The Importance Of Online Reviews
Love them or hate them; internet reviews remain a critical component to help build and promote your Salon or Personal Care business. Most of the time, promoting reviews comes with hesitation. You may be thinking, I don’t like to boast about myself or may have questions like, “What if a customer writes a negative review or completely false? What if one client’s bad experience turns other possible customers away?” The truth is it might happen once in a while, but the gains of a rugged online appearance and reviews can be the distinction between a growing business and one that is failing. Our industry thrives when customers leave a useful review! Those rarities that you do get a bad review, there are tactics to overcome those as well. Use this blog as a guide to get the most out of your online presence.
Where To Start
If you are not already asking your clients to review your work or are feeling uncomfortable, the right way to start is by saying something like,” I have been working really hard on getting my online presence up to par. If you wouldn’t mind leaving some reviews about your experience today it could greatly help my business and contribute to my success as a salon owner!” Your customer will most likely not mind writing up a quick review for you! Whatever you say, you have to sound genuine and confident.
When To Break The Ice
A great time to bring this up is during the client’s processing time. While the customer is waiting for their color to process, they can write up a quick review! Another great time to bring it up is during the customer’s checkout. Right before the customer is ready to leave, encourage them of the importance of their review and how much you would appreciate it! You can help the customer by pulling up your page on their phone if necessary.
Use Other Resources
Suppose you don’t feel comfortable asking your customer in person. In that case, you could always send out a text campaign or email campaign asking current customers for an online review with an offer like a free hair mask during their next service if they leave a review!
Here a few reasons you should take advantage of the incredible impact that reviews can deliver.
Online Reviews Place You In Control Of Your Reputation And Success
If you choose not to focus on reviews for your beauty salon or Barber Shop, a website like Google and Yelp allow customers to create businesses to leave reviews. So it would be best if you made those pages yourself so that you’re in control and see every review. There will be talk online about your business no matter what. You will want to be aware of any chatter whatsoever. You must be monitoring any online reviews that are going on about your business.
Monitoring will ensure the protection of your reputation. Setting up and verifying your Yelp page is an absolute must. Doing it yourself will make sure that you are in control of your online presence. Yelp is probably one of the most important sites when it comes to your review management. You will need to add pictures, link your website, social media, and contact information for new customers to get ahold of you quickly!
Provides Your New Clients Trustworthiness
When a new customer reads about positive reviews from current and former clients, it will provide your business with credibility and trustworthiness. New customers will feel confident and choosing your services because of the positive experiences reviewed on your Yelp or Google pages.
It Will Make Your Business More Reachable To Potential Clients
Much like if you want to ensure a positive experience for your customers, Google Yelp and Facebook also want to provide their clients the same. When a new customer searches for a salon in their area, their particular search engine or social media platform will prioritize a salon or barbershop with more reviews over salons and barbershops with negative reviews or little to no reviews. The more amazing reviews you have on your page, the more likely you will appear at the top of the customer’s search results.
Will Leave The Decision Making Simple
When searching for a new place to grab drinks or anything in general, most customers will go online to look at reviews first. You probably do the same thing! let’s use a restaurant, for example. When looking for a new restaurant, not only will you want to see the menu location and hours of operation, but you also want to see how other people left reviews about the food and atmosphere. You also want to know how the service was! Looking for a salon or a barbershop is precisely the same.
When someone’s looking for a new stylist or barber, they’re going to search people in their area and look for the best reviews, service, and talent. most people will make their final decision right then and there when looking on those Google Facebook or Yelp pages. If there are two salons that both look promising, most likely, the customer will choose the salon that has more positive reviews.
Free Advertisement For Your Business
You don’t need to spend money; customer reviews are a marketing tactic if you think about it. They don’t only serve as self-promotion! If you don’t have a large marketing allowance or marketing strategy, using reviews can significantly increase your income and client retention. Customers leaving reviews is free for you. Rather than spending cash on social media ads or other marketing strategies, considering customer reviews’ promotion will save you money and promote your business.
Allows For Better Engagement
One of the most significant advantages of online platforms is that they can hold a two-way conversation just like social media platforms. Having a conversation with the customer allows you to thank the customers for their reviews or if you need to apologize and explain yourself for any bad reviews. When a new customer sees that you’re engaging with reviews, they will instantly know that you’re a caring and professional stylist or barber.
Reassurance And Validation
Let’s say one of your clients referred you to someone that complimented their hair out in public. When that person goes online and looks up your business, The reviews will reassure them that you are a great stylist or barber based on the reviews and will allow them to decide the book with you right away. Another essential thing to know is that with covid-19, many clients are using the review section to Learn if the salons or barbershops are being safe and following the CDC guidelines as far as covid-19 is concerned. Your clients must leave reviews detailing that you’re following the CDC guidelines and explaining how safe they felt getting their hair done. Many clients are still scared to get their hair done, potentially bringing more clients into your chair.
Outstanding Modern and Enhanced “Word of Mouth”
There is something to be said about social proof! Even if you spend an extraordinary amount of money on marketing and have the best marketing strategy out there, the reality is new customers are going to trust your current and former customer’s opinion and review more than your fancy advertisements.
Technology has its downfalls for sure, but one thing that’s great about technology is we no longer need to rely on just plain old Word of Mouth. We can now access Word of Mouth right at our fingertips on the internet by reading the review section. There are a large variety of phone apps out there that allow customers to leave reviews and advertise. Ensure you’re taking full advantage of all of the free apps and pushing your clients to review and refer you to their neighbors.
Once you’ve gathered some excellent reviews, make sure to highlight them on your website and your social media. Sharing those reviews will ensure that new and potential customers will see the reviews on all of your platforms. It’s essential to update them and keep them fresh. The more reviews you have, the better!
Written By: Catie Delahanty
