It’s only natural to be excited about four- and five-star reviews when it comes to online Google reviews.

Additionally, there are specific strategies for handling unfavorable and fake reviews. But what about these mediocre reviews?

You can learn how to handle average reviews— the three-star reviews that are so confusing— by reading this article.

Why are Reviews Important To an Online Businesses

According to statistics, 90% of customers read reviews before going to a store. Both positive and negative reviews receive a lot of attention. We are aware that local businesses with at least a 4-star rating will be used by 92% of consumers. Surprisingly, 86 percent of people will be hesitant to work with businesses that have bad online reviews. You could lose 30 customers with just one bad review.

What about Google’s three-star reviews, though? It’s critical to handle them properly because they still have an impact.

Online reviews give readers an idea about the company. Customers can trust the company and the product thanks to it. Customers who write online reviews have nothing to gain from it. As a result, customers are more likely to believe reviews than their own recommendations.

Your online review management includes how you respond to reviews. Your brand awareness and reputation can be positively impacted by your response in the right way. Positive reviews are, after all, like free word-of-mouth advertising. You can use the reviews you get as a tool to enhance your goods or services. Finally, the response demonstrates to others your attention to detail and your customers’ experiences.

Naturally, you want as many positive reviews as you can for your company. Fortunately, the odd negative review is not a bad thing if you’re getting lots of positive reviews. More chances arise for you to develop and improve your customer service abilities. A satisfied, loyal customer is typically inspired to become one in the future by handling a negative review correctly.

But why should you never disregard 3-star rating?

The Issue With 3-Star Reviews

Receiving reviews with three stars has the problem of placing your customers in the middle. Some things appeal to them, while others offend them. This indicates that there is still time before they turn into devoted clients. Additionally, there’s still a chance that they’ll be drawn by your competitors.

Reading some reviews with three stars can be upsetting, especially when it is almost impossible to resolve the issue. Here are a few examples of three-star reviews of goods and services:

• product, but it fell short of my expectations.
• Good product, but it fell short of my expectations.
• Product or service was good but using it was difficult.

It is disappointing for a business owner when ratings are lowered due to complaints from dissatisfied customers. This is particularly so where the neutral review had no bearing on the quality of the product. Or, when a reviewer seems satisfied but chose 3 stars anyway .

Dealing with 3-Star Reviews

Responding to all reviews, both positive and negative, is the general rule for managing online reviews. Neutral three-star reviews might be more difficult to write and might even call for more originality. When responding to reviews with three stars, there is still a format you can adhere to.

Here are the five steps to responding to three-star Google reviews.

Thank the Customer

Thank the customer for their review as always. They have made an effort to give you feedback despite their busy schedules. You can enhance your product and service with any feedback, even if it is a neutral feedback. A simple “thank you” will make a neutral customer feel valued and important and you leave a good first impression on your company.

Step 1: The standard 3-star review response can start this way: “Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback. We value your opinions highly.

Focus on the Positive Aspects of the 3-star Review

Reiterate their three-star review’s positive points. This kind of response demonstrates to the customer and others that you are genuinely interested in what they have to say rather than just the star rating.

Step 2: You could respond by saying, “We’re pleased that you enjoyed,” for example.

Address the Issue

Even if it wasn’t your fault, a brief apology for their unpleasant experience can go resoundingly. If at all possible, provide a succinct explanation; it’s best to avoid blaming anyone else.

Step 3: “However, we were sorry to hear that you were disappointed in,” is the correct response.

Offer Solutions

You can offer to correct your mistakes. There might be things that can be resolved which is why they gave a lukewarm review, so offer our customer a solution.

Step 4: You can reply with something like: “We realize that [mention the issue] could be improved. I will personally give our [say, the appropriate department] this information.”

Finish on a Positive Note

Conclude your response in a positive manner. You can invite clients to contact your directly so that the issue can be investigated more thoroughly.

Step 5: You could respond to the three-star review by saying, “Your business means a lot to us.” Therefore, we would be grateful to hear from you if you have any additional comments. Contact us at [email or phone number] without hesitation. I appreciate it.

How to Deal with 3-Star Reviews

Dealing with three-star reviews is essential to boosting your online reputation. Readers will be positively influenced by your positive response even though they can read the 3-star review.

