Learning how to respond to Google reviews should be part of every company’s brand reputation management strategy. 

These reviews, which appear on Google Maps and Google Search as well as on your company’s Google Business Profile, give people a way to share their experiences not only with businesses but with fellow consumers, too. Meanwhile, Google searchers rely on these reviews to discover great businesses, products, services, and brands. 

This makes responding to Google reviews extremely important, especially for companies looking to convert prospects and casual visitors into customers and loyal fans. 

The Importance of Responding to Google Reviews

Learning how to respond to Google reviews is important for several reasons. First and foremost, it directly impacts a company’s online reputation and customer relationships. According to research by InMoment, Google is the world’s number 1 online review platform, with 63.6% of consumers saying they are likely to check Google reviews (through Maps and Search) before visiting a business location — more than any other review site. 

Responses also show that a company values and appreciates customer feedback, while also demonstrating transparency and a commitment to addressing customer concerns or acknowledging positive experiences.

Research by InMoment underscores the importance of learning how to respond to negative reviews as well as positive feedback on Google. 

• 94% of consumers say that a negative review has convinced them to avoid a business.
• 53% expect companies to respond to negative reviews within 7 days. However, after posting a review, 63% say they’ve never heard back from the business they reviewed. 
• 45% of consumers say they’re more likely to visit a store or business location if they see that its management responds to negative reviews on Google as well as on other review websites. 
• Based on online reputation management statistics, Google is number one in the list of top review sites, with 63.6% of consumers saying they’re likely to check reviews on Google before visiting a business — more than those consulting any other review site.

In short, responding to reviews helps in building consumer trust and brand credibility. Engaging with reviews can even improve your company’s visibility in search engine results; after all, Google tends to favor businesses that actively manage their online presence. 

How to Respond to Reviews on Google

Google provides a free tool (the Google Business Profile dashboard) for business owners to easily manage their information and respond to reviews posted by their customers. Alternatively, larger organizations and enterprise-level brands with hundreds or thousands of locations can drive efficiency and streamline their review response workflow by using an online review management software solution. 

Respond to Reviews from Google Search or Maps

To get started on how to respond to Google reviews, you’ll first need to claim your company’s Google Business Profile. This should give you access to respond publicly to your reviews via the Google Business Profile management dashboard.

To respond to reviews, follow these steps:

• Sign into Google using the account associated with your Google Business Profile.
• Using your computer or mobile device, go to Google Maps and tap Business. Alternatively, you may use Google Search and enter your business name in the search bar.
• Select Reviews.
• Next to the review you’d like to respond to, select Reply.

With a Google Business Profile account, you should also be able to edit your review replies after they have been posted. Look for the review you would like to edit the response to, and click Edit. 

Respond to Reviews with Reputation Management Software

For larger organizations getting started on how to respond to negative reviews as well as positive feedback on Google and other review websites, investing in online reputation management software can introduce efficiencies and make the task of responding to reviews a lot easier than if it were to be done manually.

InMoment, for example, offers direct integration with the Google Business Profile platform. This means that companies can respond to Google reviews from within InMoment’s reputation management solution. Moreover, teams can manage their “Response” status and workflow from within InMoment, ensuring that every Google review and piece of unsolicited feedback gets a prompt response. 

Calculate your business’s ROI using InMoment’s reputation management tools.

Industry

Please Select Automotive Entertainment Financial Services Healthcare Hospitality Insurance Retail All

Number of Locations

Monthly Revenue per Customer ($)

Lead to Conversion Rate (%)

Currency

USD ($) EUR (€) GBP (£) AUD ($) NZD ($) SGD ($) PHP (₱)

Estimated Revenue Growth

Use the calculator to find an estimated ROI

Total ICX ROI

Submit two or more calculators to show an overview of what your integrated CX program could return.

InMoment Helps You Unlock More Insight from Your Data — Starting Right Now.

Whether you are curious about other programs/ROIs, want to gain a better understanding of options in the market, or are insight-obsessed like us, you can gain unlimited access to all of our valuable calculators by simply entering your email. You’ll also unlock valuable customer experience analytics resources, articles, and other tools to help you quickly elevate your CX program and grow your business.

Best Practices: How to Respond to Negative Reviews

Oftentimes, the way you respond to customers has just as much impact on your online reputation as what’s being said in the first place. Knowing how to respond to negative reviews skillfully minimizes the potential damage the reviews may have on your brand.

You can follow these best practices as you navigate the (sometimes treacherous) waters of Google reviews and ratings.

