Customer Surveying for Apple Specialists
Below is my deck from the Apple Specialist Conference in Miami, Florida. I presented "Two Quick Questions", a seminar on using the Net Promoter Score to:
- Measure customer satisfaction, which directly links to profitability and customer retention
- Measure employee engagement, which directly links to customer engagement and referrals
- Praise employees for good experiences and source testimonials
- Diagnose knowledge and performance gaps
- Listen to the voice of your customer
- Find your "moments of truth"
- Net Promoter Score official website and book
- My article on Best Practices to Responding to Yelp Reviews
- SurveyMonkey
50 Things Your Customers Wish You Knew
No matter what type of business you run, this list by Sonia Simone is required reading. Keep these in mind whether you’re writing web copy or dealing with a customer service issue.A few of my favorites were:
- My life is really stressful. If you can reduce that stress, you become immensely valuable to me.
- Your employees treat me about as well as you treat them.
- Telling me what you don’t know makes me trust you.
- The wealthier I get, the more I like free stuff.
- A lot of the time, I secretly feel like a lost little kid. I don’t admit it, but I want to be taken care of.
- I don’t understand how to use your Web site, but I can’t admit that because it would make me feel dumb.
- I want to buy your product, but I need you to help me justify it to myself.
- I believe that most of what’s wrong in my life is someone else’s fault. Let me keep that cozy illusion and I’ll believe anything you say.
Best Practices for Responding to Yelp Reviews for Business Owners
Here’s the top tips you should know from Yelp’s Join the Conversation About Your Business webinar on June 22, 2011, along with my insights from managing client customer reviews.
YELP MYTHS
The Majority of Reviews are Negative83% of reviews on Yelp are positive. From my work on CitySearch and Google Reviews, overall our Yelp audience is more fair.Yelp Doesn’t Do Anything To Protect Businesses from Questionable Reviews
- Consumers can remove review themselves, if the situation was corrected by the business owner
- Reviews that violate Yelp guidelines will get removed by the customer support team.
- Reviews can’t represent a conflict of interest. If a competitor is writing a review it will be removed.
- Reviews must be a first-hand experience. Something that a friend told you about a business will be removed.
- Lewd and offensive language gets removed.
About the Review FilterAn automated filter suppresses some reviews. Typically short or intelligible reviews. You cannot manually add or delete reviews from the suppression filter. Yelp is tight lipped about how this works so that no business can abuse or benefit from it.
CONTESTING A REVIEW
There are two methods to contest a review.
- Go to yelp.com/contact and select “Questionable Content”. This may take longer but you’ll get an email response back from customer support.
- Flag the review on the business page. This will be reviewed faster but you will not get an emailed response about the resolution.
TALKING TO YOUR CUSTOMERS
There are two methods to respond to reviews posted on your business page: Private & Public. Once you are logged into your http://biz.yelp.com account and uploaded a human photo to your account you can:Private Messages
- A private message is typically the best first step when you receive a negative review.
- Thank the customer for the review.
- Recognize any positive aspects of the review.
- Apologize for the issue.
- Let the customer know how you’ve followed up on the issue to resolve their concerns.
- Welcome them back to give the business another try
Public Review Comment
- Thank them for the feedback.
- Address the issue and let them know how you’re fixing it.
- Let the world know that you always endeavor to resolve problems like that your business. “Your experience wasn’t our intention.”
- Call out anything that might have changed in your business since
RESPONSE TIPS
Don’t Freak Out
- Consumers look at the big picture. No business is made or broken in one review, they’re looking at the overall rating.
- Potential customers will see you lashing out against your customers which will do more harm than good. The Yelp community may punish you for abusing Yelp users.
- Don’t encourage a back-and-forth. Take the high road. Something like: “We’d love to work with you to resolve this situation. If that’s not possible, we respect your opinion and wish you well.”
Should You Respond to Positive Reviews?If you have time, it’s great to compliment positive reviews as well. Thank the customer for their positive review and let them know you appreciate it.
GETTING MORE REVIEWS
Don’t Ask for ReviewsYelp recommends letting reviews accumulate organically. This is why companies like Review Boost don’t deal with Yelp, I believe the automatic filter will suppress obviously solicited reviews. Tell customers you’re on Yelp without telling them to give you a 5 star review.Tell People Your Business Is On Yelp
- Post a “Find Us On Yelp” Badge on your website. Check out Yelp’s Flickr page for badges and logos.
- Place Yelp a check-in table topper or check-in card at your business (download from Yelp’s Flickr page).
- Add your Yelp page URL to your email signature.
- Yelp mails out "People Love Us On Yelp" window clings a few times a years to top reviewed businesses but they are scarce.
MORE RESOURCES
- Yelp’s Responding to Reviews Best Practices
- Yelp’s Business Owners Blog
Interview with Wendy Lea, CEO
Wendy Lea has worked as a bootstrap entrepreneur, corporate executive, and angel investor over the last 25 years. She recently joined GetSatisfaction.com as CEO. She shares her advice about when to admit that you don’t understand, raising capital, and how female leaders can authentically manage effectively.
Check out our latest interviews on the Women 2.0 website.