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3 reasons why wedding vendors need positive reviews

If you work in the wedding industry, you should know how important online reviews are for your business. Review websites are the new norm for sharing recommendations for bridal services and venues. Online reviews written by your clients have a huge impact on attracting new business. Reviews of your company on sites like The Knot and WeddingWire help increase your visibility online, while enhancing your reputation and credibility.

While appearing at bridal shows and wedding expos are a great way to get exposure, brides will still want to see your past work and hear from prior clients. Potential customers will research your business and will trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. In addition, using social media to influence your online brand is a great way to introduce new clients to your services.

Here are three ways online reviews affect the wedding industry.

  1. Online wedding planning.

A new trend in the wedding industry is online wedding planning. Online wedding planning services provide an opportunity for brides to connect with a planner and work out details quickly via the internet. If you have this type of business, online review are crucial, as they are the only way potential clients can decide if your company will be a good fit.

  1. SEO, which helps your business stand out.

The wedding industry occupies a large segment of the internet. Establishing a positive reputation online helps your content rank well in high traffic areas that will help your business stand out. Not only does this create brand awareness, it also helps promote your business as a resource for brides who have questions or need information. Positive reviews improve your sales and make you easily identifiable when potential clients search online.

  1. Vendor collaborations.

Often brides prefer using service providers who work in collaboration with each other to help them manage the overwhelming planning process. These relationships between vendors, photographers, bakers, florists, caterers and others often occur through recommendations – in person and online. Potential clients as well as collaborators will search reviews of your business before contacting you.

Your wedding business will flourish through a great portfolio and exceptional reviews. A wedding is arguably the most important day of a person’s life – one negative review can prevent you from landing a new client. Being recognized as a business that provides services to ensure a perfect wedding day is crucial in this industry. Don’t let one bridezilla take you hostage – know what previous customers are saying about your company and your services by monitoring and maintaining a positive presence online.

Managing your reputation online is easy when you use software like ReviewMaxer. ReviewMaxer helps you manage your reviews online and helps you become a recognizable and trusted brand in the competitive wedding industry.

Watch this free demonstration today to see how ReviewMaxer software works.


Photo credit: Pablo

Written by: Amanda Murguido


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How you can motivate your customers to review your company

Negative online reviews hurt. They hurt your reputation, your company’s sales and even your feelings. You work hard, and you know your employees do too. So why is it that you’re receiving mostly negative online reviews? Where are all the reviews from customers who’ve had a positive experience?

Unfortunately, customers who have negative experiences are more motivated to leave online reviews. They’re frustrated, and they want to be heard. So how can your company motivate or encourage customers who’ve had positive experiences with your company to leave reviews?

Here are four ways to motivate your customers to leave your company positive online reviews:

  1. Reach out to your customers via email.

Proactively reaching out to all your customers and asking for their feedback is the best way to gain more positive reviews. If customers receive a simple email asking about their experience and requesting their opinion, they’ll be more likely to review your company on important review websites and social media platforms. It’s critical to import new customer emails at least once a week (even better, daily) to ensure you’re consistently gaining more reviews.

  1. Request an online review via text message.

Send your review request directly to your customers’ phones. With your customers’ permission, simply text them, “How are we doing?” and include the URL that directs them to your review and social media websites.

  1. Order printed review invites.

These cards work best placed at a front desk or at your registers. Another way to utilize them? Have your field representatives use them as a leave-behind with customers. Include them in your presentations, packets, packaging and gift bags. These cards are a tangible way to direct your customers to the review sites you’d like to receive more positive reviews.

  1. Ask for feedback via social media.

Remind your fans and followers that you appreciate their feedback and that their experiences with your company are important to you. Simply request a review through Facebook or Twitter.

After your customers leave your company online reviews, don’t forget to thank them! Some companies offer a coupon as a thank you for leaving a review, while others make a charitable donation for an online review. Every company should reply to every new review.  

Review management software is a great product that helps you manage and increase your online reviews. Among other tasks, it can:

  1. Email and text message your customers.
  2. Order review invites.
  3. Create your custom URL that directs your customers to the review and social media sites you’re listed on.

ReviewMaxer is the secret tool for accomplishing it all.

Watch this free demonstration to see how ReviewMaxer software works and contact us if you have questions.

Photo credit: Pablo


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ReviewMaxer offers 5 easy ways to gain reviews

Reviews are critical to the success of your company. In order to bring in new customers, or even employees, your business must have good reviews. People trust the experiences of other people. According to BrightLocal, 88 percent of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family. People like to know what they’re getting themselves into before they commit to something, and that includes determining where to have dinner or looking for the next step in their career paths.

