guide to reviews on social media

V ReviewsYour Guide To Getting Found And Creating Raving Fans

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How Do Customers Find New Accounts?

Source: Making the Switch study by AOL and Oliver Wyman: https://advertising.aol.com/sites/advertising.aol.com/files/insights/research-reports/downloads/AOL_MakingtheSwitch_TradeSite.pdf

Let’s start with a simple question. It’s a question every marketer has to come to terms with before developing a strategy, and that is to understand how their consumers are behaving and receiving information. So, how do customers find new accounts?

According to a 2014 study by AOL and Oliver Wyman of 1,743 respondents – 44% of account switchers found their new account based off of recommendations from family, friends, or coworkers. Another 32% searched for information on accounts before making a decision. Where did they go to get this information?

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That’s right, they went online. Not surprisingly, online advertisement ranked 2nd highest and informed 31% of consumers decisions.

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Data taken from Google Trends on October 30th, 2015.

Looking at Google Trends results for “bank reviews” and “credit union reviews” there is a clear theme. People have increasingly searched out reviews on banks and credit unions since 2005.

The phrase “bank review” gets 14,610 searches a month.

The lesson is simple. People are checking our institutions before they decide where to open an account.

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93% of Millennials check reviews prior to taking purchasing action, and 97% of those Millennials trust anonymous reviews as strongly as recommendations given by friends or family

70% of the entire U.S. population consults reviews prior to making a decision.

Reviews serve as powerful social proof.

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Wait, there’s more.

10%In a study by SEO experts, Moz, they estimated that reviews can account for as much as 10% of overall ranking factors in Google.

Notice that on Yelp it is a balance of star rating and the number of reviews you have received.

This creates a tough spot for other businesses, because those high ranking pages get more views -> more views turn into more visits -> more visits turn into more reviews. It’s good to be king of the search results.

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Where Do Customers Hangout?26k reviews added every minute79 Million unique desktop visits a month89 Million unique mobile visits a month

1.49 Billion active users16 Million local businesses

- 645 Million views a week- 13 Million comments per week

22% of the population visits Google+ once a month16% of which follow brand pages

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How Do I Get More Reviews?Step 1: Claim Your Page

Your branches (and ATMs) are probably already on Facebook, Google+, and yelp, you just don’t own the pages. This can be a huge liability for brands, so the first step is to take control. Both platforms have a very simple process to claiming the page. The easiest way to do it is to search your business first – if a page exists and is unclaimed you should see a button to claim the business. Then it’s just a question on following the steps.

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Step 2: Link These Pages To Your Other Digital Real Estate

Promote these review pages by adding links on:• your webpage• your email signature• in the about sections of

your other social media pages

• in your mobile app

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Step 3: Promote in Branch

Step 3: Promote these pages in branch – that can be done in a number of ways. • put it on the business cards • get window clingers• table tents at the teller windows• include it on your print collateral (fliers,

brochures)• Staff shirts

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Step 4: Highlight, Thank, And Reward Feedback

By showcasing positive feedback you reward the person who took the time to review you, you help highlight reasons other people like you, and you demonstrate that you enjoy and value feedback – all of which encourages more people to post reviews.

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Bad Reviews Happen…… But Not Very Often

Bad reviews do happen, but there are two important things to consider. Firstly, they don’t happen very often. Looking at a breakdown of reviews across Yelp, you can see that the world is a pretty positive place. Only 22% of all reviews are below 3-stars, and almost half of all reviews are 5-stars.

Data also supports the fact that the presence of negative reviews add credibility to your page. A business with only positive reviews is seen as “fake.” Negative reviews, as long as they are the minority, have been shown to actually boost sales.

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The Customer Isn’t Always Right But They Are Always Heard

What is the worst way to respond to a negative review? Most people believe it would to be defensive.

That’s not what data says. The worst possible response is to say nothing at all. Saying nothing at all is saying something. It is saying “I don’t care that you had a bad time.”

Consider the fact that 70% of customers will never leave a review. They will have a negative experience and then never give you business again. Those that do take the time to leave a review are giving you a gift.

They are allowing you the chance to fix the issue for them and speaking up on an issue that is likely impacting many more customers.

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T i p 1 : Lo o k t o re s e t ex p e c t a t i o n s .

Sometimes customers come in with unrealistic expectations about your business. Apologize for the misunderstanding and ask them to come back again to experience something you do very well.

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T i p 2 : B e t r a n s p a r e n t o n h o w y o u w i l l a c t o n f e e d b a c k .

If you messed up, let the customer know in clear steps what changes you will make and when they should come back to see that you have improved.

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T i p 3 : O w n y o u r m i s t a ke s .

We all have bad days. Own your mistakes and learn from them.

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T i p 4 : Ke e p y o u r e m o t i o n s o u t o f t h e re v i e w.

It’s easy to take reviews personally. You should, because this is your business, but the correct emotion should be “Oh my gosh, how could this have happened. I’m so sorry.” Arguing or defending never works.

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T i p 5 : F l a t t e r y o u r c u s t o m e r s . E s p e c i a l l y w h e n t h e y ’ v e e a r n e d i t .

Did they leave a long and detailed review? Regardless of the star rating, compliment your reviewer when you can.

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T i p 6 : P r a c t i c e e m p a t h e t i c l i s t e n i n g .

Customers want to be heard. Reflecting back the content and the emotion of their review will help them to understand you want the same thing they do – a great experience.

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T i p 7 : W h e n i n d o u b t , a s k .

If a review is unclear or vague, ask clarifying questions. This shows your genuine interest in their experience and a desire to solve the problem.

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T i p 8 : C e l e b r a t e y o u r v i c t o r i e s .

When someone pays you a compliment, get excited with them. Say thank you, but don’t go into explanations about what made the experience so great. Don’t talk about yourself. Just celebrate.

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T i p 9 : K n o w w h e n t o t a ke i t o ffl i n e .

Sometimes issues should not be handled in public. If it is an especially sensitive topic, or if you have already responded twice, take the conversation offline.

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Measurements And Meaning

Metric Calculation What it means

# of Reviews a month If reviews are important to you and you are working on growing them, then you want to see this number growing. It simply reflects your efforts and cross channel promoting.

Sentiment Score (# of positive / total volume)

This will give you a percent of people that feel positively about your brand. You want this to be over 80% and keep growing upwards.

Average Ticket Open Time (Close Time – Open Time)

This shows you how long people are waiting for resolution. This number should be shrinking and demonstrates efficiency.

# of correspondence Number of replies

People don’t want lots of back and forwards. How quickly can you address and solve the issue?

Common trends report Write up common issues, like the ATM example, and pass that on to your managers.

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@ B a n c V u e# B a n k O n S o c i a l

guide to reviews on social media

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