Assign Ownership and Create a Review Response Policy

Success in managing reviews starts with the commitment to becoming a responsive business. This may sound simple enough, but for organizations with multiple locations represented by multiple business listings and profiles, trying to figure out how to respond to Google reviews can sometimes present a real challenge — especially without an effective review response program or policy in place. 

First, identify people in your organization who will be directly involved in managing your Google Business Profile and responding to reviews. They can be your branch or location managers, your social media marketing team, or even your customer service staff. Be sure to assign ownership to teams or individuals with a good understanding of the guidelines of each review site, who can transform feedback into insights for your company, and who — most important of all — can keep their temper in check.

If you operate in multiple locations, chances are more than one person will be assigned to respond directly to online reviews. This makes it crucial to have an organization-wide policy that guides how your company should proceed whenever new customer reviews are posted on Google or other review websites. 

Response Guidelines for Reviews

Your policy should cover things like:

• What language and tone you should use
• What the timeline is for getting back to customers
• To whom in your organization should the reviews and feedback be shared
• What types of situations do escalations become necessary
• What the ideal response rate is
• Other items that may affect how your company handles reviews

The timeliness of your review responses is particularly crucial. The more clearly defined your policy is, the more smoothly your review response program will run.

Respond in a Timely Manner

According to InMoment research, more than half of your customers who have written reviews expect a response in 7 days or less. 1 in 4 have an even shorter time frame: they expect to hear back from the business within 3 days. To ensure that you don’t miss their feedback, set up review alerts so you are notified of new reviews. 

Also, you definitely don’t want to be logging in and out of every review site manually — this is where a review management software solution will come in handy. Remember: the clock begins ticking once reviews are posted, and customers are waiting to hear back from you.

Address the Reviewer and Say Thank You

Your customers want to be heard individually and addressed personally. Remember to include your salutations and, if possible, avoid generic phrases like “Dear guest” or “Dear customer.” With Google reviews, you can usually get the first name of the reviewer; not addressing them by their names is not an excuse if the information is there. 

Examples of Thank You Responses to Reviews

Remember to also say thank you and show customers that your business appreciates and values candid feedback. Here are examples of how you might phrase your review responses:

• “Thank you for your review. We are sorry to hear you had a frustrating experience, but our team appreciates you bringing this issue to our attention.” 
• “Thank you for your Google review and for bringing this to our attention. We’re sorry you had a bad experience. We’ll strive to do better. ” 
• “Thank you for letting us know about this. Your honest feedback helps us get better. We are looking into this issue and hope to resolve it promptly and accurately.”

Take Responsibility and Apologize

This is one of the most difficult best practices to follow when you’re learning how to respond to negative reviews. Saying sorry shows that you care about your customers and that you’re not too proud to own up to your mistakes. Even if it’s not your fault, and there will be times when this is true, apologize anyway. Besides, people don’t like brands that are too perfect or too proud to apologize.

There will be times when your company has to take full responsibility, particularly in cases where the negative review is accurate. Even if what happened was an uncommon instance, an isolated case, an unfortunate incident, or an off day — acknowledge the customer’s experience. At the same time, provide reassurance that your company holds itself to high standards. 

Here are a few examples of how you can respond: 

• “We always aim to deliver a great experience. We are gutted when we miss the mark! Thanks for taking the time to bring this to our attention. We will use the feedback to make us better and to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
• “We’re so sorry that your experience with our company did not match your expectations. This is on us.” 
• “We set a high standard for ourselves, and we’re so sorry to hear this was not met in your interaction with our business. We’d like the opportunity to investigate your feedback further.”
• “We are truly sorry. We are known for our exceptional attention to detail, and we regret that we missed the mark on this occasion.”

Be Nice and Don’t Get Personal

It’s important to maintain a professional and courteous tone in all your review responses. Never engage in arguments or confrontations online. Even if a review is negative, responding with professionalism can help defuse the situation.

Another key to success is to be solution-oriented, instead of taking the criticism personally. Offer ways to resolve the issues raised in the negative review. This shows that you are proactive in addressing customer concerns. No matter how cutting the feedback is, don’t slam the door on your reviewers. Extend a hand and invite them to come back. This creates an opportunity for your company to change the conversation.

Investigate Issues, Analyze Feedback, and Take Action

As you learn how to respond to negative reviews, remember that your team can always harness customer feedback and use it as an opportunity to learn and improve your products and services. Investigate specific issues that are impacting the customer experience and use analytical tools to gather insights from review data. 

As you reply to your customer, be careful not to use cookie-cutter responses that do not resolve or address the main points of the review. Be as specific as you can about the customer’s experience, and communicate any changes or improvements you have made or will make as a result of their feedback.

