If you recall from Part I of this series, we explained the three Local Ranking Factors: Distance, Relevance, and Prominence. We’ve covered why all three are essential for reputation management, what they mean for your business, and how to manage them within your salon software. But in this blog, we’re going to focus on Prominence, or how well-known your business is in an online search.
Prominence helps your business attract not only new clients but also drive additional engagement from repeat customers. We know how valuable repeat customers are for beauty and wellness businesses. And with 87% of customers reading online reviews for local businesses, how can you take advantage?
To start, Prominence has three core aspects:
- Number of reviews
- Average star rating
- The recency of your reviews
Now that you know what Prominence means for your business online, why is this so important? When we search for something like “best salons near me,” only businesses that have a 4-star rating or higher will appear in the results. This means that to increase your discoverability and attract more clients, you must actively manage your online reputation.
Higher ratings also drive higher search positions. 4 or 5-star businesses are positioned, on average, 9% higher in search than 2 or 3-star businesses (Yext Customer Data, 2019).
Your online reviews also tell potential customers what their guest experience might be like, which means having too many negative reviews could prevent potential clients from booking services at through your spa or salon software.
To take control of your online reputation, there are 3 steps you can take to become a more customer-centric business:
- Listen to your customers
- Engage your customers
- Ask for feedback
Step 1: Listen to your customers.
Monitoring your reviews may seem like a daunting, time-consuming task. But with salon software Meevo, the Meevo Marketing suite allows your business to view and manage all your reviews across the web in one place. Meevo Marketing even lets you set automated notifications to alert you when you receive a new review.
Step 2: Engage your customers.
As we already mentioned, not all reviews are good for your business. But what you may not know is just how many people actually view a business’ responses to customer reviews.
Plus, 53% of people expect to see responses to negative reviews within 1 week (ReviewTrackers Survey, 2018)!
With Meevo salon software and its Online Presence and Reputation Management solution, not only can you monitor all your reviews in one central place, but you can also quickly respond to your reviews on Google and Facebook.
Step 3: Ask for feedback.
Every guest has an experience when they visit your salon and spa, and many people like to share their experience with others. If you’re providing your clients with 5-star service every time they visit, simply asking them to review your business can yield business-boosting results.
Don’t be afraid to ask clients to leave a review on your Google My Business page, Facebook page, Yelp, or other listing sites. Be sure to use Meevo Marketing’s Online Presence Management platform to ensure the proper social media handles and website URL are published, so your clients have no trouble finding them online to leave a fantastic review!
Bonus: Turn customers into referrals.
Turning your customers into referrals not only saves you advertising costs, but it’s a powerful way to promote your business. Most people value word-of-mouth recommendations over those of a stranger or website, so creating strong client advocates can have an immediate impact on your bottom line and online reputation.
One way to create strong advocates for your salon or spa is by keeping in contact with your current clients, and making sure that you’re always sending them relevant and timely messages. These days, your business needs to provide more than just a one-off positive experience. Clients want to feel like they are important to a business, and this means that you need to establish a friendly, ongoing relationship with each client.
Manage Your Reviews and Online Reputation to Grow Your Salon or Spa
Owning your online reputation has never been more critical for businesses, especially salons and spas. As local search engine optimization (SEO) grows in importance and more individuals look for reviews before choosing a business to visit, having a complete Online Presence Management platform (like what is included in the Meevo Marketing suite) will provide your practice with a significant competitive advantage through trendy salon and spa marketing ideas.
Stay tuned for part 4 of this series where we dive deeper into the importance of your Online Presence Analytics!
