5 ways to improve your use of reviews in Property Management.
If you want to improve your presence in the market, utilising online reviews can help give your potential future clients some social proof of why you are the right choice to look after their investment. Here are 5 ways to improve your use of reviews in Property Management.
1. Ask for them!
Instead of waiting for customers to volunteer a review, you can ask customers if they would like to leave one on a site of your choosing – one study found that 68% of customers will leave a review if they’re asked. If you are not asking for online reviews, you can start now by making the first steps easier by having a hyperlink available for them.
Taking into account the timing of the request is vital. Obviously, avoid requesting this during a dispute and focus on the positive touchpoints through the client journey (Shortly after the application’s approval, a smooth moving day, anytime you received positive feedback).
2. Where is your focus?
There are several options for the public to do a review for a Property Management agency. Most Google & Facebook would be favoured, although you may want to see if your area has activity on other sites such as rate my agent or local community groups.
Consider this: According to Google/Nielson, 93% of people who use mobile to research go on to complete a purchase of a product or service if there is a good chance a prospective new client will search for a review you want to be across multiple platforms in a positive light.
However, if you bombard each current client with a request to review each site, you mightn’t get the response you would like. By monitoring and choosing a current focus, you can manage the balance of this as required.
3. Respond to reviews.
Setting up alters is important to regularly monitor your main review sites to check if there have been any reviews recently. Make sure you respond to each one quickly. If a customer is taking the time to write a review – positive or negative – you can’t ignore it. Firstly, to ensure they felt heard and to ensure the public see you hear, listen, and respond to feedback.
Be careful about how you respond to the customer. Check that your language and tone are on-brand. Many consumers read responses to reviews, so they will be watching how you react.
Thank the customer for their time to provide feedback, and where there are negative comments, offer to engage with the customer directly to ensure the matter is dealt with. This shows you’re proactive about giving good customer service and that you take their views – and experience – seriously.
4. Be honest with reviews.
No one is perfect, and no business is perfect. By showing transparency and apologising if there was a situation where your service wasn’t up to the normal standard, potential clients will apricate the honesty and effort to attend to matters of concern. This will also build your reputation as an honest and trustworthy brand.
If you try to hide or block reviews you would prefer aren’t there, the individual wanting to leave the review very well might use another source to speak out.
5. Share reviews in your marketing.
Once you have done a great job providing outstanding service to your clients and received multiple positive reviews, you can move on proactively, letting prospective clients know. A simple way to do this is with a tag line followed by your recent reviews;
- Please don’t take our word for it…
- Have a look at what our clients have said…
- We are happy to help…
One of the great benefits of building your online reviews is the social proof this can give to the public about your business.
_________
Your Property Management training experts
