Review Management 101 for Moving Companies

No matter what business you talk about, managing your reputation is of the utmost importance. Whether it’s a single food truck, a bustling, busy restaurant, or a large corporate office, every business has a public face, and consistent upkeep is necessary.

You have the most trusted moving company in your area. Whether it’s across town or the state, your moving company will do everything in its power to deliver the client’s belongings safely and efficiently. However, competition is still stiff, and other moving companies may have a digital step on you.

If you fail to upkeep your online image, you will surely miss out on sales to your competition. Online review management is the name of the strategy used to keep a polished and efficient online image. You may think it’s odd that a moving company relies on online Review Management for marketing success, but customer’s opinions on services stretch far past restaurants and hotels these days.

Research suggests that 93% of consumers have their purchasing decisions impacted by online reviews. With the difference between landing a sale and online reviews being razor-thin, controlling the narrative of your business honestly and efficiently is detrimental to your digital marketing strategy.

You put in a tremendous amount of effort to deliver the best moving services around. However, it’s going to take even more effort to maintain a positive online presence. Digital commerce is complex at times, but once you implement the right strategies and manage your reputation online will show to be very useful.

Better yet, starting your online review management is as easy as reading through this article. Welcome to review management 101!

What is Review Management?

Before you implement online review management, let’s take a look at some basics as to what it is.

Let’s say you haven’t really paid attention to online promotion, so your web presence is little to non-existent. Even if you haven’t engaged the internet world in the form of your business, previous customers may have already voiced their opinions online. Customers can utilize third-party platforms like Google My Business, Yelp, and Facebook to leave reviews for just about any business – whether you have an account or not!

If you’re not keeping track of reviews about your moving company online, your credibility in the eye of the customers will suffer.

Here’s how online review management affects your business:

Trustworthiness: Moving is a long, arduous, and expensive process. When a potential customer needs the assistance of a moving company, they need to know they’re getting a trusted service. Reviews left by previous customers will prove your trustworthiness to potential customers.
Credibility: The higher overall reviews you receive online will give a great amount of credibility for anyone who’s trying to find a trusted moving service.
Awareness: The more positive reviews you have online, the more Google’s algorithms will pick up, boosting your rank in relevant searches.

In addition to keeping a positive reputation, online review management is vital for your moving company website’s search engine optimization (SEO). Google’s algorithms use a website’s content to properly judge its legitimacy. Reviews count as content in the eyes of the algorithms, so the more reviews you have on your business, the better!

How Does Review Management Work?

Now that you know the basic ins and outs of online review management, let’s take a look at the ways to truly utilize it. The first step is to receive reviews. You wish every satisfied customer you serviced would hop online and leave a glowing review for you, but it’s not always that simple. Even if customers are satisfied, it doesn’t mean they will care to share their experience.

However, there are ways to encourage more customers to leave a review.

Generating Online Reviews

As mentioned earlier, reviews=content and Google craves content. When trying to generate more reviews for your moving company’s website, try implementing these strategies:

Create an easy-to-use review widget on your website.
Create a page solely dedicated to reviews.
Send a personalized review request to previous customers.
Use a direct line of communication like email or social to encourage customers to leave reviews on multiple sights.
Offer incentives for reviews like coupons or discounts on future services.

Once you implement these strategies, you will surely see an uptick in reviews left on your website or other third-party platforms in no time!

Monitoring Online Reviews

Once you have more reviews rolling in, the next step is keeping an eye on them. It’s best to check for new reviews daily or weekly at the very least. Take advantage of online review monitoring tools like Google alerts to keep track of new reviews.

Additionally, professional Review Management Software can provide 24/7 monitoring, allowing you to respond to reviews immediately.

Responding to Online Reviews

When you start to monitor the reviews about your moving company, you will eventually come across an unflattering review. Yes, you should respond to positive reviews by showing gratitude and giving thanks, but what about negative reviews? While your first instinct would be to aggressively defend your business, formulating a proper response to negative reviews is the most effective way to go about it.

Even with great service, some people aren’t happy with the experience. It could be impossible to satisfy a customer, but their negative review doesn’t have to stay that way!

Here’s how to properly respond to a negative review:

Thank them for their feedback.
Apologize for their negative experience.
Offer to speak on a more personal form of communication like a phone call or an email and hash out grievances there instead.
Advocate for a solution and don’t make excuses.

Responding to negative reviews might be the most delicate process when it comes to online review management, but ultimately necessary to maintain a good public image.

Get Professional Review Management With Triton Commerce

Need assistance with online review management for your website? Call on Triton Commerce! Our marketing experts are highly trained in web design and other digital marketing strategies like online review management.