If Necessary, Take the Issue Offline

For more complex or sensitive issues, encourage the reviewer to contact you directly through private channels to address their concerns in a more personalized manner. 

Here are examples of how you can phrase this in your review response:

• “We would like the opportunity to investigate your feedback further. Could you please contact our team via (your contact information)? We look forward to working with you to resolve your issues as quickly as possible.” 
• “Thanks for your candid feedback. We are gutted to hear that your experience with our business didn’t quite match your expectations. Our team would love to know the reasons why so that we can deliver a better experience for you next time. You may reach us via (your contact information).” 

Negative Review Response Examples

Here are some more examples of how to respond to negative reviews:

• “Hi (customer’s name), thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re truly sorry to hear that you had a less-than-satisfactory encounter with our (product/service). Your feedback is important to us, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused.”
• “Hello (customer’s name), thanks for taking the time to share your honest feedback. We’re so sorry to hear that your experience with us did not meet your expectations. We understand how frustrating this must be. Your concerns have been shared with our team, and we are actively working on improvements. We would love the chance to make it up to you. If you could reach out to us via (your contact information), we’d be happy to discuss your experience further and address any specific issues you encountered. Your satisfaction is our priority.”
• “We appreciate you taking the time to leave us a review on Google. Your feedback is so important to us, and we want to assure you that we are taking steps to address the issues you raised. In the coming weeks, we have plans to implement improvements to enhance our offering. We hope you’ll give us another chance to exceed your expectations in the future. Thanks again for bringing this to our attention.”

Best Practices: How to Respond to Positive Reviews

As for what to do with positive reviews — they also warrant a response. Think of it as an opportunity to reinforce and spotlight the things customers already love about your brand. (Not to mention, it’s the polite thing to do.) 

Responding to positive reviews also allows you to express gratitude to your satisfied customers. It can do wonders for your brand to have members of your team acknowledge customers’ positive feedback and let them know that you appreciate their support.

Thank Your Reviewers

It’s important to show appreciation for customers who took the time to share their positive experiences. Positive reviews and high ratings can serve as powerful social proof for attracting potential new customers and influencing their decision-making process.

Here are some examples of what you might want to include in your positive review responses:

• “Dear (customer’s name), thank you for taking the time to share your positive experience with us. We’re grateful for customers like you who make our work a joy. We appreciate your support and look forward to serving you again soon.”
• “This review made our day! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave us your amazing feedback.”
• “Our team is so thankful for your kind words. Thank you for sharing your feedback with us and the Google community.” 

Reinforce the Positive

Positive reviews serve as great testimonials for your brand. By responding to them, you not only acknowledge the reviewer but also showcase positive aspects of your products and services to a wider audience. (Responding to the review of a Google Local Guide should also improve the level of engagement other users have with your Business Profile.)

When responding to a positive review on Google or another review website, try to write in a way that lets your brand personality and company values shine through. This can help humanize your brand and make your interactions more relatable. 

Another great tip: often, positive reviews mention specific things that the customer liked best about their experience. Try to identify what this is, then mention it in your response. For example, you can explain that the matcha mochi cakes that people love so much are homemade; let them in on how your company works with local organic farmers when sourcing vegetables and fruits; and tell them that others have also commented on the spectacular views that can be enjoyed from your beachfront hotel properties.

Pass Along the Compliment

Responding to reviews is a way for you to share the best feedback you get, but also make it a point to let your teams know when they’re doing great work, and to call out individuals who contributed to the customer’s positive experience. 

Creating a culture where positive feedback is celebrated fosters a positive working environment. It reinforces the importance of customer satisfaction and encourages a collective effort toward delivering exceptional experiences.

Sharing positive reviews is also a form of recognition for your team’s efforts. It validates their work and reinforces the idea that their contributions are making a positive difference for customers.

Positive Review Response Examples

Here are some more examples of how to respond to positive reviews:

• “Hello (customer’s name), thank you so much for your kind words! We’re thrilled to hear that you enjoyed your experience with our company. Your satisfaction is our top priority, and we look forward to serving you again soon.”
• “We’re delighted to receive your positive feedback about (specific aspect of your product or service). Your review means a lot to us, and we thank you for taking the time to share your experience. Our company is committed to maintaining this level of service, and we can’t wait to welcome you back.”
• “Thank you for your glowing review! We are so happy to hear that you had a great experience with us. Your satisfaction is our motivation. We can’t wait to see you again soon. If you ever need anything, feel free to reach out!”