Here are five ways to gain those customer reviews with ReviewMaxer:

  1. Create business cards for each employee.

This feature is perfect for tracking reviews of individual employees. If your company is in the service industry and you send employees to individual homes or businesses, it’s important to know which employees your customers prefer. ReviewMaxer provides the option of creating business cards with a unique QR code or link for each employee. The code leads customers to the online page where they can write reviews of your company and your individual employees. These cards provide a personal touch; your customers have something tangible to remember their experiences with your company.

When it’s time for employee reviews, ReviewMaxer data shows both the positive and negative reviews for each employee, making it easy to identify who is excelling and who isn’t.

  1. Send a follow-up text.

A study by Deloitte shows that average Americans are on their phones 47 times per day. That’s almost twice every hour. With ReviewMaxer, you have the option of sending text messages to your customers to remind them to write reviews. The text includes a link to a landing page where the customer can begin the review process. By providing the link in an easy and accessible manner, you’re simplifying the process for the reviewer. The text is customizable with up to 160 characters.

  1. Consider Glassdoor and Indeed.

Glassdoor and Indeed are tools that you can use to reach potential employees. These websites provide information such as reviews of your company and details on your interview process. Having present and past employees provide their own reviews is a great way to ensure you give the public an honest description of what your work environment is like. Encourage workers in the office to write their own reviews, which will help you recruit the best potential employees.

  1. Use the social sharing tool.

ReviewMaxer lets you include social buttons in landing pages, emails, etc. A drop-down menu provides numerous social sharing options. If what you’re looking for isn’t there, you can always add it yourself. Including Facebook, Twitter and Google+ buttons encourages your customers to write their own reviews on heavily populated websites. Have your post-purchase landing page include a social sharing button as well as a reminder to review the employee who helped your customer through the buying process. That one review can convince numerous prospects that your company is right for them.

  1. Remember incentives are key.

Sending emails through ReviewMaxer is an effective way to remind customers to write reviews. You can send email reminders and follow-ups to your selected list of recipients. Every message is customizable, allowing you to thank your customers and ask them to write a review on their experiences and the employees who helped them. Emails are also a great way to offer incentives. In your email, offer your customers a discount on their next purchase or a chance to enter a raffle in exchange for a review.

ReviewMaxer is a great tool for your business to collect and manage your customers’ online reviews. You can also post or stream positive reviews directly to your website and social media channels. Watch our free demo today to see how easily and efficiently you can protect and improve your online reputation.

Photo credit: Pablo

Written by: Kelly Delgado


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How to add Review Monitoring to your ReviewMaxer account

Review Monitoring allows you to see review activity across all of your review site links in nearly real time. You can also receive email alerts whenever new reviews post, display a stream of your latest and greatest reviews on your website and review funnel landing page and automatically share positive reviews to your social media profiles.

Adding Review Monitoring

To add review monitoring, navigate to Dashboard > Reviews. Click the Add Review Monitoring button. 

Review monitoring will run once when you first activate it, then nightly thereafter. The software will upload your new reviews and send out review alerts the morning after the reviews appear. Once monitoring runs, your existing reviews will populate the Reviews page and it should look more like this:

You can choose which star ratings to publish and exclude certain websites from publishing by going to Dashboard > Reviews > Monitor and Stream > Review Stream.

We can almost always pull reviews from your main listing URL. However, you may want to guide visitors to a different call-to-action URL than the one we monitor for reviews. To do so, use this guide:

Once you’ve found the right URL, click the Pencil () next to the appropriate link and paste it into the Review Monitoring URL (optional) box.

Note that you can monitor a review site link without displaying it on your landing page. To hide a link from your page, navigate to Dashboard > Funnel > Links > Your Review Site Links. Click the check mark () next to the link you’d like to hide until it turns gray. 

Adding the Review Stream to your website

Once you’ve set up Review Monitoring, you can embed a stream of your latest and greatest reviews from across the web into your website using a simple copy-and-paste widget.

Navigate to Dashboard > Reviews > Review Stream. Click the code in the box to select it, then Ctrl/Cmd + C to copy it. Then, in the appropriate place on your website, click Ctrl/Cmd + V to paste.

If you’re a WordPress user, be sure to look into our SEO-friendly Review Stream plugin. We also have a Joomla Review Stream module and a Drupal Review Stream module.

ReviewMaxer is an affordable and easy-to-use system to manage your company’s online reviews and reputation. Use ReviewMaxer to promote your positive reviews and interact with your customers to resolve issues. Sign up today for your free demo.

Photo credit: Pablo


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5 steps to add the Review Stream to your website

Note that you must have the Review Monitoring add-on to configure your page according to these instructions.

  1. Change your layout to “Review First.”

This layout will allow you to exclusively collect feedback directly on your landing page without first sending reviewers to a third-party site (you don’t need to add any third-party review site links to use the Review First layout). Navigate to Dashboard > Funnel > Setup > Branding and Design, then click the Change button under Review Funnel Layout.

Select the Review First layout.

Click Update Setup to save your changes.