Here is an example response to three-star reviews:

Dear (Customer’s name)

We appreciate you taking the time to leave a review; it is greatly appreciated. That [product or service] met your expectations makes us happy. However, we were sorry to learn that using it was difficult for you. We would be happy to send you some links to our instructional videos that demonstrate how to use the product if you would like to email us. We’re hoping to see you soon again.

It’s best to call them by name if you know who they are. That is far superior to a generic “Dear Customer.” Do the same for your response and use your title and name. If the CEO or “Head of Customer Services” responds, a neutral customer will be impressed.

Although you can respond to three-star reviews using the templates above, personal touches are still essential. A customer leaving you a 3-star review is worse than an automated response.

It is essential to respond to unfavorable reviews. There are still many things you can from 3-star reviews. Additionally, handling three-star reviews properly may persuade customers to change their opinion. Your company could be significantly impacted by even one star raising their review.

Bottom Line

By following these steps, you can respond to 3-star reviews in a way that is both friendly and professional, while also providing original and authentic content for your blog. Remember to keep the focus on finding a solution to any issues raised, and always respond in a positive and helpful tone.

The post How to Deal with Google’s 3-Star Reviews appeared first on Creativ Digital.

Using a chatbot is like a tennis match. There is back and forth action and sometimes you hit, other times you miss. The good news is that chatbots are improving all the time.

There are 2 kinds of chatbots: simple and smart. Simple chatbots are programmed to work using pre-programmed text that they understand. This type of bot usually displays so users can respond in a linear fashion.

Smart chatbots are used to answer or to provide more detailed information. They rely on artificial intelligence (AI) to communicate with user. Unlike simple chatbots, the smart variety can understand trigger words and sentence structure. They will then provide answers based on the topic.

Sounds good on paper but the reality is, chatbots have high failure rates. Smart chatbots are prone to more mistakes because there is more room for error.

Best Use For Chatbots

Chatbots are most often used for customer service. According to 2018 State of Chatbots report, 35% of respondents said they would use a chatbot for resolving a complaints or problems or for getting detailed answers or explanations. In other words chatbots are used by people to get answers or help quickly.

For example, many of us have called customer service only to be put on hold for long periods of time. After waiting for hours, many of us are told to go to a specific page in their website which can resolve the issue. All of this can be resolved by using a chatbot.

A good starting point is to look at what your customers are looking for when they go to your website. For example, restaurant customers go to their website in order to book a table, find the menu, operating hours or delivery availability. For an online clothes shop, a chatbot can be used to check for stock availability or delivery options. Keeping chatbots simple and helpful will make customers thank you.

Online Shopping

Chatbots are also great at online shopping. Tell it your size, color preference and occasion and it will quickly find something for you. Additionally, chatbots can be programmed to remember customer preferences so they will be able to suggest something helpful the next time customers visit.

Answer Common FAQs

FAQs and chatbots are a bit tricky. Customers usually go to the FAQ page in order to find questions to their answers. However, not all customers are willing to scroll through the FAQ page in order to find their answers. This is where your chatbot comes in. For example if you want to find out how much shipping costs for Melbourne, you can simply type in this question instead of scrolling.

Reasons To Use A Chatbot

Why use a chatbot and not a customer service representative (CSR)? According to IBM, businesses spend $1.3 trillion on 265 billion customer service calls each year. This means 504,185 per minute. Can you imagine the number of people needed to answer these calls or the backlog it would cause? Chatbots can be used to answer questions for many of these calls leaving your customer service representative to answer more complex calls.

Chatbot Magazine reports that businesses can save up to 30% on customer service costs by using chatbots. Aside from cost savings, chatbots can also operate 24/7 in order to provide instant answers and assistance. This means you’re saving money while keeping customers happy.

However, using chatbots does not mean that you won’t need your CSR anymore. Customers should have the choice between talking to a real person and a bot. Introducing chatbot will give them a wider choice and time poor customers will be grateful.

Chatbots can also help you reduce expenses. In Australia, the average CSR can cost a business up to $50,000 annually in salary while a chatbot costs around $2,400 annually. Depending on the size of your business you can hire 1 or 2 CSR and then let the chatbot handle the rest.

