Google Reviews In The Eyes Of Clients. Negative And Positive Google Maps Reviews

Sometimes you may wonder if it’s even worth asking clients to give reviews on Google My Business, i.e. on your Google business card. Maybe you belief that only good things are said about your company and it doesn’t need to be published anywhere, and that bragging is a bad thing (as the reproductive “education” system in Poland taught us).

However, ratings matter, both for users browsing Google Maps and for clients who are checking whether it makes sense to visit your website at all. They check whether most of them are 5 stars, what clients post about service, product or delivery, and verify whether you respond to negative feedback.

Google business card reviews – why to obtain them?

First – Google business card reviews are a great resource for both Internet users and businesses. Prospective consumers reading reviews can make sure that they can trust a certain company because someone else has already done it. And if they already had a good attitude towards that company before – they also succumb to the confirmation effect in this way.

Not just positive reviews – Google My Business card as a test for your brand

Through reviews, clients can verify how a company handles difficult situations, how it responds to negative comments, and what clients usually complain about. Meanwhile, a brand that analyzes such reviews can learn from them – to understand consumer expectations accurately and make appropriate changes (unless it doesn’t care about improving the standards reflected in the company’s Google profile).

What’s more, engaging in communication with clients, showing them that their opinions matter, helps build customer loyalty and a strong brand image. Clients whose issue was positively resolved after they left a negative comment are much more eager to become loyal brand representatives than those with whom the purchase process was successful.

How to talk to dissatisfied clients who have left a review on Google Maps?

One of the most difficult aspects of review management is responding to complaints from dissatisfied clients. The most important aim in this case should be to help solve the customer’s problem. It is also worth remembering that your response will be read by potential clients. Therefore, when you respond, stay calm – remain calm first and foremost.

Your response to feedback should be as thoughtful as possible. Start by thanking them for the review and apologizing for the situation. Refer to the complaints about your company, and then assure them that steps have been taken to make sure the situation does not happen again, or that the customer’s issue is being resolved. You can also offer to contact them by e-mail or phone.

Should you remove reviews of your company on Google? How about responding in a business card?

You will gain much more by responding to a review about your business than by leaving it unanswered. Prospective users reviewing your Google My Business profile will appreciate that you take an individual approach to each client and your Google business card is not just for show, but also serves to communicate with the client.

Providing reviews isn’t just for your business card. Where to add Google reviews? 

Many websites add customer reviews “pulled” from Google. This is definitely a valid practice, as recommendations on the site function on the principle of social proof. It’s the recommendations that can convince clients when they are hesitant to actually use your offer, so they should be part of your content marketing strategy.

You can include customer reviews (Google reviews) on your website in two ways. The first is to ask a few clients for longer recommendations and post them on the site along with the client’s name. If you sell a product or service to businesses, it’s best if the review includes the company logo and the position of an individual posting the review. This will further reassure the viewer that it is not a fake Google review (a fake review on Google, which can be removed if the algorithm has caught – or someone has sent a report – violating Google’s rules).

The second way is a widget that presents reviews obtained from a review site (such a solution is offered by our app, for example). This ensures that the reviews come from a reliable place that any Internet user can verify. If this is the case and you have a large number of reviews about your company in Google Maps (in your Google My Business profile) – preferably positive reviews in Google, but also the number of negative reviews in the panel should not be too small – this will strengthen the credibility of your site and your company’s positioning in Google Maps.

Buy Google reviews? Fake reviews on Google My Business

The quality of reviews depends largely on the amount of text and (often) the photo added to it. Google’s algorithm is getting better at dealing with reports of rule violations, i.e. reviews on Google that were bought and posted by fake accounts.

However, sometimes it is the case that the competition, using ratings – not from 1 to 5 stars, but only those with one, the weakest, negative Google reviews – wants to make your company in Google search results exposed to ridicule. This can be noticed when many reviews suddenly appear in a short period of time. Such actions can also be reported to Google Support, and – if the whole process is verified – there will be an opportunity to remove reviews (remove negative reviews).