Who wouldn’t like the ability to share a great review like this on their Social Media pages?
When this review popped up in the Tourism Tribes Facebook page and I knew it was one of our members, I jumped for joy and in this blog I tell you why it’s important, what you need to do and how to go about gathering reviews.
If you are not convinced, here is a second real life example, during her travels around Australia, Fabienne met fabulous caravan park managers Janine and Shawn. These guys had zero marketing budget but managed to take their TripAdvisor reviews from Zero to Hero.
What was their technique?
Standing at the boom gate at checkout handing out little TripAdvisor business cards to everyone thanking them for their visit. All that cost was a little time and effort. Janine and Shawn have now moved to Big4 Atherton in North Queensland in case you wanted to check out thier website.
So even if you don’t have a marketing budget you can get your guests to do your marketing for you!
Why are reviews like this GOLD?
We all know online reviews are important, peer to peer advice is highly regarded by your potential customers and therefore is an important conversion tool.
Why is this so?
You may use the reviews as part of the elimination process, or if you are like me and book your travel online, you generally narrow down your choice and just before you enter your credit card you check the online reviews just to be sure.
Personally, I have a 80/20 rule, because I assume that a percentage of the population just like to complain. However, if I see that around 20% of reviews are negative, it rings alarm bells, especially if there is a common thread. I am once again turned off if these negative reviews are not addressed or even acknowledged by the business owner. I am confident I am not alone in feeling this way and in this case I generally look elsewhere.
Why are reviews so important?
Reviews are an “spotlight” on your business. If you want to learn how reviews can improve your business we suggest you read this blog here.
TIP – Try not to take the negative reviews personally and use them to improve your business. Remember if you employ staff that you need to lead by example, empower them to make decisions and solve guest problems if you are not available.
Get your product offering right……
If your business provides excellent customer service and has a great product offering that suits a certain demographic then you need to use reviews to promote your business and help with your marketing.
TIP – By using the term “certain demographic” I mean not every business needs to be 5 star, it just needs to meet the customer expectations and priced accordingly.
So, if you’ve got a great product and great customer service it’s time to start gathering your reviews and publishing them.
9 practical tips on gathering reviews
The first and most important tip is delivering awesome customer service! If there is a problem, actively listen and acknowledge it, then offer a practical solution where possible, address the review online and provide information on the proposed solution.
Upon check in
- Set the expectations, by ensuring your guests know they can contact you if they have any concerns, even if you are off site and that you will endevour to address the issue.
At check out
- Upon farewelling every guest, ensure they know where and how to give you a review by and handing them a TripAdvisor card and asking them to leave a review.
- Have an ipad on your desk with TripAdvisor opened up for people to log in or even offer to do it for them if they are not familiar with technology.
After departure
- If you’re not onsite or don’t manage to physically catch up with your guests before they leave, you should currently be sending send a follow up email to every guest to thank them for their stay, and whilst you’re doing that why not ask for a review? be sure to provide a link in the email to make it as easy as possible, by embedding links to your TripAdvisor pages.
Use your Online presence to encourage reviews by:
- Embedding a TripAdvisor widget into their website alongside other social icons like Facebook, Instagram etc. More information can be found here.
- Integrating a TripAdvisor Review menu item into your Facebook page.
Other marketing activities
- Displaying certificates of excellence TripAdvisor logos on branded pop up banners and posters in your office.
- Include TripAdvisor reviews in customer testimonials in online and offline marketing collateral.
So why not adopt some of these practices in your business so you’ll be in a position to promote yourself on your Social Media channels like Fantasea.
The tourism Tribe would like to acknowledge the experts and members who contributed to this forum post which formed the basis of this blog. If you wish to get more tips please click here.
Additional resources and information can be found here:
- How To Encourage Guest Reviews: https://www.reviewpro.com/resources/guide-how-to-increase-guest-reviews-at-your-hotel/
- AskNicely (http://www.asknice.ly/) , this website triggers lots of great, one-line comments which you can use on your testimonials page
