Do you already manage reviews and are looking to increase the results you deliver? The best practices in review management that I will show in this article are exactly what you need to know.

I've outlined 5 fundamental practices that will ensure you're doing a good job, extracting as much intelligence as possible to apply to your business and maximize your company's results.

1. Volume: Maintain a consistent and relevant flow of reviews

In order to manage reviews effectively, you need reviews—that's obvious. However, many companies disregard this fact and don't give this fundamental part of their strategy the importance it deserves. 

Reviews are a source of intelligence, and the greater the volume of reviews, the more intelligence you can extract. 

It's essential that your business receives a consistent and relevant flow of reviews. Developing a strategy that addresses this is fundamental.

Make sure you are exploring all available and viable ways to obtain reviews for your business, and test different strategies to encourage your customers to rate you. 

2. Lifespan: always have up-to-date reviews

Reviews have a set expiration date. From the date a review is published, it begins to lose its relevance.

Did you know that 40% of consumers only consider a review if it was published less than two weeks ago? (Bright Local)

This is why review dates are included in the algorithms of online review sites to determine establishment rankings. We discuss this metric in more detail here: 4 fundamental review management metrics you need to know today.

Precisely because the more recent the review, the closer it is to accurately reflecting the experience at that establishment.

Therefore, having a good strategy that includes a constant flow of reviews is fundamental:

1st, to obtain greater intelligence through data extraction; 

Secondly, to keep your establishment relevant in review site rankings.

3. Company response rate

Having a consistently high volume of reviews is important, but it's not everything. The response rate also impacts your establishment's performance in online review site rankings and also influences consumer purchasing decisions. 

According to this study, simply responding to reviews was responsible for increasing hotels' ratings on TripAdvisor. 

Therefore, if you aren't already doing so, measure the company's response rate as well. But be careful. Don't respond with "robotic" and impersonal questions. 

Responding to reviews with a simple "copy and paste" method is just as bad as not responding at all. Consumers always expect a personalized response that shows you actually listened to them. That makes all the difference, believe me!

👉Check it out: How complaints can help you build customer loyalty

4. Commented reviews: encourage receiving reviews with comments

Receiving top-rated reviews is great! But receiving reviews with commentary is even better. 

Ultimately, all the intelligence you extract from review management comes from these comments. Therefore, as important as maintaining a relevant flow of reviews is encouraging customers to comment on these reviews, describing their experience in as much detail as possible.

Proof of this was the Facebook update to its recommendations feature. Previously, users were not required to write a comment when recommending or not recommending an establishment. Today they need to write at least 25 characters to publish their review on Facebook. 

👉Check it out: 6 ways to increase customer loyalty using online reviews

I hope these tips have helped you go further in managing reviews 😉 If you have any questions, leave a comment below =)