Protect Your Brand Reputation with InMoment

As your company gets started with learning how to respond to Google reviews, remember to approach your replies carefully and remain empathetic to the customer’s experience. By engaging with customers and showing that your company appreciates and values their feedback, you can minimize the impact of negative comments and reinforce positives in the customer experience. 

For managers of brands with multiple business locations, you can take InMoment’s local listings management software for a test drive to discover how our solution can improve your efficiency, supercharge your response strategy, and help your organization stay on top of what customers are saying on Google and across all the important review websites. 

In today’s digital landscape, the importance of social media marketing cannot be understated. Social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, X (formerly called Twitter), TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn (among others) are essential for businesses looking to attract customers, gather valuable feedback, and foster customer loyalty. 

According to research:

• 47% of consumers reach out to brands on social because they have a product or service question. 
• Answering a complaint on social media can increase customer advocacy by 25%. (Convince and Convert) Customers who feel engaged by companies on social media will spend up to 40% more with them than other customers.

Social media is also an important source of data essential to understanding the kind of customer experience your company is delivering: social signals contain a wealth of information that can help you make informed decisions about product development, marketing strategies, and customer service improvements.

Why is Social Media Important?

Social media is vital for its ability to connect companies with their target audience, enhance brand visibility, facilitate engagement, and provide valuable data for informed decision-making.

Social Media is a Vital Part of an Integrated CX Strategy

Social media provides a platform for real-time interaction, feedback, and relationship-building between your company and your customers. It is also a valuable source of unstructured data, which is crucial for achieving a more complete, accurate view of the customer as well as delivering improved experiences.

Unstructured data refers to information that does not have a specific, predefined data model or structure. Unlike structured data, which is organized into well-defined tables or schemas (e.g., a database), unstructured data lacks a consistent format and is not easily searchable or analyzable with traditional data processing techniques.

• According to IBM, as much as 80% of all data today (including enterprise-relevant information) is unstructured.

Social media (comments, posts, and interactions) often contains a significant portion of unstructured data. Using information from unstructured data, companies can gain valuable insights into how to improve their brand, products, services, and overall customer experience. 

Companies that can collect and analyze unstructured data using tools like natural language processing and AI customer experience technology also often have a more complete understanding of their customers, and can therefore more easily measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

Moreover, businesses that effectively harness unstructured data may gain a competitive advantage. That’s because analyzing unstructured data can reveal trends, emerging market opportunities, and competitive threats that may not be easily apparent through structured data alone.

Social Media Marketing Builds Brand Reputation

Social media marketing is also a powerful brand reputation management tactic. Consistent positive engagement, authenticity, responsiveness, and a commitment to customer-centric values contribute to building a strong and favorable brand image on social media platforms.

Social media is an excellent platform for sharing expertise, insights, and valuable information. Brands that share educational content and establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry can enhance their reputation. 

Social media also allows you to showcase your brand personality. By sharing behind-the-scenes content, company values, and employee stories, brands can humanize themselves, creating a more relatable and transparent image that’s essential to growing a positive brand reputation. 

Social Media Boosts Brand Awareness and Search Visibility

An effective social media marketing strategy can enhance brand awareness, improve search visibility, and contribute to overall brand success in the digital realm. By creating and sharing engaging content, you can immediately improve brand awareness and visibility among a diverse and extensive user base. Shares, likes, and comments on social media contribute to the organic spread of brand content, exposing it to a wider audience.

Social media can also impact the search engine performance of your brand and business locations. Social signals such as likes, shares, and comments are considered by search engines as indicators of a brand’s authority and relevance. High engagement on social media can also positively impact your search engine rankings. Moreover, your brand’s social media profiles will likely appear in search engine results, providing additional opportunities for users to discover and engage with your business.

Social Media Helps You Generate and Nurture Leads

With strategic planning, you can generate and nurture leads from social media. Platforms like Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok have billions of active users, providing companies with access to a vast and diverse audience. This broad reach allows you to connect with and nurture potential leads across different demographics and interests. Typically, these platforms also offer a more cost-effective alternative to traditional advertising channels.

You can also leverage social media analytics to gain insights into user behavior and develop the ability to segment your audience based on demographics, interests, and engagement levels. This segmentation helps in crafting more personalized and targeted lead generation and nurturing strategies.

Social Media Listening Promotes Better Customer Understanding

The conversations that are happening on social media about your brand can be used as a powerful tool to help your company identify trends and improve your market position. 

With an effective social media listening strategy in place, you’ll be able to influence a wide range of processes, including product research and development, business operations, advertising approaches, and customer experience management. Ultimately, social listening will help your company gather valuable unstructured feedback and make better business decisions based on social media analysis and data.

