B2B SaaS Audience – Online reviews are more important than ever before, but are they as important for B2B SaaS companies as for, say, restaurants or phone applications?
You might be surprised to learn that, with increasing frequency, your potential customers are conducting online research to find the answers to their issues long before they actually reach out to you. This means they’re reading reviews because, often, prospective buyers will trust what other people say about your brand more than what you express yourself. As such, it’s vital to respond to all reviews online – both positive and negative – because you never know who’s watching.
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Why You Should Respond to Negative Reviews on B2B SaaS Audience
You might think your B2B SaaS platform is exempt from the Google Reviews and Yelps of the world. While that’s true to an extent (you’re probably not going to see yourself on Yelp anytime soon), the fact remains that potential buyers are looking to see what your current and past customers have to say about your business.
If you’ve received a negative review, it tends to be for one of a few reasons:
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- The customer wants an apology.
- The customer is trying to warn other companies to stay away from you.
- The customer wants an issue to be resolved.
So, why exactly should you respond to negative reviews instead of ignoring them?
1. Reviews Boost SEO
You may think this sounds contradictory since a negative review, in theory, isn’t doing you any favors. However, be mindful that many people are willing to change or update their reviews if their issues are resolved. By responding to negative reviews, you’re opening up communication channels and ushering the opportunity to get that lousy review swapped out for a good one. If your ears aren’t open to feedback, that negative review will likely stick around in infamy.
2. You’re Expected to Respond
You don’t want to leave a bad review unanswered for months. Even in a difficult situation, this is bad for your brand.
Most review sites have an area for comments and public responses. Check in on these, and respond where appropriate. It’s often best to get the ball rolling in the public setting so others can see how you’re handling the situation, but sometimes, your best is to move the conversation to private email, phone, or text communications.
For professional-service teams, resolving a complaint may require checking project commitments, recorded work and billing information. This overview of CRM for professional services describes tools for maintaining that operational context. Accessible records can help the responsible team investigate a concern before providing a specific, informed response.
3. Your Competitors are Using This Information to Their Advantage
Rest assured that competitors have their eyes on your reviews. They want to see what your customers are saying about you so they can leverage that information and take your customers away from you. (Hint: if you’re not also doing this, you should be!)
Negative reviews usually offer invaluable feedback that you can use to improve your products or services. Take the time to respond to complainers, engage with them, and ask deeper questions that can help you improve future experiences with your brand. You want to be sure you connect with them before your competitors do, so it’s important to stay on top of reviews.
4. Customer Service Matters
In the SaaS world, there tend to be great customer service providers and terrible ones; there doesn’t really seem to be a middle. If you want to be seen as a brand that offers outstanding service to your clients, touch base when you get poor feedback. Responding to reviews is a simple way to show that you’re invested in the thoughts and opinions of the people who pay your bills. Prompt responses to reviews of any sort show that you’re active, engaged, and care about your brand’s image.
A thoughtful review response should lead to action within the customer journey. These ways to improve SaaS customer experience explore feedback collection, onboarding and support resources. Reviewing these areas can help your team investigate the underlying issue rather than treating each negative review as an isolated communication task.
5. It’s Important to Be Open to a Diversity of Opinions
Logical people understand that things happen, and not every vendor will be an excellent fit for every company. Businesses with nothing but five-star reviews can seem a little suspect to the trained eye. Negative reviews help endorse your brand’s credibility and authenticity with your audience.
As long as you can address the reviewers’ concerns, keeping the negative reviews can boost brand perception among people shopping for a business like yours. Negative reviews often offer depth and insight into a product, helping those within your target market make a more educated decision about choosing you as their vendor going forward.
How Do You Respond to Negative Reviews?
B2B SaaS Audience – There is a bit of emotional science attached to responding to negative reviews. If you have more than a handful, you might want to consult a top local SEO company that’s trained in online reputation management. People in this field know how to make sure you’re making your words work for your brand.
Related Reading: Customer Trust in Retail Technology
Customer trust also shapes discussions about technology in physical stores. This overview of facial recognition and retail customer analytics presents proposed retail applications alongside transparency considerations. It offers a different industry context for thinking about how customers may respond to the ways businesses collect and use information.