What Is Review Management Software?: Everything You Need to Know

Did you know that a Nielsen Study revealed that four out of five Yelp users check Yelp reviews before making a local purchase?

The study also said that 82% of the time people visit Yelp because they intend to make a purchase within one week. 

And Yelp is only one of the places people post reviews online!

Finding and tracking all of your business’s reviews over many platforms is time-consuming.

Using review management software would make the entire process easier, more efficient and more effective. 

Besides, even if you had the time to find and read them all, do you know what to do with them? Do you have a plan in place for using them to your business’s best advantage?

What Is Review Management Software?

Review Management Software helps you find, track, and manage reviews people have posted somewhere online about your business.

It is also sometimes called reputation management software or a review tracker.

Review management software provides you with a way to make the most of the reviews posted, both the good and the bad.

It can also help you try to interact with your customers prior to their making an online review. The best time to interact with someone who isn’t satisfied is before they make a negative review.

Why Does Your Business Need It?

You may be thinking that negative reviews are the only reviews your business should be worried about. But that is only part of the equation.

Yes, it is important to track and reply to people who post negative reviews. This allows you the opportunity to try to resolve the issue or problem the person had with your business. Or to determine a way to win that client over and get them to give your business a second chance.

But your positive reviews are also very important. You need to be aware of what good things people are saying about your business so you understand those things matter to them (and you can keep doing them!). 

However, you can also use those positive reviews to promote your business and improve your website’s SEO performance.

What Are the Benefits of Using Review Management Software?

By using review management software, finding, tracking and managing the reviews across all the important platforms is streamlined. Meaning your business does not have to go to each of the review sites individually, find your reviews, figure out a way to keep track of them all and whether or not you’ve followed up with them.

The review tracker will solve this for you. The review tracker will pull all the reviews about your business into its interface so you can follow up on the negative reviews.

The review tracker will also pull out all the positive reviews. Positive reviews can be used in their entirety or edited to highlight certain aspects of your business. These positive reviews can then be:

  • Streamlined so they post directly to your social media accounts, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
  • Streamlined so they post directly to your business’s website

Review management software can also help you solicit more reviews from your customers. Such as, by contacting them via email after a purchase or having a pop-up on your website for them to fill out.

Why You Want to Post Your Positive Reviews on Your Own Website

Most of your new customers will likely find out about your business while doing a keyword search on a search engine. In order for them to find you first, rather than your competitors, you need your website to rank higher on the search engines. This process is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Search engines, such as Google, scour the internet after someone puts in their search terms. The way they choose the order to display their results is based on complex algorithms. One of the factors in this computation is whether or not your website is regularly updated with current information.

By pulling your positive reviews from the various review sites, your review management software can be set to continually post your new, positive reviews on a consistent basis to a designated area of your website. This will make the search engines happy and raise your website’s SEO, leading to more prospective customers finding your site. 

Why You Want to Post Your Positive Reviews on Your Social Media

Like all good relationships, your relationship with your current and prospective customers is built on trust.

Having your review management software streamline your positive reviews so they get posted on your social media accounts will go a long way toward building that trust because people trust other people’s opinions.

It will also keep your customers engaged and provide them with continual, positive thoughts about your business, which are confirmed by other people’s opinions. 

How to Choose a Review Tracker

When choosing review management software, you want to pick one that is easy to use, reasonably priced, has a user-friendly interface and that you can access from anywhere, 24/7.

Reviews happen at any hour of the day. So being able to receive a mobile alert as soon as a review is posted means your business can view the review sooner, and in the case of a negative review, address it faster.

In addition, you want a review tracker that is going to only use reputable (“white hat”) tactics that will help your business. Having your positive reviews posted to your website is one example.

You do not want to use review software that uses any type of shady (“black hat”) tactics that could hurt your business’s SEO rating or even get your website banned. One of these no-nos is using or posting fake positive reviews. 

Start Using a Review Tracker to Increase Your Business 

Whether your business is booming or just starting out, keeping an eye on your customer’s opinions shouldn’t be delayed. Either way, you need to know what is working for your customers and what isn’t. 

What your customers want and need can change over time. Based on their personal preferences, the market in general, or what your direct competitors are doing.

Make sure you are following along, listening to your customers, and keeping up with how to satisfy their wants and needs. It can help you make adjustments to what your business offers or give you clues on new ways your business can be more profitable.

Contact Rocket Reviews today. They are an online reputation management company who can provide you with review management software to help your business succeed.