build deeper relationships.

This way you can juggle all of your tasks while ensuring that each customer gets the attention they need and nothing is forgotten.

Sales Rep Management

If you have assembled a team of sales reps, it's important to keep tabs on their progress and know just how effective they are at nurturing leads and closing sales. Using this type of software will provide a firsthand look into each team member's sales statistics, including information like average lead contact time, task completion time and conversion rate. This way you can reward the top performers and coach individuals who need some extra help.

Over time, your sales department should operate like a well oiled machine where sales are maximized.

Increased Organization

When dealing with hundreds or even thousands of customers, it's easy to become disorganized and overwhelmed. Fortunately, the right CRM software makes it simple and intuitive to keep customer information organized and retrievable. By maintaining a contact list, it gives you quick access to a wealth of information like customer email, telephone, buying history and birthday.

Performing a search will provide an overview of this information so you can extract what you need without the hassle of searching through paper folders or using other outdated techniques. Since many platforms incorporate metadata, you can search via broad terms instead of highly specific ones.

This is beneficial because you can find the customer you need by entering general keywords instead of a specified term.

More Selling Opportunities

As information on customers accumulates, it's common for more opportunities to present themselves. For example, keeping track of a particular customer's buying patterns would make it clear what they are most interested in.

When launching a new product that's similar, you could make it a point to contact that customer and let them know. Consequently, this makes it possible to increase sales without having to constantly advertise to new customers.

By capitalizing on an existing customer base, you can get more repeat sales while keeping customers happy.

Improved Social Media Marketing

Another feature that most platforms offer is the ability to integrate with social media networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. This can have major advantages because it allows businesses to track all aspects of their social media campaign. For example, business owners can identify which networks are resulting in the most traffic, what followers are saying about their brand and the overall customer experience. As trends emerge, adjustments can be made so you get the most from your efforts and boost your brand's presence across the Web.

Now that we know the benefits of CRM software, let's talk about how to find the ideal product for your business.

Determine Individual Needs

Prior to checking out any products, it's important to have a clear idea of what you are trying to achieve. According to Michael Krigsman, CEO of Asuret:

You need to get a package that’s tailored to your company’s size. At the most basic level you have simple contact management. Then you have contact management with a shared database. You can have sales tracking or opportunity tracking or customer service functionality. Match the capabilities of the software with what your business goals are.

After identifying specific needs, it should be easier to choose a suitable software platform.

Scalability

Besides immediate needs, it's important to consider long-term needs and take future growth into account. That's why software that's adequately scalable is so critical. Ideally, a platform will be Cloud-based to accommodate increased data storage and more contacts as they are acquired. It will also have the option to conveniently purchase upgrades as needed.

Otherwise, getting locked into a lengthy contract with a vendor with limited scalability can be detrimental to your efforts.

Integration with Existing Platforms

One issue that businesses run into is when the CRM they choose isn't compatible with programs like Outlook, Microsoft Excel and Quickbooks. If you already have some form of an existing infrastructure for monitoring customer interactions, it's smart to find software that can be integrated with relative ease. This should reduce your learning curve and help you put the software to use quickly.

Otherwise, the integration process can be arduous.

Mobile Capabilities

In the modern business world, mobile devices like smartphones and tablets have become the norm for many businesses. They make it possible to complete tasks and stay up to date on projects regardless of location. If your business uses any type of mobile technology, it's necessary to look for CRM software that can be accessed on these devices.

This should help all team members boost their productivity and get things done on the road.

Support System

Even if you're tech savvy, it's not always easy to figure out all of the components and features of a CRM platform. Consequently, a comprehensive support system with easy access to technicians can save you from a lot of headaches during the transition and afterward. This might include phone support, online chat and email correspondence to resolve issues.

While 9 to 5 support is helpful during the regular hours of the workweek, it's best to have 24/7 support in case of an emergency at an odd time of day.

Stability

Finally, the vendor you choose should have a positive reputation for providing a quality product and professional service. This should reduce the possibility of having to jump ship and find another CRM software provider in the future. Generally speaking, the longer they have been in business, the better.

Reading some reviews and/or contacting a few references should give you a good idea of a vendor's reputability.

CRM Photo via Shutterstock

The post Benefits of CRM Software and How to Choose a Platform appeared first on Small Business Trends.

GoDaddy Acquires Locu, Boosts Small Biz Digital Presence

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 08:00 AM PDT

locu

Small businesses seeking to establish and maintain a digital presence continue to face challenges. While customers expect to find you on both Web and mobile and on a variety of social sites, updating this information can be time consuming.

