Online reviews

Online review websites and social media platforms let customers post comments about your products and services and rate their experience with your business.

Reviews are a form of free advertising. You can use good reviews to promote your business. Even negative reviews are an opportunity to attract more customers – it all depends on how you handle your responses. 

Online reviews can:

• help shape your brand’s reputation
• tell you what your customers want (and don’t want) from your products and services
• give you insights to help you improve your processes
• build trust and credibility, especially if you respond to feedback well
• influence other consumers to use your business
• boost local search engine rankings, which makes it easier for new customers to find you.

It’s ok to ask your customers to review your business. Before you do, check the rules of the review website and any laws you need to comply with.

Here are some ways you can increase the number of reviews you get:

• send follow-up emails asking for a review. You can only do this if you have the customer’s permission to email them
• make it easy to leave a review. Give customers a direct link to your preferred websites, including your own site
• add a QR code that links to a review website on your receipts
• offer customers an incentive to leave a review. For example, offering discounts or free gifts. However, you need to follow the law around incentives to avoid misleading customers.

Know the law

Under Australian Consumer Law (ACL), it’s illegal to create or arrange for a fake or misleading review.

Offering an incentive to customers to review your business is ok if you offer the incentive for both positive and negative reviews. You also need to clearly disclose that you gave an incentive for the review.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) considers a review fake or misleading if it is:

• written by someone who hasn’t used your product or service
• removed or changed by you, or someone else, after a customer posts the review
• written by your family, employees or people paid by your business, without disclosing their connection to your business
• from an incentive to write a positive review
• not clearly disclosed that you offered the reviewer an incentive.

You also need to check the laws of any other countries your business sells in. For example, if you sell products or services in the United States of America (USA), you need to follow USA Fair Trade Commission (FTC) laws.

How you respond to reviews can influence whether a potential customer chooses to use your business or not. 

You should acknowledge and respond to every review – both positive and negative. It shows customers that you value their point of view and take feedback seriously.

Positive reviews

Post a message promptly and thank the customer for reviewing your business. This shows existing and potential customers that you value their reviews, which can help build loyalty and win new customers.

Negative reviews

Negative reviews can feel like a personal blow. But all businesses get them at some point. What’s important is how you deal with it.

Here are some tips:

• respond online promptly but take the time to draft a carefully written response
• be professional. Don’t get into a public argument online – it could hurt your reputation
• offer to discuss the issue by phone or email
• give an explanation and a solution (where possible). This shows you’re genuine about making their negative experience a positive one
• learn from the feedback. See if there are changes you can make to stop the same issue from happening again
• follow up with the customer after resolving the issue – they may be willing to update their review.

It’s important that you use the feedback your customers give you to improve your products and customer service. It shows that you take feedback seriously and can boost your brand's reputation.

You should regularly:

• analyse feedback themes from reviews
• choose which areas you’ll improve
• tell your customers about the changes you’ve made or are working on.