When responding to reviews, follow the number of stars and the amount of text

By responding promptly to your reviews, you can easily increase brand trust, customer loyalty and conversions. However, according to a new study, it's not always worth responding to all texts; the quantity and number of stars is the deciding factor. Find out more in today's article.

Reviews are not a one-way street, work with them

Whether customers are praising you or teasing you, they always want you to respond in an organic, personalized way. If you do, you can enjoy the following benefits¹.

• 65% of buyers will experience increased brand loyalty.
• They are 25% less likely to move to a competitor.
• 75% will go on to brag about their experience, boosting word of mouth or Off-Page SEO.

Is it really necessary to respond to all reviews?

That's the exact question you're probably asking yourself right now. We'll offer you the answer through an analysis of a recent study² that examined nearly 4,000 responses to nearly 30,000 hotel reviews from Tripadvisor. The results are surprising and knowing them will take your review management to a whole new level.

If you only have a few strongly negative reviews, resolve them privately

If the hotels in the study responded to them publicly, they were more likely to hurt themselves financially, as the texts were mostly along the lines of "we're so sorry, but there's nothing we can do about it". The study therefore recommends that the problem should be addressed with the client on a personal level, an email or a quick phone call will do. If successful, you'll increase the chances of the buyer returning to the review and increasing the original number of stars.

A small number of positive reviews, on the other hand, offers space to shine

If you're starting out as a brand or have launched a new product, and you only have a few positive reviews so far, it's important to respond to each one, according to the study. People will scrutinize them carefully, with 97% focusing primarily on your response. If it's appropriate, they'll get a sense of a community lovebrand that cares about all aspects of their business. This increases brandtrust and the resulting sales.

As the number of positive reviews increases, respond less

If the number of your reviews is starting to be in the lower hundreds, you need to scale back on the responses. Even if people want to see at least 100 reviews, a lot of texts will exhaust them very quickly and your replies would only contribute to that. In the worst case scenario, they then put buyers into a state of cognitive overload, which correlates strongly negatively with sales³.

For a large number of negative reviews, then, it's exactly the opposite - resolve what you can!

A large number of negative reviews is a clear signal for concern, most people will read them very carefully. By responding to them, you have a chance to set the record straight or show that even if you are wrong, you can resolve the situation to satisfaction. This ability is highly valued by people, and even properly handled negative reviews can ironically increase sales. So take extra care and handle each case individually.

References 

1. Sprout Social. (2020, June 15). The Q2 2016 Sprout Social Index | Sprout Social.

2. Daniels College of Business. (2019, January 17). New Research Gives Insight to Businesses on how to Respond to Online Reviews. 

3. Why Cognitive Load is Hurting Your Conversions (and How to Fix It). (2021, June 14). The Good.