Hosting and registrar giant GoDaddy is attempting to offer one solution with announced acquisition of San Francisco-based Locu this week. Exact financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

More About Locu

Locu says it helps more than 30,000 restaurants, spas, salons, accountants, photographers, home-remodeling companies and other small businesses to “get found” digitally.

Essentially the company offers its clients a digital shortcut to update information like menus and other details about their businesses across many sites. The company boasts partnerships with sites like Yelp, YP.com, Foursquare, TripAdvisor and Facebook.

Locu allows its clients to update their business information in a single place and then publishes those changes across multiple Web platforms. The company even lets you send out Twitter and Facebook updates right from its dashboard to let your customers know about the changes. Get a glimpse of Locu in action by watching the video below.

How Locu Fits In

GoDaddy has already integrated Locu into its Website Builder tool. And Locu allows clients to link their accounts to their main websites and mobile pages for updating. So the idea here seems to be for GoDaddy to provide a seamless way for small businesses to update their business information on Web, mobile and a variety of social and other sites all at once.

“Last year’s acquisition of Outright.com (accounting and bookkeeping application for SMB businesses) indicated that GoDaddy wants to provide more than domain registration and hosting to small businesses,” said Vedran Tomic, president of Local Ants LLC, a local Internet marketing company. “Acquisition of Locu confirms that GoDaddy has big plans for the small business market, spanning beyond accounting solutions,”

Image: Loco

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How Far Is Too Far: 5 Lessons From Retail Stores On Technology

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 05:00 AM PDT

retail technology

If you're like me, you appreciate it when employees go out of their way to help you. Whether you're shopping for clothes or looking for groceries, it's always nice to know that someone is there to help. But there's always that customer service representative that goes too far – you know, that floor person who's really nice but needs to leave you alone.

In today's hyper-competitive market, major retailers and small businesses alike are going out of their way to enhance the customer experience.

But how far is too far?

Nordstrom has recently come under fire after the revelation that the company was using wifi signals from smartphones to track customers' movements in the store. Sound creepy? That's not even the worst part. Although Nordstrom's experiment was only to keep track of customer volume (and stopped in May after customer complaints), other businesses have taken it much further.

Aside from simply tracking customers' movements within the store, some businesses are able to collect incredible amounts of data. For instance, the store could collect information from your phone that reveals your sex, where you are standing and for how long, and whether or not you eventually make a purchase.

While the use of technology was designed to enhance the consumer experience, it left some people asking, "Where are the boundaries?"

While all businesses can take advantage of the benefits technology has to offer, how do we balance that fine line between good business and going over the top?

By keeping these 5 lessons in mind, we will ensure that we're a big help to customers, not their Big Brother.

Retail Technology Lessons

Know Your Boundaries

Coupled with cameras already monitoring the store's perimeters, retail store's data gathering struck a minor chord with shoppers. Small business owners need to understand where that "invisible line" exists and avoid crossing or toeing over it.

Whether it's how often you send out email newsletters or your in-store policies, it's always important to respect your customers and their privacy.

Experiment First

Nordstrom's wifi method was an information gathering experiment. Instead of implementing a tested or proven method of improving customer service, a controversial method of gathering information was set in play.

Nordstrom did respond well though, halting the experiment when customer's complained.

Be Aware of the National Discussion

Even if your business stays away from political happenings, it's always important to be aware of the national dialogue. With so many news stories about NSA programs and wiretapping, the nationwide sentiment against information collection has been hostile.

By being aware of the larger conversation, you can avoid falling into potential pitfalls.

Be Transparent

One of the reasons customers were anxious about Nordstrom's wifi data collection is because they weren't sure what data was gathered and how the data was going to be used. Likewise, if your business collects email addresses or key pieces of information, let consumers know what they're signing up for.

Whether it's a newsletter or monthly coupons, you should always be as transparent as possible with your customers.

Be Prepared to Answer Questions

Having an answer prepared for the most frequently asked questions that customers have about your business will help dispel any anxiety or concern.

While your business might not be investing in research efforts as technical as Nordstrom's, or as creepy as other retailers, it's important to keep these tips in mind as you seek to improve your customer service.

Remember, you want to be a big help to consumers – not Big Brother.

Nordstrom Photo via Shutterstock

The post How Far Is Too Far: 5 Lessons From Retail Stores On Technology appeared first on Small Business Trends.

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