Are you trying to grow your property management company? If so, you’re probably already aware that online marketing is a crucial step in any company’s growth. One aspect of creating a solid advertising strategy is increasing the number of Google reviews your business has!
Reviews are a powerful tool when it comes to converting new clients. But what exactly makes them so effective?
Well, whether positive or negative, an online review can be a source of information that new potential customers can use to determine whether or not your property management company can be trusted with taking care of their investments.
Further, businesses that have a higher volume of online reviews have a better chance of ranking higher on search engine result pages. This will only get more eyes on your property management company, allowing you to grow.
Get More Reviews for Your Property Management Company: 8 Strategies to Try
So, how exactly does a property management company succeed in getting more online reviews? Below, we have listed our top eight tips on how to increase the volume of your business’s customer reviews online!
1. Ask Your Clients for Feedback
As we have mentioned earlier, online reviews will play a huge role in converting new clients for your property management company. However, it is also important that your reviews are positive ones. Gaining positive feedback can be a huge boost that helps your company stand out in local Google rankings.
But how exactly can you get your clients to leave positive online reviews? Our main tip for achieving this is to be selective and strategic with your process. Start by making a list of any clients or vendors who you are confident that you have a good relationship with.
Once your list has been compiled, send out an email that simply explains that you are in the process of growing your property management company’s online presence, and how much a positive review of your business can make an impact.
Ask them to consider taking five minutes to leave a review on Google, and make sure to include a Google review link to make the process as simple as possible for them.
2. Teach Your Clients How to Make Their Reviews
In order for your clients to feel inclined to leave a positive review of your company online, they will need to feel comfortable with the process.
On your company’s website, try including clear instructions that show the process of leaving an online review. This can either be in a blog post or on a designated page that is created for customer feedback. You can also have a printout instruction sheet at your front desk.
At the end of the day, while many of your clients may be willing to leave a positive review for your company, they will not feel inclined to do it if the process itself is difficult. That’s why we recommend doing everything you can to make it as quick and easy as possible.
3. Include a Link to Review Your Company in Your Email Signature
As a property manager, we know that you probably don’t have an excess amount of time on your hands to dedicate to chasing after positive reviews.
While the process can take work, we also understand that there are many responsibilities that go into managing properties and growing your business, so you may just be looking for a small call to action to get the ball rolling when it comes to gathering online reviews for your company.
If this is the case, we recommend adding a simple feedback request to your email signature. This small addition can help generate a significant amount of customer interaction. Try adding a simple and quick request for feedback such as “Have feedback for us? Leave us a review to let us know how we’re doing!”
4. Make Sure You Get the Timing Right
While you may not know it, research generally shows that your timing when asking a customer for a review will make a big impact on whether or not you will be successful in your request. There are a few ways you can take timing into consideration when it comes to requesting feedback from a client.
The first way to do this is to consider what point of the customer service experience you are in. If you ask for feedback too early, your client may not be too sure about how effective your services are. If you ask too late, the novelty may wear off and your client will most likely move on.
Even the time of day that you make your feedback request can heavily impact your chances of actually getting a response. In a recent study, the results indicated that clients’ response rate went up by 20% between 1-3 pm.
This is usually because, during a typical work day, many people will have just finished lunch at that time and will be easing their way back into work mode by browsing their emails. Timing is everything!
5. Take the Time to Respond to Your Reviews
This is one of the most impactful things that you can do for your Google reviews in order to truly give your property management company the online boost that it needs.
Being sure to quickly respond to feedback that your company receives is the best way to encourage more reviews in the future and strengthen your relationship with your clients.
If a client sees that you are consistently responding to your online reviews, they will feel more inclined to leave one themselves! As an added bonus, replying to your reviews can help to improve your company’s SEO.
6. Include an Incentive
If you are having a hard time getting your clients to take time out of their day to leave a review of your company online, you may find more success by including some sort of incentive that encourages them to do so.
One common incentive includes offering a discount or a coupon to clients who leave a review online. Another idea can be to host a raffle, entering clients who leave reviews into a draw with a prize such as a gift card. Keep in mind, however, that directly paying money for positive reviews is against Google’s policy.
7. Follow Up on Your Requests
We know that most of the time, customers don’t necessarily feel inclined to write reviews for companies unless they have had a negative experience. That’s why it becomes crucial for a business owner to follow up with clients in order to remind them to leave a review.
The most effective way to do this is to put direct links to your Google My Business in as many visible places as possible. Other than your company’s website, you can include these links in your weekly newsletter or at the end of your blog posts.
By doing this, you will be able to subtly remind clients to leave a review without feeling like you are nagging them or being intrusive.
8. Prioritize Feedback Requests within Your Company
More often than not, if you are the owner of a property management company, your employees will be the ones interacting with your clients more than you will. When you decide to place a focus on online reviews, it is important to communicate this throughout your company so that your entire team can work together to achieve a common goal.
Take some time to explain to your employees why reviews can make a difference in your company’s growth, and how they can contribute to the overall success of the business. Host formal training to help employees know the best ways to ask clients for online reviews.
If you have the budget, you can even offer small bonuses or prizes to help incentivize gaining reviews for your employees.
More Tips on How You Can Improve Your Property Management Company’s Online Presence
Now that you know the importance of online reviews and how to gain more positive feedback on Google from your clients, here are some other tips and tricks that we have to help you improve your property management company’s online presence.
1. Don’t Stop with Google
Your online presence shouldn’t end with Google. In your online marketing strategy, try gaining reviews on other websites such as Yelp, Facebook, Yahoo, CitySearch, and Angie’s List. This will help you to gain an even larger audience for your property management company.
You can also try looking for review sites that are specific to real estate and property management. Many prospective clients check these sites for reviews before choosing a new property management company, so it doesn’t hurt to gain a presence there as well!
2. Keep an Eye Out for Offensive or Incorrect Reviews of Your Company
While Google has a decent system in place to prevent dishonest and inappropriate reviews from being left on business profiles, you may still want to keep an eye out for outliers that can pop up from time to time.
If you happen to notice a fake review that has been left on your company’s profile, you can notify Google and report the review. It may take a few days for them to look into your request, but in some cases, they will remove the review entirely. However, if you are simply trying to remove a negative review from an unhappy client, this will not work.
3. Strategize Your Responses
While responding to reviews can be a great way to increase their impact on your online presence, you need to do it strategically and professionally in order for this approach to be effective. Make sure that your responses are always professional, courteous, and genuine. We also recommend prioritizing responding to negative reviews.
By taking the time to respond to a negative review, you have an opportunity to rectify the situation and show potential clients that you are able to take responsibility for any mistakes that you may make and fix them. This will help to lessen the blow of a negative review.
4. Don’t Let the Negative Reviews Freak You Out
At the end of the day, no one likes receiving a negative review. However, no matter how high quality your services are, you will most likely encounter at least one over the course of your career. The good news is, most customers are aware of this! As long as you are able to fix your mistakes, clients will still trust your company.
Google Business Reviews: Bottom Line
Now that you know how to make your online reviews grow, the next step is to take action! While these strategies can take time and effort, we believe that investing in your online marketing will only help your property management company grow if it is done in the right way.
If you have further questions about how to grow your property management company, contact Backed Homes today!