Social Media Supports Great Customer Experiences

Integrating social media data with your customer relationship management system provides a comprehensive view of customer interactions across various channels, enabling your team to deliver more personalized and cohesive experiences. It also enables the formation of communities around your brand: communities where customers can connect, share great experiences, and provide peer-to-peer support. 

Social media also supports great customer experiences by allowing for more personalized communication with customers. Your organization can use social media data to tailor your messages and offers based on individual preferences, creating a more personalized and relevant customer experience.

Social Media Plays a Crucial Role in Crisis Management

Negative comments, feedback, and reviews on social media can spread quickly. Before you know it, a single negative review, comment, or tweet can grow into a full-blown brand crisis. By engaging in proactive social media management, your organization can quickly identify and mitigate these threats to your brand reputation.

Integrating social media into your crisis management activities lets your team jump into critical user-generated conversations. This makes it easier to resolve issues, respond to customers, and minimize the impact that negative social media comments may have on your brand. 

• According to EveryoneSocial, 79% of consumers expect brands to respond within a day of reaching out over social media, but average brand response rates across all industries are lower than 25%.

Says best-selling author and customer service expert Chip Bell: “In the customer’s mind, the clock starts when he or she posts a negative comment or review, and your reputation drops with every hour you delay in providing a response. Be honest, be apologetic, and offer the aggrieved customer an easy way to access you. In the social media world, you are assumed guilty until your response alters public perception.”

Social Media Analytics: Transform Insights into Action

The most successful brands listen to and act on social media analytics and insights in order to understand customers better and deliver improved experiences. Here are some considerations you can make as your team looks to do the same.

• Define clear objectives. Clearly define your objectives and the specific questions you want to answer through social media data analysis. This will guide your analysis and help you focus on relevant insights.
• Choose the right metrics. Identify the appropriate metrics most relevant to your business objectives. Also, focus on platforms where your customers are actively engaging with your brand.
• Monitor brand mentions and sentiment. Use social media monitoring tools like Hootsuite to track mentions, comments, and conversations related to your brand. This allows you to identify customer sentiment, concerns, and feedback in real time.
• Respond to feedback. When you invest in a social media software platform, there’s a temptation to let your data management tools do all the work. This shouldn’t exempt your company from engaging with and listening and responding to customers who have shared their feedback. Technological capability is great, but it won’t close the loop on your behalf.
• Analyze customer feedback. Don’t make data collection your goal. More information, after all, doesn’t necessarily equate to smarter business decisions. Focus on how you can gather actionable insights from social media data and customer feedback, as well as how you can address challenges based on the information available.
• Track trends and industry insights. Apart from tracking information being posted on social media about your brand, it’s also useful to compare your social media data against benchmarks, industry standards, or competitors to gain a broader perspective and identify areas for improvement.
• Invest in a social media marketing software platform. The world’s top brands are using Hootsuite to manage social media, monitor customer conversations, collect unstructured data, and gather meaningful insights from these conversations and data. Your company can make a similar investment to foster an organizational culture in which everyone from the C-suite to the frontline is empowered and equipped to listen to the Voice of the Customer.

Maximize the Importance of Social Media Marketing with InMoment and Hootsuite

By understanding the importance of social media marketing and analyzing unstructured data from social media platforms, you can gain valuable insights into the customer experience. This, in turn, empowers your organization to make informed decisions and positively impact customer experiences. To drive efficiency, leverage Hootsuite and its integration with InMoment’s reputation management software so you can act upon social signals, access the full spectrum of conversation around your brand, transform social data into actionable insights, and accelerate experience improvements.

Google reviews are synonymous with success in today’s business environment. Whether you operate in retail, financial services, insurance, or any other industry, consumers will not purchase your product or services if you have poor Google business reviews. 

Some people may think that Google reviews are out of their control. That couldn’t be further from the truth. You can create a strategy to handle the end-to-end process of Google reviews for business. This strategy can be used in tandem with your online reputation management strategies. 

What are Google Reviews? 

Google Reviews are user-generated evaluations and comments about businesses and services that are posted on Google’s platform. Users can leave reviews for various establishments such as restaurants, hotels, shops, and more. These reviews often include ratings, written feedback, and sometimes photos. The ratings typically range from one to five stars, with one star indicating a poor experience and five stars representing an excellent one.

Businesses can claim their Google My Business listing, which allows them to manage and respond to reviews. Positive reviews can enhance a business’s online reputation and attract more customers, while negative reviews may have the opposite effect. 

Why Are Google Reviews Important?

