How to gain customer trust in location-based services

Building trust with customers is crucial for the success of businesses big and small. Trusting customers are more likely to continue using the services, leading to higher customer loyalty and retention. Investing time and resources in building customer trust can also enhance the company's reputation, improve the user experience, and increase revenue. In this article, we will discuss the importance of building customer trust in location-based services and provide practical tips on how to gain it.
There is a strong correlation between customer trust and buying behavior. Studies have shown that when consumers trust a brand, they are more likely to make a purchase, return for repeat purchases, and recommend the brand to others. Here are some stats to prove it:

  • 94% of people are loyal to companies that operate with transparency. (Label Insights)
  • 89% of consumers are likely to return after a positive customer service experience. (Salesforce)
  • 33% of customers are willing to pay a premium for companies they trust. (PwC)

With the increasing reliance on location-based services, it is imperative for businesses to understand the importance of building trust with their customers in these services. To achieve this, there are several practical steps that can be taken. In the following sections, we will explore the various ways businesses can establish and maintain loyalty and trust with their customers with the help of location-based services.
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Way #1 Work with reviews

Working with customer reviews is a crucial aspect of building a solid business reputation. Reviews provide valuable insights into the perception of a company and its services and can be used to gather customer feedback to make improvements.

Positive reviews can increase visibility of a company's listing and credibility, leading to increased customer acquisition and loyalty, and improving search rankings. They also provide a competitive advantage by differentiating the business from competitors and positioning it as trusted and reliable.

In other words, by actively managing reviews and using them to improve services, companies can enhance their reputation, increase customer loyalty, and stand out from the competition.

Answering positive reviews

Answering positive reviews is an important part of building and maintaining a positive reputation for your business. It may be time-consuming to answer all of them, especially when you have a multi-location business. In this case, BrandWizard’s Autoresponder service could certainly be a helpful tool for businesses looking to respond to positive reviews quickly and efficiently. By setting up pre-written responses or using ML algorithms to select the best answers for each case, businesses can ensure that their responses are professional, consistent, and personalized. This can help save time and improve the overall customer experience.

Dealing with negative reviews

Even if your business has got negative reviews from the clients, it’s not that bad. According to Khoros study, 83% of consumers have a stronger sense of loyalty to brands that acknowledge and resolve their complaints. This way, the company demonstrates that a company is trustworthy and cares about its customers.

On the other hand, failing to do so results in spreading negative word-of-mouth, when customers may share their negative experiences with others, which can harm the company's reputation and deter future business.

There is a simple formula to stick while dealing with negative reviews in location-based services:
1. Acknowledge the review: Respond to the negative review promptly, showing empathy and expressing your commitment to resolving the issue.

2. Investigate the issue: Look into the details of the complaint to determine the root cause. If necessary, reach out to the customer for more information.

3. Develop a solution: Based on the information gathered, come up with a solution to the problem. The solution should aim to resolve the customer's issue and ensure that it does not happen again in the future.

4. Respond to the customer: Provide the customer with a clear and concise response, explaining the solution and apologizing for any inconvenience caused.

5. Implement the solution: Take the necessary steps to implement the solution and prevent similar issues from happening in the future.

6. Follow up: Check back with the customer to ensure that their issue has been resolved to their satisfaction.

7. Monitor reviews: Continuously monitor reviews and respond to any negative feedback in a timely manner to maintain a positive reputation.
If you want to dive deeper into the review management, make sure to read our comprehensive guide.
Big guide on how to manage positive and negative reviews
Discover how to respond to reviews to make your customers fall in love with you brand
Well, monitoring and responding to online reviews can be challenging, especially when they are scattered across multiple directories. Keeping track of reviews on multiple platforms and managing them efficiently can be time-consuming and confusing. This is where a Review center tool comes in handy.

This tool consolidates all reviews from popular platforms into one centralized dashboard, allowing businesses to keep track of their online reputation easily. This saves time and effort, as all reviews can be managed from a single account. Additionally, the tool provides a platform for businesses to respond to reviews, ensuring timely and consistent customer engagement.

Way #2: Generate positive reviews

In the business world, a good reputation says it all about how a company communicates with its customers and deals with their feedback. By approaching trust as a skill that can be developed, enhanced, and perfected, companies can see growth and prosperity. Moreover, companies can (and should!) generate positive reviews from their clientele.

Apart from providing excellent customer service, businesses can encourage customers to leave feedback and make it easy for them to leave reviews.

You can place QR-codes in your locations, send your clients follow-up SMS or simply… ask them to write a positive review about their experience.
This is how important positive reviews are:

  • 87% of users read online reviews about local companies or services.
  • 79% of consumers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends or family.

Therefore, generating positive reviews is an inherent part of successful local marketing strategy and brand reputation in general. One approach that businesses can take to gather customer feedback is by using a BrandWizard Review generation tool. This tool streamlines the process of collecting reviews by automating the collection process. It can also assist businesses in tracking and responding to customer feedback, as well as monitoring their online reputation and identifying areas for improvement.

Way #3: Have a separate role for review management

In large corporations, it's common for multiple individuals to be responsible for keeping an eye on reviews and responding to them, depending on their particular location or job function within the company.

With Multi-Access Service, you have the ability to establish and customize viewing and editing privileges for listings, as well as access rights for responding to reviews. This allows you to differentiate access rights and control who can view and edit information, as well as respond to customer feedback, and, ultimately, never miss a single review or complaint.