This layout sends an email alert whenever someone submits a new review, allowing to you keep on top of what your customers are saying and to follow up with any issues or grievances. Add more recipient addresses in Dashboard > Funnel > Links > Notifications.

Optionally, you can customize the text in the layout in Dashboard > Funnel > Content.

  1. Manually add old/existing testimonials.

Review Monitoring is required for this step. If you don’t have any existing testimonials to add, skip to step 3.

Review Monitoring allows you to manually add existing testimonials to your Review Stream. This feature is useful for importing old website testimonials, written testimonials, testimonials received via email, etc.

Navigate to Dashboard > Reviews and click the Add a Review Manually button.

Select a star rating, add a date and attribution and then type or copy and paste your review.

Press Submit Review to finish and add the testimonial to your Review Stream.

  1. Use your landing page at the point of sale.

The Review First layout is the best option for collecting testimonials in your place of business. Consider setting up a dedicated kiosk (e.g., an iPad) for point-of-sale testimonial collection. Once you’ve set up a kiosk, establish a protocol for your employees to engage customers with the kiosk.

  1. Add the Review Stream to your website.

The Review Stream embeddable widget allows you to display all your latest and greatest positive feedback on your website. By default, the stream displays your 4- and 5-star reviews.

To embed your Review Stream, navigate to Dashboard > Widgets > Review Stream. Copy the provided embed code and paste in the appropriate place on your website. You can also embed the Review Stream on your Facebook page by following these instructions. If you use WordPress, you can also use the Review Stream plugin.

Alternately, you can copy and paste testimonials directly onto your website. Access these at any time in Dashboard > Reviews. If you choose not to enable review monitoring, you can access your testimonials via email (an email is sent out whenever someone submits a testimonial).

  1. Continue collecting testimonials.

Use our automated email drip campaigns (set this up in Dashboard > Invites) or a simple link to your landing page URL in your email signature to continuously ask your customers for testimonials.

You may also consider embedding the Review Us button or landing page widget on your website.

ReviewMaxer is an affordable and easy-to-use system to manage your company’s online reviews and reputation. Use ReviewMaxer to promote your positive reviews and interact with your customers to resolve negative reviews. Sign up today for your free demo.

 


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5 steps to starting your review management campaign

This guide is for restaurants, retailers and similar storefront businesses. It offers step-by-step instructions for getting your landing page and review campaign up and running.

  1. Find your major review site listings across the web.

Once you’ve created your account and logged in to your dashboard, automatically search and load in links for your business’s existing listings across the most important major review sites by clicking the Connect a Location button in Dashboard > Funnel > Links > Review Profile.


These review site listings (on sites like Google+ and Facebook) are arguably the most important to your business’s visibility and reputation on the internet and are almost always the most worthwhile place to collect reviews. Not only are these major sites the most visited by your potential customers, they also affect your visibility and presentation in search engines.

  1. Find your industry-specific review site listings across the web.

While major review sites are the most important for your business’s SEO and overall reputation, smaller industry-specific review sites are still valuable channels for gathering new customers. You may want to consider creating or seeking out existing listings on the following review sites (we integrate with all of the sites mentioned):

As always, if there’s a review site for your industry that you’d like to see included, please feel free to get in touch with us.

  1. Hand out printed review invites at the point of sale.

We offer several tools to drive customers to your landing page, including printed invites. Printed invites are uniquely useful in a storefront business environment. Here are a few ideas for incorporating our printed invites into your workflow:

  • Include with the bill at the end of a meal.
  • Attach to a receipt.
  • Leave in a business card holder at the cash register/host table.
  • Place in the bag at checkout.
  • Include in customer mailings.

Note that we offer the proofing and printing of these cards in-house and at cost; you may want to experiment with creating similar invitations with your existing printer or finding additional ways to incorporate your landing page URL into your business literature.

If you keep an email list, you might also consider using our drip campaigns or your email software to send a review invitation to your customers via email.

  1. Optional: Monitor your reviews across sites and keep tabs on what people are saying about you.

It’s important to take a proactive approach to managing your online reputation. Our optional Review Monitoring add-on allows you to keep an eye on what people are saying about your business across the internet. You’ll receive email alerts whenever you receive a new review on any third-party site listing you’ve loaded into your account so that you can take quick action if needed.

  1. Adjust your campaign as needed.

Review acquisition is a long-term commitment – and one worth doing aboveboard and authentically. You may find that the most important review sites for your business change over time. We encourage you to make adjustments as you go. You can reorder, hide, show, edit and delete your review site links at any time (you can perform all of these actions in Dashboard > Funnel > Links > Your Review Site Links).

With so many people trusting review sites to help them choose restaurants and other retailers, creating a strong reputation online is extremely important. It can be overwhelming trying to manage customer reviews. When you use software like ReviewMaxer to manage your reviews, it’s easy to protect and even improve your online reputation.

Photo credit: Pablo


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