Over 80% of consumers look at Google reviews before visiting or shopping at a business, and according to research by InMoment, customers don’t trust companies with lower than a 4-star rating average. Up to 94% say a negative review or social media comment has convinced them to avoid a company. These online reputation management statistics show that the reviews that show up related to your business and your products/services have increasing power in driving customer acquisition. Along with customer acquisition, there are a lot of other reasons that make Google reviews important. 

• Consumer Trust: Positive reviews build trust and confidence in a business, while negative reviews may lead potential customers to reconsider.
• Online Reputation: Google reviews contribute significantly to a business’s online reputation. A strong, positive online reputation can attract more customers, improve brand image, and differentiate a business from its competitors.
• Local SEO Ranking: Google takes into account the quantity and quality of reviews when determining local search rankings. Businesses with more positive reviews are likely to appear higher in local search results, increasing their visibility to potential customers.
• Customer Engagement: Responding to reviews, both positive and negative, allows businesses to engage with their customers. It shows that the business values customer feedback and is committed to providing a good experience. Engaging with reviews can also help address concerns and resolve issues publicly.
• Social Proof: Positive reviews serve as social proof that others have had a positive experience with a business. This can be a powerful motivator for potential customers who are considering a purchase or service.
• Customer Insights: Reviews offer businesses insights to the emotions and experiences of their customers. This can help identify pain points and lead to making decisions that positively impact the customer experience. 
• New Opportunities: Similarly to insights, reviews can also unveil new opportunities to introduce or improve something that your customers want. By doing this, you improve customer retention and also gain a competitive advantage over your competitors. 

Another importance of Google Reviews is their correlation with the Google Local Guide program. Participating users of this program earn points by writing reviews, or sharing pictures and videos. This program benefits both parties as the business gets added social proof with the reviews and pictures or videos while the customers get rewarded with different items, events or promotions from Google. 

How Google Reviews Impact Your Business Performance

Google business reviews can be directly correlated to how your brand shows up in search engine results. Positive reviews contribute to an enhanced online reputation, influence Google’s local search algorithms, and boost your business’s visibility in relevant searches. The quantity and quality of reviews serve as a key factor in determining the local SEO ranking, ensuring that your brand is more likely to be featured prominently on search engine results pages.

This increased visibility attracts more potential customers and establishes a positive first impression, as consumers often prioritize businesses with a strong and positive online presence. Effectively managing and responding to reviews becomes crucial, as this engagement not only fosters customer trust but also signals to search engines that your business is actively involved and responsive to customer feedback, further enhancing your position in search engine rankings.

How to Start Managing Your Business Google Reviews

In order to start managing and receiving reviews, you first need to claim your Google My Business account. Through Google My Business, you can update essential business information such as name, address, phone number, pictures, and so forth. Here is the best way to get started with your GMB account. 

1. Claim Your Google My Business Account

Visit the Google My Business website and sign in with your Google account. If you don’t have one, create a Google account for your business. Search for your business on Google. If it’s already listed, claim the existing listing. If not, create a new one by providing accurate and detailed information about your business.

2. Verify Your Business

Google will send a verification code to your business address. This is typically done through a postcard. Once received, enter the verification code in your GMB account to confirm and authenticate your ownership.

3. Complete Your Business Profile

Fill out all relevant information in your profile, including your business name, address, phone number, website, business hours, and a concise business description. Ensure that this information is accurate and consistent with your other online platforms.

4. Add High-Quality Photos

Enhance your Google My Business profile by adding high-quality photos of your business, products, and services. Visual content can significantly impact a potential customer’s perception and decision-making.

5. Enable Customer Reviews

Finally, make sure that customer reviews are enabled in your account settings. Now you can start receiving reviews and responding to them to build your online reputation. 

How to Track Google Reviews

Tracking Google reviews can be done within the platform itself, however this is only feasible if you are a one-location business. For more developed businesses managing multiple locations, the smartest way to track your Google reviews is to utilize reputation management software. 

InMoment’s featured partnership with Google My Business allows you to have access to a comprehensive solution to monitor and manage Google business reviews, as well as reviews from other sites like Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Facebook. This CX integration gives you capabilities that include, but are not limited to:

• Review monitoring, which pulls in and aggregates all your reviews
• Review response, which allows companies to respond to Google reviews directly from the InMoment dashboard
• Review generation, which helps businesses proactively ask for reviews and customer feedback through email and SMS campaigns.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Google Business Reviews

When dealing with large amounts of reviews, reputation management software allows you to be able to respond and track every review you receive. InMoment software provides a functionality for users to respond to reviews automatically, leveraging the power of AI. These response prompts can be generated based on the content of the review or brand guidelines, or they can be generated using conditional logic to change the tone and formatting. For example, a five-star review response will be different from one for a one-star review. 