Having a separate manager responsible for processing and analyzing reviews can greatly benefit a company. This allows for well-informed, balanced, and quality decisions to be made, as opposed to hasty, superficial ones. The Multi-Access Service provides a cool and effective tool to differentiate rights and competently distribute work to employees as needed.
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Administrator — full access to all the features of your personal account.

Reputation Manager — access only for working with reviews both in separate locations and throughout the entire network.

Watcher — “control" access: only for viewing information with the ability to analyze the results.

Way #4 Analyze reviews

Ok, you now understand the importance of collecting both positive and negative reviews and addressing the negative ones. Next step, let's move on to analysis to gain deeper insights! Analyzing customer reviews is a critical aspect of managing a successful business. By analyzing them, businesses can identify areas for improvement, increase customer satisfaction, and gain a competitive advantage by monitoring competitor strengths and weaknesses.

Analysis starts with data. The more data, the better. However, it can be difficult to analyze large amounts of data using Excel spreadsheets. To maximize the benefits of review analysis, it's recommended to use an Advanced analytics tool.
This tool can give companies a comprehensive overview of their reviews, including the total number of reviews received over a specified period, trends in customer feedback, and the percentage of reviews that have yet to be addressed. Additionally, the tool can generate a monthly report that includes the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which is a key metric for measuring customer loyalty. By using this tool, businesses can stay on top of customer feedback and take action to improve their customer experience.

Way #5 Prioritize high-quality visual content

Yes, we’ll never get tired of saying that offering good products and providing impeccable customer service isn’t enough. Show it! High-quality images and videos can provide customers with a better understanding of the business's offerings and create a more memorable experience.

In today's digital age, customers often make purchasing decisions based on the visual representation of a product or service. Relevant visual content can help businesses differentiate themselves from competitors and stand out in crowded marketplaces. Additionally, visual content can highlight the unique features and benefits of a business's offerings, which can be especially helpful for new customers.
Moreover, including visual content in location-based services listings can help increase discoverability and search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines tend to favor listings with high-quality visual content, and customers are more likely to engage with listings that have appealing and informative images.

To manage your visual content effectively and ensure that it represents your business in the best possible light, it can be helpful to use a Photo Management Tool. This type of tool collects photos of all locations in a single account, allowing you to manage content that is unattractive or doesn't match your business, and ensure that your visual content is consistent and of the highest quality.
Visual content is power. What’s even more powerful is the User-generated content (UGC). UGC refers to any form of content created by customers or users, rather than by businesses or organizations. It provides an authentic and personal perspective on a business's offerings and services and has a huge influence on buying behavior. We've got some figures here that demonstrate this:

  • 79% of people say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions. (Stackla)
  • Consumers find UGC 9.8x more impactful than influencer content when making a purchasing decision. (Stackla)
  • UGC increases conversions by 10% when included in an online purchase path. (Salesforce)

In other words, UGC can be particularly useful for potential customers who are considering making a purchase, as UGC can help them make an informed decision. UGC can also help businesses to identify areas for improvement and make necessary changes to better meet customer needs and expectations.

For a deeper understanding of working with user-generated content in local marketing, we recommend reading our article 'User-generated content (UGC) in local marketing: how to work with user photos on Google'. This article provides valuable insights and tips on how to effectively utilize UGC in your local marketing efforts.

Way #6 Use Google Posts

Google Posts is a powerful tool for businesses looking to improve their online visibility and reach a wider audience. It allows businesses to share real-time updates, promotions, events, and other important information directly on their Google My Business listing.

The importance of using Google Posts lies in its ability to drive traffic and engagement to a business's website and physical location. By providing up-to-date information about the business, Google Posts can help businesses stand out in search results and attract more customers.
According to dbaPlatform, listings with posts get 50% more impressions than those without posts. Additionally, Google Posts can be used to showcase the unique features and offerings of a business, making it easier for customers to understand what sets the business apart from its competitors.

To make the most of Google Posts, it's important to use a Post creation Tool. A Post creation Tool allows you to post your news, special offers, or events in listings directly from the BrandWizard account, making it easier for you to reach more customers and increase the visibility of your locations.
Despite its benefits, many businesses still do not use Google Posts. This is surprising given the tool's effectiveness and ease of use. By simply creating and publishing a Google Post, businesses can reach a larger audience and improve their online presence, all without the need for a significant investment of time or resources.

Whether you're just starting out or already incorporating Google Posts into your strategy, we recommend reading our comprehensive guide. It's packed with valuable tips and practical examples that you can adapt for business.

Wrapping up

In conclusion, gaining customer trust in location-based services is vital for the success of your business. Here's a checklist of the five ways outlined in this article to help you achieve this goal:
1. Work with reviews: Respond to both positive and negative reviews in a timely manner and use them to improve your services.

2. Generate positive reviews: Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive feedback by providing excellent customer service and making it easy for them to do so.

3. Assign a separate role for review management: To ensure a well-informed, smooth and balanced process of review management.

4. Analyze reviews: Use advanced analytics tools to gain insights into customer feedback, including trends and areas for improvement.

5. Prioritize high-quality visual content: High-quality photos and videos can help to showcase your business and build customer trust.

6. Use Google Posts: Utilize Google Posts to share updates, promotions, and other relevant information about your business directly with customers.
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