Generating positive online reviews

By Jim Marshall, President of Bluefoot Digital Marketing

When nearly every business in Ohio was abruptly forced to alter or even close their operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it created significant challenges. In the midst of the chaos, the last thing most business owners expected to deal with was the number of users leaving negative reviews online, frustrated for various reasons out of the business owner’s control. For example, negative reviews were being left for businesses that did not update their Google listing as being closed even though they were closed, as required by law. Suddenly, businesses all over Ohio discovered that the reputation they had spent years building was being called into question.

I’m often asked by business owners how they can have a negative review removed. Although there are often valid reasons why a review should be removed—and there are things we can do to try to get one deleted—reviews typically cannot be removed.

Online reviews are becoming more important every day. They influence search rankings on Google, and they certainly influence consumers’ decisions. Because people are more likely to take time to leave a bad review than a good one, I advise clients to level the playing field by asking customers to leave a positive review. Most business owners don’t ask, and when they do, their customers simply don’t know how to do it.

Generating reviews is easier said than done. Most businesses are lucky to get a couple of reviews each year. That means one negative review can significantly damage their overall rating and take years to recover from. Google doesn’t make it easy to leave a review, which is why Mimi and I have spent years developing our new Review Generation tool. By automating the process and sending requests to your customers via email or SMS text messages, we make it easy for them to leave a positive review. We can even automatically feed reviews to your website.

The system requires little to no effort from the business owner, and plays a critical role in building your online reputation. If your business is struggling to manage reviews on your own, reach out to Mimi. We’ll be glad to help.

For more about Mimi’s Review Generation tools, please contact her offices at 330-220-8610 or email Mimi@MimiVanderhaven.com.