However, our software does not stop at giving you the ability to respond to a large number of reviews, we also give you the power to track what is being said in those reviews. The platform meticulously monitors the number of ratings, offering insights into the overall star distribution, which is crucial for businesses gauging their online reputation. Additionally, InMoment employs advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) and keyword extraction techniques to conduct customer sentiment analysis. This comprehensive approach enables businesses to delve deeper into the qualitative aspects of customer feedback, identifying sentiments expressed in reviews.

Track Your Google Reviews with InMoment

Google business reviews play an important role in how today’s consumers discover and judge businesses. They can also shape a brand’s online reputation, as well as reveal valuable insights into a company’s operations, showing areas where an organization can improve customer service and experience.

By tracking, responding to, and generating reviews on Google — and by applying best practices in reputation management — you can improve your brand’s search visibility, outperform competitors, and acquire more customers. Schedule a reputation management demo today to see how we can help your business! 

The Google Local Guide program features a global community of users that companies can engage with to support their marketing activities, build brand reputation, manage online reviews and ratings, and improve online search visibility and exposure.

While the impact of Local Guides on brand reputation management strategy is largely dependent on the quality and quantity of the contributions from the Guides, businesses can respond to these contributions and leverage the program to enhance their online presence and manage their reputation. 

What is the Google Local Guide Program?

The Google Local Guides program is a community-driven initiative by Google that encourages users to contribute information about local businesses, places, and attractions. Participating users are called Local Guides, and they share their knowledge and customer experiences by writing reviews, adding pictures and videos, updating information found on business listings, and answering questions about various locations on Google Maps.

Local Guides earn points for their contributions, which they can accumulate and use to unlock different levels within the program. Each level comes with various Local Guide benefits and perks, such as early access to new Google features, exclusive events, and special promotions or discounts. 

The Google Local Guide program is designed to improve the accuracy and completeness of local business information on Google Maps, all while fostering a sense of community among users who are passionate about sharing their insights about and experiences of the places they visit.

By participating in the Local Guides program, users help enhance the overall quality of information available on Google Maps, making it more useful and reliable for people seeking details about businesses, landmarks, and other points of interest in different locations around the world.

How Do Customers Become a Local Guide?

Anyone with a Google account can become a Local Guide. To start making contributions, users simply have to download the Google Maps app on a mobile device or access it through a Web browser. To join the program, users can follow these steps:

• Open Google Maps and sign in with your Google account. 
• Tap on the three horizontal lines in the top-left corner to open the menu. 
• Scroll down and select “Your contributions.” Tap on “Join Local Guides” and follow the instructions to sign up for the program.
• Alternatively, users can sign up by visiting https://maps.google.com/localguides/. 

To earn points and enjoy Google Local Guide benefits, users can score a place with ratings, describe their experience with reviews, share photos and videos, respond to questions about certain places, submit edits to help update business information, add missing places, or verify information by checking facts.

The Local Guides program is for individuals, not businesses. Contributions from businesses or business pages will not count towards Local Guides levels or benefits.

Google Local Guide Benefits and Perks

Local Guides earn points for every contribution they make on Google Maps. The more points they accumulate, the higher their Local Guides level will be. Here is a list of the types of contributions that Google Local Guides can make, alongside the corresponding number of points per contribution.

• Review: 10 points per review 
• Review: with more than 200 characters: 10 bonus points per review 
• Rating: 1 point per rating 
• Photo: 5 points per photo 
• Photo tags: 3 points per tag 
• Video: 7 points per video 
• Caption (In photo update): 10 points per caption 
• Answer: 1 point per answer 
• Respond to Q&As: 3 points per response 
• Edit: 5 points per edit 
• Place added: 15 points per place added 
• Road added: 15 points per road added 
• Fact checked: One point per checked fact

Levels range from 1 to 10, and as users reach higher levels, they may unlock additional benefits. At Level 4, users will be able to unlock their first Local Guides badge, which helps their contributions to places get noticed. 

Google Local Guide benefits and perks include early access to features and services on Google Maps, discounts on Google products, invitations to special events, parties, and meetups, eligibility to test new Google products and services before public release, and thank-you gifts for high-quality contributions to Google Maps. Some Local Guides even receive additional Google Drive storage as a perk.

How the Local Guide Program Contributes to Local Business Listings

Google Local Guides contribute to the accuracy and completeness of local business information on Google Maps, making it easier for others to find what they’re looking for, while also helping support businesses by enhancing their discoverability and search visibility. 

