How to go beyond the good review with your customer relationship

By Kyle Michaud, best-selling author and owner of Carolina Bouteur .

Love 'em or hate 'em, online customer reviews can make or break your company's reputation. Review forums such as Yelp, Angi, or Google Reviews are the first steps in the decision-making process for modern consumers. Striving to cultivate good reviews and appease disgruntled customers on these websites is one of the business realities of the internet age.

But the company-customer relationship goes beyond the digital satisfaction guaranteed on review sites. Your customers are a valuable resource not only in terms of business revenue, but they also serve as arbiters of your business strengths and weaknesses. A bad online review requires careful and careful attention to repair or at least improve the business/customer relationship, but good reviews should also not be the end point of your business relationship with happy customers. Here are some simple ways to extend and strengthen your relationship with your customers.

Stay in touch.

Even if your business offers a product or service that people only use occasionally, like a roofing company, staying in touch with your customers is a good way to get referrals and referrals. In my opinion, the age of the postcard is behind us - people are more likely to be annoyed by spam email than telling their friends or family members about your upcoming sales or promotions. But a well-written monthly email newsletter sent to your client mailing list is a great way to keep your business top of mind for your old clients and get their referrals for new clients. If communication isn't your strength or a core ability of one of your employees, it's worth investing in the services of a PR or media firm to dial that in for you.

The newsletter should highlight your company's strengths or advantages in a subtle way, without appearing pushy or overtly self-congratulatory. For this reason, it's often a good idea to write about business trends and how your business is up to date with the latest practices or technologies. Profiles of your regular or particularly satisfied customers are also a great way to personalize the business/customer relationship: everyone likes to read about themselves, and potential new customers can often understand the problems your satisfied customer was facing before your company does not offer its products or services to solve them.

Respond to all reviews.

A negative review once in a while isn't always a bad thing: you can learn more about your business' weaknesses by dropping your defenses and talking to your dissatisfied customer in an unbiased way. Many online review sites post company responses to reviews, and potential customers can see the steps you've taken to turn a dissatisfied customer into a happy, or at least not angry, customer. No one expects people or businesses to be perfect all the time, but they do expect them to meet their customers' unique needs or situations. Admitting wrongdoing and apologizing profusely, or "putting yourself in front of the problem" in PR jargon, instead of being too defensive is always a good thing, and it shows that your company cares about its customers.

But beyond repairing the relationship with a customer who leaves a negative review, your business should also respond to all positive reviews. The first thing you need to do is to directly and clearly thank the customer for their positive review, without congratulating yourself too much, remain humble and serious. Then you can "request" the return, saying something like "we're glad you were happy with us!" Could you please tell your friends and family about us? Just as asking for the sale usually works, asking for the recommendation is also remarkably effective.

Use surveys to collect data.

A well-designed survey is a great way to get valuable insights into your customers, from their basic demographic information to more specific (but very valuable) information such as their brand preferences, shopping habits, and more. purchase and their plans for future investments or purchases. You can also ask about issues your customers are currently facing that your business might be able to solve. A good survey will allow your business to be predictive and...