Using Technology to Manage Your Brand’s Online Reputation

With over half of the world’s population currently using social media, it’s no wonder that almost all business owners deem online reputation management to be important. In this blog, we examine the effects that your online reputation has on your brand and how you can use technology to ensure you are keeping track of what is being said online.

The importance of monitoring online brand reputation

Research has shown that review interactions are up by 50% from pre-pandemic levels meaning that customers are turning to sites such as Trustpilot and Yelp now more than ever.

According to Trustpilot, 89% of consumers worldwide read reviews before purchasing a product.
52% of purchasing decisions are influenced by Facebook posts.
84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations

The ROI of a positive reputation

Numerous studies and research have shown that having a positive online reputation will positively affect your business in the form of customer retention, increased customer spend and reduced churn.

According to Podium’s ‘2021 Retail Review Trends’ report, 58% of customers are willing to pay more to do business with a company that has good reviews.
Customers spend up to 31% more with businesses that have excellent reviews.
Almost three-quarters of customers state that they trust a local business more if it has positive reviews.

The cost of a negative reputation

It is evident that having a positive online reputation will positively affect your business but, can the same be said for a negative reputation? Will a negative online reputation have a negative impact on your business outcomes?

Most definitely – let’s have a look at some of the damaging effects:

The majority of customers will avoid a brand that has bad online reviews – 50% of customers state that poor reviews make them question the reliability of the brand.
80% of customers have changed their minds about a recommended product after reading poor reviews.
94% of customers stated they would avoid a company after reading negative reviews.

So, how can you use technology to monitor your online reputation?

Social Listening

Social listening involves monitoring social media and review sites for mentions of your brand, providing you with an insight into how your customers truly think and feel about your offering.

Companies that rely solely on surveys for customer feedback are missing out on vital insights. As such, monitoring online conversations, combined with structured customer feedback, will provide a true indication of brand health.

36% of consumers are willing to share their customer service experiences online, whether positive or negative whereas less than 4% of customers actually inform a business if they have had a negative experience.
And bad news travels fast – following a negative experience, customers, on average, will tell 15 or more people whereas customers will only tell 6 or more people following a positive one.

Case Management

Having an effective case management system in place ensures that customer issues and queries are handled as quickly and efficiently as possible. Bringing social channels into your case management system will allow you to keep on top of these online conversations and manage your online reputation more effectively.

Responding to online complaints can increase brand advocacy by 25%.
56% of customers say a company’s response to a review changed their perspective on the business.
78% of customers who complain about an experience on Twitter expect the brand to respond within an hour.
79% of customers who share their complaints online stated that their complaints were ignored.

Social Advocacy

An added bonus is to direct your happy customers to advocate for your brand on social media. Ask the customers who give you really great feedback to share their feedback on review sites or their social media channels. This is a form of consumer-generated content that can really help your brand image and balance out the negative feedback that is organically posted online.

Almost 70% of consumers, when asked, will leave a review following a positive experience.
As many as 70% of online reviews come from post-transactional requests to customers prompting them to leave a review.

In short, monitor your online presence and let the results speak for themselves.