In short, Local Guides help make Google Maps, an important business discovery platform, work better. 

By actively participating in the Local Guides program, contributors play an important role in enhancing the quality of information available on Google Maps. This, in turn, benefits both businesses and users looking for reliable and accurate details about local establishments. The program relies on the efforts of Local Guides to keep local business listings (officially called Google Business Profiles) comprehensive and helpful.

Google Local Guide: Implications on Reputation Management

The type and quality of contributions that Local Guides make can work in your favor and support your online reputation management strategy. Here are some of the ways the Local Guide program impacts the reputation of businesses, no matter the size and category.  

Detailed Reviews and Ratings

Positive reviews written by Local Guides can help enhance your brand reputation, while negative feedback can drive away potential customers. 

Interestingly, Local Guides’ reviews and ratings tend to show up at the top of listings because the content is usually longer and includes photos and videos; they also contribute to the overall star rating displayed prominently on Google Business Profiles and Maps listings, which can influence potential customers’ decisions. 

Online Search Visibility and Exposure

Google Business Profiles with a steady stream of positive reviews and a substantial amount of information provided by Local Guides may see an increase in visibility on Google Maps and other Google services. This improved visibility can attract more potential customers.

Moreover, businesses that attract active participation from Local Guides may experience higher levels of user engagement on Google Maps. Detailed reviews, helpful information, and updated details about a business can encourage users to interact more with the Business Profile to ask questions, get directions, book an appointment, and more.

Brand Trust and Credibility

Content generated by Local Guides can also contribute to your brand credibility and trustworthiness. Users often rely on reviews from real customers to make informed decisions about where to go and what services to use. By having user-generated content published by Local Guides on your Google Business Profile (instead of promotional brand content), you can inspire greater consumer trust and confidence. 

Local SEO Impact

Whether it’s a review, a set of photos and videos, answers to Q&As, or image captions, content generated by Local Guides can positively impact your business locations’ search engine optimization (SEO) performance. If your Google Business Profile features more detailed and positive content from Local Guides, you may be able to rank higher in local search results.

Community Building

Brands that actively engage with the Local Guides community may foster a sense of community support. This engagement can lead to more positive interactions with customers and potentially create brand advocates within the Local Guides community. 

Customer Experience Management

While positive reviews can be beneficial, negative reviews from Local Guides can also provide valuable customer feedback for companies as they try to identify areas for improvement. Responding to reviews, especially constructive criticism, can show that a business is proactive in addressing customer concerns. More importantly, unsolicited feedback shared by vocal customers can serve as a valuable source of insight into how to deliver better customer experiences. 

How to Drive Google Local Guides to Your Business

Spotting a Google Local Guide in person is tricky unless you recognize their face from their profile photo. The key to getting recognition from a Local Guide is to treat all your customers like one, working to exceed their expectations and deliver great experiences. 

Here are some keys to successfully engaging with Google Local Guides:

• Manage your Google Business Profile. Optimize your Business Profile with correct, complete, and up-to-date business information. At the top of the list of updated items should be the business name, address, operating hours, and phone number.
• Respond to reviews. Local Guides (and, in general, all of your customers) care about being responded to. In fact, according to InMoment research, 53% of customers expect a review response within 7 days. But as much as 63% say that they have never heard back from a business after leaving a review. Timely review responses can immediately improve consumer perception of your business.
• Don’t incentivize or buy reviews. Contributions from Local Guides as well as from your customers should happen organically. Don’t buy Google reviews or get into the practice of creating incentivized, fake reviews just to capture more feedback. Both methods violate the Google review policy, and government agencies and regulators like the FTC are cracking down on companies using these methods by handing out massive financial penalties.
• Publish Google Posts. By incorporating Google Posts into your listing management strategy, you can attract more customers while signaling to Google that your business is active and engaged. Regular updates ensure your profile remains fresh, complete, and relevant.
• Analyze Local Guides’ feedback for insights. Candid, authentic, detailed feedback from Local Guides can help your company achieve a more complete, accurate, and integrated picture of the customer experience. Text content found in reviews, in particular, holds rich information that you simply cannot ignore. Focus on how you can gather actionable insights from Local Guides’ reviews, as well as how you can address challenges based on the information available.

Drive Engagement with InMoment’s Reputation Management Software

Your company can gain a competitive edge by learning how to capitalize on content generated by the Google Local Guide program. With InMoment’s local listings management software, you can drive higher engagement levels with Local Guides, build a stronger brand reputation, achieve greater search visibility for your business locations, and leverage AI-powered technology to capture powerful customer experience insights — all from one powerful software platform.