Small businesses are recognizing the value of online reviews, but some are still very hesitant about reviews. Some of this resistance may be that they don’t know how to best navigate managing feedback online. Small-business expert Rieva Lesonsky recently authored a story for MSN’s Business on Main about how small businesses should play the reviews game.
One of her tips is to “spend some time on each site to see what it offers.” In her article, she highlights the unique approach to reviews from RatePoint.
Many small businesses don’t participate because many review sites don’t provide a voice for the SMB. At RatePoint, we developed our unique approach so the SMB had a voice and the end result is better for the consumer and the business.
Rieva also notes that negative reviews should be addressed immediately, a view shared by her expert sources in the story, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing and Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media.
We are excited to see others in the SMB community share this view. Through our dispute resolution process, small businesses have the opportunity to immediately address any negative feedback and attempt to resolve it so they can keep the consumer as a long-term customer.
Rieva Lesonsky and RatePoint co-founder and CEO Neal Creighton will cover this topic more in-depth at the America’s Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC) Annual Conference next month. The session, The Power of Local Marketing and Reviews, will talk about how SMBs can use tools like reviews to grow their business.