Chatbots can also help drive sales. For example, you can create a series of ads targeting existing customers and then introduce them to your chatbot. This means that you can drive up engagement in channels where you use chatbots like Messenger and other social media platforms.

Wrap Up

So, do you need a chatbot? It depends on your business. If you and your CSR team find that you are spending a lot of time answering common questions then a chatbot can make your lives easier. Chatbots are also a good idea if you want to increase sales, raise brand awareness or make your customers happier.

The post Is Chatbot A Good Choice For Your Business? appeared first on Creativ Digital.

According to studies, acquiring new customers is very expensive. However, returning customers spend 33% more than new ones. This makes keeping customers very important especially during this coronavirus pandemic.

While customer spending is low during this time, there are still ways to keep customers coming back.

Retaining Customers During Covid-19

Here are some customer retention strategies to keep in mind.

Promote Initiatives

During times of trouble, people want to feel connected to each other including the brands and products they use. This is why it is important to promote the “why” of your company and connect with your customers using your company mission.

To build customer loyalty and support you need to show customers your commitment to your employees, clients and to charities and organizations that are joining the fight against Covid-19. This creates solidarity between you and customer and helps to strengthen your brand.

Communicate Your Value

Now is a good time to show customers that “we’re all in this together”. This is a great way to differentiate yourself against your competitors and you can use it to address a bigger concern.

Providing customers with useful information shows that you are here with them during the pandemic.

Virtual Products and Services

In order to adjust to the “new normal” because of the pandemic, you might need to realign services by offering them virtually. For example, telemedicine and video conferencing platforms have allowed many businesses to continue despite strict social distancing rules and business closures in some countries.

Think how you can shift your business from traditional selling to online selling so that you can continue to reach customers and serve them.

Create Helpful Content

The coronavirus disease is a new disease so there are still many unknowns. Aside from this, pharmaceutical companies and scientists still need to develop an effective treatment and vaccine to help combat the spread of the virus. All of this uncertainty has led to many fake news and articles related to Covid-19.

This is why it is important to impart to customers useful and relevant content that they can use in order to help win the war against the disease.

Increase Social Media Presence

While social distancing measures and business closures are easing in some parts of the world, many people are still stuck at home and glued to their phones, laptops and etc. This is why it is important to increase your social media presence. This platform is used by many people around the world not only to read the news but also to stay in touch with loved ones also in isolation.

Create engaging posts using your social media channels so that customers can see your brand on their news feed. Post 2 to 3 times a week and do not forget to answer questions and to respond to messages or requests.

Add A Personal Touch

Since many people are in isolation right now, many are lonely. Now is a good time to be a friendly face or voice even if you are far away. Don’t be afraid to reach out to customers personally. Send them a personalized card via email, call them or message them directly. Check-in on them to see how they’re doing. They will surely be glad to hear from a friendly voice during this time of uncertainty.

Incentivize Purchases

Since this pandemic, many people have lost their jobs or are having to cope with a drastic cut in their spending powers. Therefore, it is a good time to incentivize purchases with gift cards, discounts, free trials or free shipping.

These types of promotion can help drive interest in your business and entice customers to buy from your website.

Wrap-Up

It is very important to keep your customer’s needs at the forefront of this pandemic. Instead of being “business as usual”, realign your products and market strategy to reflect the current demand. When you provide long-term value to customers, you have a better chance of retaining them and maintaining a long-term relationship with them.

The post Retaining Customers During Covid-19 appeared first on Creativ Digital.

However, attracting a customer is not that easy. The internet is full of competition so the success of ecommerce companies depends on how well they interact with their customers. Many online stores strive to reach out to their customers. This is exactly why you need a customer relationship management (CRM) to help with business.

Best CRM Solutions For Online Businesses

If you’re looking for a good CRM solution, we have some suggestions for you.

Salesforce

Salesforce is perhaps one of the world’s largest CRM provider with a market share of around 20%. Salesforce has an efficient out of the box CRM called SalesforceIQ which is tailored for small- and medium-sized businesses.

Once your business grows and you need more features, you can easily upgrade to Salesforce’s Sales Cloud CRM with Einstein artificial intelligence. Einstein can analyze all the data in your CRM and provide sales representatives with extra opportunities, such as predictive intelligence.

