By Hagen Weiss
What is reputation management, and why does it matter?
Never has it been easier for customers to express their thoughts and opinions. In the past, word-of-mouth was the primary vehicle for customers to express their dissatisfaction. Word-of-mouth may result in damages to your reputation, but it can largely be contained (to a degree). Now, with the Internet, nearly anyone can voice their opinions on a multitude of online platforms.
Reputation management is a concept that allows you to protect the image or reputation of your brand. It’s ways in which your company can mitigate negative customer feedback and solve any issues that may arise.
Without proper reputation management, your business reputation could suffer greatly. Here are four consequences of poor reputation management.
1. Loss of Customers for Reputation Management
Don’t underestimate the importance of customer reviews. About 88% of online customers say reviews play a significant role in their decision to buy. Additionally, 86% of customers will not purchase from a company with three stars or less. Negative reviews can quickly deter customers – both existing and new.
Stellar reviews are especially important for more expensive items. Customers perceive higher-priced items as riskier, prompting customers to be more careful with how they spend. Offering more information through reviews will help customers mitigate this risk.
2. Permanent Online Record
Unlike word-of-mouth, which may be forgotten over time, negative app reviews are permanent. What customers say about you on forums, social media, and websites can stay with a company forever. Even deleted information can potentially be recovered through cached copies.
Companies need to be aware of how they interact with their customers online. Something they posted years ago could come back and haunt them if they are not careful.
3. Increased Costs
Repairing your reputation doesn’t come cheap. Doing it yourself could be extremely time and labour-intensive. Hiring a reputation management company can cost you thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.
What factors contribute to the high costs of reputation management services? Here are a few:
- The nature of the negative reviews
- The number of negative reviews
- How much information already exists
- Whether the negative reviews are coming from sites with high authority
The moral of the story is simple – managing negative reviews costs much more than preventing them in the first place.
4. The Effects of Cancel Culture
Cancel culture is a relatively new phenomenon that businesses should be aware of. Cancel culture refers to the occurrence of customers ‘ canceling’ your services or products due to thoughts or opinions you’ve expressed that do not fit with the public’s ideas. For example, a business may post something online that is controversial on topics such as politics, racism, or religion, which then offends a large group of people.
Businesses could face a public backlash with threats of shaming and the canceling of your services. Not only could your company reputation be at stake, but your personal reputation could also be destroyed as well.
Companies need to have strong reputation management strategies in place to avoid any missteps. A simple tweet or Facebook post could threaten the future of your company altogether.
iGlobe Localization Agency
Reputation management starts with having a quality product to begin with. With iGlobe, we offer high-quality localization services, customer & marketing services to ensure your game is ready for your target markets.
Contact us today to see how we can help you with your next project!
E-mail：hello@iglobe.ca
Tel：+1 604 355 3023