Did you know that reviews influence 88% of customers in discovering and patronizing local businesses? And about half of all customers are down to travel farther and pay more to buy from a business with higher reviews.
It’s no secret that Google reviews represent some of the most influential forces currently at work in our modern marketplace. They make or break businesses on multiple levels–determining whether a business lands in the Google Map Pack (top three search engine results), whether a customer wants to give you their business, your business’s SEO, how responsive you appear, how credible you appear… the list goes on and on.
And that’s why we’re here to help. Read on for our top tips on automating your Google reviews and streamlining your reputation for sustainable success.
The Importance of Google Reviews for Businesses
In the digital age, potential customers increasingly rely on online reviews to make informed decisions about where to spend their money. A favorable rating and positive reviews can act as powerful endorsements, instilling trust and confidence in prospective clients. Essentially, they’re nearly as powerful as word-of-mouth marketing from someone you know. On the other hand, bad reviews can have detrimental effects on a business’s reputation, potentially deterring customers, especially if they go unresponded to.
As we mentioned, the impact of Google reviews extends beyond individual businesses, influencing local search rankings. Google’s algorithms consider the quantity and quality of reviews when determining the visibility of your business in search results. A higher number of good reviews can enhance your business’s visibility, making it more likely that you’ll attract potential customers. This visibility is particularly crucial for small and local businesses seeking to stand out in a competitive market. And it can be a huge advantage for smaller organizations looking to get ahead.
The ability of businesses to engage with reviewers adds another layer of importance to Google reviews that gives potential customers a snapshot of what it’s like to do business with you. Responding to reviews, whether positive or negative, allows you to walk the walk: actually demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction and address concerns publicly. This transparent communication fosters a sense of trust and accountability, showing potential customers that you sincerely value positive and negative feedback and are dedicated to providing a phenomenal customer experience.
What to Automate in Google Reviews
Want to know what you should focus on when automating Google reviews? You’ve come to the right place. Here are a few key elements that will take you to the next level when you request reviews.
New Google Reviews Alerts
Regardless of the size of your team, it can be very difficult to keep track of all your Google reviews as they come in. It’s especially hard to stay on top of which reviews are most recent and which ones need to be responded to the fastest. Automating alerts for when you receive new Google reviews can help you level up your tracking and response times, increasing engagement and preserving your reputation for responsiveness. With this type of automation, you receive an alert every time someone posts a review about you, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks.
Google Review Responses
Responding to reviews consistently and quickly is essential to maintain a high level of customer engagement. But a problem many local businesses run into is coming up with the right thing to say quickly, or even knowing what to say in a specific situation that requires more nuance. With tools like Podium’s automated response platform, you can create templates for different types of reviews—positive, negative, and neutral—to make sure the responses you give are consistent and timely.
Google Review Invites
As a local business, you know that every review counts when it comes to staying ahead. And asking for a review at the right time, when the customer is most happy, is critical. So, how do you get the timing right every time? Automating your Google review requests allows you to rest easy knowing that every customer is receiving a review invite at the right moment. With Podium, an automated text is sent that contains a direct link customers can click to easily review you.
The Challenges of Managing Google Reviews Manually
In a marketplace where prompt responses and continuous monitoring are increasingly critical, managing your Google reviews manually can be a time-consuming and labor-intensive task. As your business scales and your volume of reviews increases, sending personalized responses free of mistakes, collecting and managing customer feedback, and addressing customer concerns individually becomes a challenging and resource-intensive endeavor, regardless of your industry. Business owners or designated staff have to dedicate significant time to managing each review, formulating thoughtful responses, and ensuring consistent communication.
More importantly, manual monitoring can lead to delays in addressing critical issues, potentially impacting your business’s online reputation. The process becomes even more intricate if you have multiple locations or a diverse range of products and services that demand meticulous attention to detail. The time spent on these manual efforts could otherwise be allocated to core business activities, making it imperative for you to explore more efficient and scalable solutions.
3 Best Practices When Responding to Google Reviews (Manually or Automated)
Ready for some pro tips for manual and automated responses? We’re happy to help. Read on for three best practices to employ when responding to Google reviews. When it comes to automated responses, giving special attention to training your AI to respond according to these best practices will give you better results.
1. Respond in a timely manner.
This helps you not only gain traction with your customers, potential customers, and search engines (like Google), but also take control of any negative reviews before they spiral. Ideally, you should respond to reviews within two hours or one business day at most.
Thank you for your feedback, Mason. I’m so sorry our service delay caused you to miss your meeting. Our goal is always to serve customers within their appointment window and we’re always working to make our process better. Please click this link to chat with me so we can remedy this situation. – Sara (Manager)
Oh no! We want your flowers to arrive perky and happy for your big day, not wilting. Please shoot me a text so we can send a team member to refresh your flower arch ASAP. – Lara (Owner)
2. Understand the customer’s experience.
If a comment is lukewarm or negative, make sure to do some investigative work to understand the essential aspects of your customer’s experience with you. Explore any problems, figure out what pain points the customer had, and be honest about any shortcomings on your end and what you’re doing (or will do) to quickly fix the problem.
Hi Karoll, I see you left a two-star rating, but no details about your experience with us. I’d love to hear more about how we can better serve you. – Shay (Lead Server)
Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Sam. I looked into it, and you’re totally right–it took us 4 days to return your estimate, which is way too long to keep you waiting and not in line with our 48-hour turnaround promise. We’d love the chance to make it up to you. Please text me here. – Kyle (Team Lead)
3. Keep your response personal.
This is an area where you don’t want to sound like everybody else. Address each customer by name, and don’t use the same template for every response. Where possible, personalize by mentioning the product or service reviewed. You always want your review collection and responses to have a human touch.
Krystal, I’m so happy you enjoyed your vanilla dream cake for your big 5-0! Your pics look awesome—sounds like a fantastic birthday party. Hope you have a great year and that we see you soon! – Tim (Head Baker)
Keith, this review means so much to us. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with Otter Funeral. It was an honor to commemorate your mother’s life with you. Our thoughts and condolences are with you and your family at this time. – Kylie (Director)
5 Benefits of Automating Google Reviews
Need more reasons to automate your Google reviews? We’re here to help. Here are five more benefits of automating online reviews and using the best review management tools.
1. Streamlined review solicitation.
With automated SMS review invites, you’ll never miss the chance to collect a review again. And you’ll never have to think about what to say, when to send, or how to track.
2. Real-time monitoring.
You want the numbers? Automation’s got ‘em. With automation, you get updates in real time and know exactly when a review has been left, who’s responding, and how it’s affecting your online reputation.
3. Centralized Review Management.
Automating reviews brings everything into one place, giving you more control over the review management process and consequently ensuring more consistency and personalization across the board.
4. Improved Local Search Rankings.
By collecting more customer reviews and responding to them faster, you improve your workflows and local SEO easily, moving up in Google’s search engine results.
5. Less stress.
Finally, automations reduce your stress level and the load on your team–significantly. No more worrying if a review went out, no more guessing which reviews need to be responded, etc. Less hassle for you, less hassle for your customers. Win, win, and win.
How to Automate Google Reviews Using Podium
Ready to get started with the best automation tools? To build trust, in person and online, and improve your online presence? We’re here for it.
Podium’s premier service is automating Google reviews. Our platform provides a wealth of review invite and response templates, automation features, personalization features, and more, allowing you to collect and respond to reviews via text all from one place.
Podium also links your texts to your CRM, increasing personalization and providing more insightful notifications. With Podium’s dashboard, you can easily track your reviews in real-time and delegate answering to ensure no comments go unanswered and that your Google Business Profile gets the boost it needs.
