Battlefield Sports Blog
Nowadays comments and reviews on social media are just a tap away. With so many review sites, blogs, and socials it is easy for your customers to give you feedback.
Happy customers can be your brand champions. Cranky customers are more likely to vent online. But a disgruntled former employee or a competitor with a vendetta can derail your online business reputation.
Good customer reviews—on Google, Yelp, Facebook, TripAdvisor, or wherever are powerful social proof. Peer recommendations indicate good value to your prospective customers. So it is important to acknowledge them.
Roger Yu, from USA Today, says, "While it may be tempting for small-business owners to shrug off a few lousy reviews, industry research shows benign neglect of a company's online reputation could quickly hurt sales — especially given the new normal behavior of customers consulting their smartphones for even the smallest of purchases.”Put a poster at your registration desk with a QR code that takes customers to a landing spot for their reviews.
If you send out a follow-up email or text message after an event include an invitation for your customers to review their experience.
Or if someone has made a booking with your Battlefield Business then afterwards, send them a follow-up email thanking them for their booking. In this message include a request asking them for a review. The review link should point them to the exact place you want them to leave their online review. Don't give them too many links, just choose one such as Facebook and Google Maps. I would recommend Google Maps because if the customer checks in to your venue while they are on Facebook, Facebook can ask you whether or not you would recommend the place.
You've worked hard on your business to get where it is today. So if a customer gives you negative feedback it is hard.
But if you issue a kneejerk reaction online that comment can amplify the negativity.
A Welsh caravan park owner's reaction made the news after replying to a negative TripAdvisor review in the character of a Nazi SS Guard. Someone known online as but2n22018 complained about the holiday park. The guest compared the site to a concentration camp and said it felt like they were 'constantly being watched by a warden'. The park's owner John Brooksaw replied, in German, "[our] concentration camp... is one of the best in North Wales" and also referred to his staff as "armed guards with bad dogs.”
The review and Brookshaw's response have been deleted from the TripAdvisor website, but not before a backlash from the Jewish community.
Try as you might, you can't please all the people all of the time.
Here's how to deal with a bad review:
Fake reviews, unfortunately, have been part of the online world.
We got a 2-star review this year on our Facebook page. The reviewer said:
"Absolute c**p. I can’t believe I was banned from melee attacks. Nowhere does it say I can’t use them in combat. Won’t be coming back. Very unhappy."
My reply:For fake reviews, you can ask Google or Facebook to flag it as inappropriate. Stay on top of your reviews, always flag and report fake reviews, and have a review policy in place. (Mind you, in my experience, these social media giants never respond.)
Don’t let spammers and trolls get the best of you with fake reviews. If you do get a couple of fake reviews, double down on your best efforts to encourage your real customers to give you authentic feedback.
Encourage your customers to post about their positive experiences, just like Elise did.
The 5-star reviewer said:
"We loved our Laser Tag party. The easiest party I have done for a group of 15 children. They had so much fun, I highly recommend it!"
And we replied:
Including authentic reviews on your website can help boost your online credibility.
If you can screen-snap the review and include it as an image this can be more valuable.
More valuable than you simply including a typed sentence from one of your customers (But if this is all you have, then of course include it!)
The review here from Google Business Profile is a good example.
The reviewer is acknowledged as a "Local Guide" by Google. She has a profile photo and has offered at least 9 reviews and included 61 photos. All this gives the review more authority.
If one of your customers does take the time to review your business, it is only fair that you acknowledge their feedback - good, bad, or ugly!
Let us know how you have handled the good, the bad, and the ugly reviews. How have you handled them?
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