- \n
- How satisfied customers are with your products and services, before, during, and after a purchase<\/li>\n
- Your customer service and customer experience<\/li>\n
- The mission, vision, and value of the company<\/li>\n
- The way your leaders and employees conduct themselves<\/li>\n
- Your brand\u2019s social and environmental responsibility<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Your customers and others will share what they think about your brand online, through reviews, social media, and more, and this shapes your brand reputation. When your brand\u2019s reputation is favorable, customers trust you, feel confident about what you have to offer, and take pride in their purchases. They\u2019ll also remain loyal to your brand and feel good about telling their friends about you.<\/p>\n
Why is brand reputation management so important?<\/h2>\n
![\"how](\"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-often-companis-monitor-reputation.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nSource<\/a><\/p>\n
Here are the main reasons why brand reputation management is vital:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Having a strong, positive brand reputation increases the likelihood that consumers trust you. This will make it easier for you to acquire new customers. According to BrightLocal, positive reviews \u201cmake 73% of customers<\/a> trust a local business more,\u201d and nearly half of consumers won\u2019t use a business unless it has at least a four-star review. Consumer trust is also the catalyst behind the other advantages of positive brand reputation below.<\/li>\n
- Customers are willing to pay more for products from brands with a solid reputation. The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) reports that consumers care more about a business\u2019 reputation<\/a> than they care about a product\u2019s features, and that brands with a reputation advantage over their competition can successfully sell their products or services for 9% more.<\/li>\n
- Customers are more likely to remain loyal to a brand<\/a> with a solid reputation.<\/li>\n
- A positive reputation helps boost sales. A study from Clutch showed that the greatest achievement for\u00a0 companies with an active reputation management plan was a growth in sales by at least 25%. Also, independent restaurants whose Yelp reviews improved by one star experienced a revenue increase of 5-9%<\/a>, according to a Harvard Business School study.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
When you have a positive reputation, and your customers trust you highly as a result, they\u2019re more confident in recommending you to their friends. After all, their social currency \u2013 their own reputation \u2013 is at stake whenever they recommend a brand to their friends, so they\u2019ll only recommend reliable brands. And the vote of confidence that comes with their referral will pay dividends for your business. Referred leads are more likely to become your customers than leads who aren\u2019t referred, and they have a higher lifetime value on average.<\/p>\n
Of course, the negative is true as well.<\/p>\n
When people are unhappy with how a brand handles things, and it builds up a negative reputation, word will spread quickly and people will want to stay far away.<\/p>\n
This happened to Uber in early 2017 when they chose not to join the taxi workers\u2019 one-hour strike protesting the U.S. president\u2019s ban on Muslims entering the country. Instead, Uber turned off their \u201csurge pricing,\u201d which looked like they were taking advantage of the protest to increase their bottom line. This led to many former Uber customers requesting to delete their accounts with the business, and #deleteUber became a trending topic on Twitter. Uber lost an estimated 200,000 customers<\/a>,\u00a0and thus experienced decreased revenue.<\/p>\n
But things got even worse when customers found out that Uber did not actually delete the accounts, leading to even more complaints.\u00a0 As a result, Uber had to roll out a feature that let customers delete their own accounts at will.<\/p>\n
Clearly, this incident eliminated the trust that many people previously put in Uber, enough for them to vote with their feet. And Uber\u2019s biggest competitor, Lyft, claims that its revenue per user grew significantly<\/a>\u00a0thanks to #deleteUber.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let a reputation fallout like this happen to you, as you\u2019ll lose existing customers and have trouble acquiring new ones.<\/p>\n
What is involved in determining the reputation of a brand?<\/h2>\n
The main actions from the public that directly impact brand reputation are:<\/p>\n
Reviews are an integral part of any company’s reputation management strategy<\/h3>\n
When people decide whether to purchase a product or service, they consult the opinions of other people who have done business with you before. Thanks to the internet, loads of those opinions are at people\u2019s fingertips, on review sites. And reviews are a major factor in purchasing decisions, as these statistics show:<\/p>\n
- \n
- 85% of consumers trust online reviews <\/a>as much as direct recommendations from friends and family.<\/li>\n
- 86% of all consumers read online reviews<\/a> \u2013 and the number rises to 95% among younger consumers (age 18-35).<\/li>\n
- 68% of consumers are motivated to check out a business through positive reviews, while 40% are turned off by negative reviews.<\/li>\n
- Most customers won\u2019t visit a business unless it has a rating of over three stars.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
As you can see, positive reviews are vital, but one negative review can break down your reputation quickly \u2013 especially if it\u2019s on one of the more prominent review sites, like Yelp or Google Reviews.<\/p>\n
Mentions<\/h3>\n
\u201cMentions\u201d encompasses everything people are saying about your brand online, not just reviews. This includes social media posts, comments, blogs, and even news articles\u2014wherever someone name-drops your brand on the web. Mentions with a wide reach, such as by news outlets or social media users who have a large following, have the greatest impact. Watch out for negative media coverage, as well as \u201chate\u201d sites that try to frame your brand as a scam\u2026 they can cause your reputation to sink. And don\u2019t visit the sites with the negativity often, as this will only boost their credibility.<\/p>\n
6 important steps for managing your brand’s reputation<\/h2>\n
Even though your brand reputation is impacted by what others say about you, the power is not completely out of your hands. What steps can your brand take to manage your reputation? Here are six:<\/p>\n
Step 1: Ask for reviews<\/h3>\n
Proactively ask customers to leave reviews<\/a> of you when you know they\u2019re happiest (and thus most likely to leave a stellar review.) This will usually be shortly after they purchase a product or service, especially if it\u2019s a repeat purchase, or after you know you\u2019ve delivered a top-notch customer experience. However, you should indirectly ask for reviews from all of your customers, by leaving links to your review pages in your emails and on your website.<\/p>\n
Step 2: Respond to reviews<\/h3>\n
Respond to all of your reviews, both positive and negative. Thank your customers personally for leaving awesome reviews, because they\u2019re so vital to the success of your business!<\/p>\n
- 86% of all consumers read online reviews<\/a> \u2013 and the number rises to 95% among younger consumers (age 18-35).<\/li>\n
- Customers are willing to pay more for products from brands with a solid reputation. The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) reports that consumers care more about a business\u2019 reputation<\/a> than they care about a product\u2019s features, and that brands with a reputation advantage over their competition can successfully sell their products or services for 9% more.<\/li>\n
- Having a strong, positive brand reputation increases the likelihood that consumers trust you. This will make it easier for you to acquire new customers. According to BrightLocal, positive reviews \u201cmake 73% of customers<\/a> trust a local business more,\u201d and nearly half of consumers won\u2019t use a business unless it has at least a four-star review. Consumer trust is also the catalyst behind the other advantages of positive brand reputation below.<\/li>\n