Zoho

Build strong customer relationships with Zoho . enjoy sales forecasting, mass emailing, reports, and other important features all for an affordable monthly fee. It also supports convenient deployement options like cloud and mobile.

Enjoy the benefits of Zoho’s Zoho’s cutting-edge Zia artificial intelligence. Zia uses cutting edge algorithm that can help boost your business.

Act!

Act! is a good choice for small businesses and individuals looking to boost their customer relations. It contains all your important customer data and allows you to group customers, launch targeted email campaigns and more.

No data or internet? No problem, you can still use Act! and the app will automatically synch recent changes as soon as you’re online again.

HubSpot

The best thing about HubSpot CRM ecommerce software is that it’s free for individual sales representatives. It is also an easy way to way to keep all your customers in a single easy-to-access database.

Hubspot allows users to turn repetitive emails into customizeable templates. It shows you which templates work and which ones don’t so that you can target customers more efficiently.

SAP

Another popular CRM is SAP with over 10% market share. It has a lot to offer any business, from small online retailers to large enterprises. Their SAP Hybris Cloud for Sales is a helpful CRM that allows small business to better understand their customers. This CRM features advanced reports and dashboards that provide ecommerce businesses with plenty of information and predictive analytics.

Its best feature is their sophisticated customer intelligence: you can scan business cards via your mobile device and the CRM will add a new lead to your customer database.

Wrap up

CRM solutions can make reaching out to customers easier and more efficient. It also helps to keep customers informed and engaged. Finding the right CRM might not be easy but our suggestions above will help you get started.

The post Best CRM Solutions For Online Businesses appeared first on Creativ Digital.

How? Check this out.

Painless Onboarding

One of the reasons why customers are intimidated by a new product is because learning about it can take time. The onboarding process is also time-consuming and confusing. However, having a CRM can make the process painless and self-serving.

E-commerce stores for example have long onboarding process especially during checkout which can lead to shopping cart abandonment. Instead of having a very long process you can shorten it by only asking for the bare minimum information during checkout and then following-up later on to remind them to complete their profile.

Another alternative is to break down the onboarding process so that only a few fields need to be filled up each step. This will prevent new users from logging out when they see how much info they need to provide in one go.

Once data is saved by the CRM it will remember customers so that they will have a better experience every time they visit your store or blog.

Personalized Customer Communications

We at Creativ Digital know how important it is to personalize communication with customers and clients. According to studies, lack of personalization can cost a business.

However, when you have a CRM it can pull out a customer’s contact info and determine immediately if they have a good or bad experience with your business which can prevent customer turnover. On the flip side, CRM can also keep track of the number of times a customer has purchased from you and reward them for their loyalty.

These types of content can be added to personalized emails to customers so that you can offer rewards or discount coupons not only to reward loyal customers but to entice others to buy from you.

Strengthen Customer Relations

Good customer relations mean that there is trust between customer and the business. CRM can help build this trust by storing customer information which can be referenced or used later. Customers interact with businesses more than once so tracking their movements can be used for future analysis.

For example, a customer is asking for help regarding your product or service with your support team. A CRM can help track down interactions and keep track of data that can be used to find a solution. Having data stored and organized properly makes it easier for your support team to find answers more quickly and provide help more efficiently. These actions can greatly improve customer trust and strengthen relations.

Quick Access To Customer Info

The primary function of a CRM is to store customer information. This includes interactions with support team and other service engagements. When customers reach out to support team they can quickly access communication history to avoid repeating the same responses.

When your team has quick access to customer information and interaction, solving problems and answering questions is faster.

Improve Customer Satisfaction

A CRM can act as a road map to each of your customer’s needs. Because interactions are stored in the software, it can analyse past engagements to determine the best method for approaching a customer.

This is very important especially if you want to retain loyal or high value customers. According to studies, the top 10% of loyal customers spend 3 times more per visit compared to the average customer.  This means businesses are under pressure customer’s needs lest they take their business somewhere.

Having a CRM can make it easier for you to find out what your customer wants and how you can serve them better. Aside from this it can also handle any customer request or changes for better customer satisfaction.

CRM can store data so that you can access important information that can lead to better customer interaction. Having CRM can help you optimize data management to improve customer experience.

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