Building Customer Loyalty with a Nudge Factor!
I’m currently reading a book called, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. It’s interesting because it discusses how we make decisions — how our decisions are influenced by different parts of the brain and by external factors. The authors make the point that most people are easily influenced by the statements and actions of others. They say that if you see a movie scene in which people are smiling, you’re more likely to smile yourself.
The same influence also works in online Word of Mouth. When someone reads a positive review of your business online, they are more likely to write a positive review themselves. When a non-customer talks to a loyal customer, that prospect is much more likely to visit your business. In contrast, when one or more negative reviews are left for your business, your customers are more likely to join the detractor and leave more negative comments.
The likelihood of the “nudge” factor is increasing as Google has improved its local business listings to bring in reviews from many different Web sources. If your business has a review or two scattered between several different websites, they will all be consolidated for Google local users. Since Google has 65-70% of the online search market, this also means that more Web users will see your reviews. Success breeds success in building customer loyalty!
So if you’ve already collected a few negative reviews online, you’re not being smart to ignore them and hope they’ll go away. The negative reviews will likely influence any of your customers (as well as potential customers) who find them, and the list of negative comments about your business will almost certainly grow.
The good news is that if you’ve collected positive reviews, you’re more likely to obtain additional favorable comments from customers who’ve read earlier reviews. Of course, if you’ve started to set a negative track record, you can still turn it around by asking your satisfied customers to leave positive reviews online. A few great reviews will change the atmosphere of your business listings from condemnation to praise and will encourage more favorable comments.
If you’ve started to collect a few negative reviews online, please contact us for Web Word of Mouth advice in responding. If your business has received positive reviews so far, rejoice but continue to ask your satisfied customers to leave additional feedback. You want to start that snowball effect of enthusiasm for your products or services for building customer loyalty for your business. If you’d like some ideas for making it happen, call IX Brand SEO Services Company at 713-234-6346 or use the Contact page to email us.
