This industry insight is brought to you by Patrick Tape Fleming. Patrick helps build and promote the Yelp Community in Des Moines as the official Des Moines Community Manager. He is also a musician, filmmaker, life coach, blogger, and all-around cool dude.
As the Yelp Des Moines Community Manager, I frequently talk to business owners about communication with their customers. By claiming your business page on Yelp, you unlock so many free tools to connect with customers who have written reviews about your business.
In this post, I'll cover how to go public with your communication. While a private message has its advantages, a well-crafted public comment is the ultimate game changer.
What makes a public comment so powerful? Two things: it demonstrates to any potential customer viewing your Yelp listing that you care about your customers’ feedback, and it also gives you a platform to share your side of the story.
Ready to give it a try? Here are my top three tips for posting a perfect public comment:
1. Remain poised and professional.
Posting a public comment in response to a review is like talking into a megaphone at your place of business. Meaning, not only will the reviewer you’re responding to be able to read your reply, but so will everyone else that lands on your business page. With this in mind, leave your emotions behind, keep your tone in check, and start your response by thanking the reviewer for their feedback.
2. Don’t be afraid to state your policy.
In addition to giving you an opportunity to show off your great customer service skills, posting a public comment also gives you a chance to share your company’s policies and practices should there be any inaccuracies in a review.
3. Highlight any changes you’ve made as a result of a review.
There’s no better place to mention the changes you’ve made to your business than in a public comment. How else would potential customers know you’ve improved the consumer experience at your business?
As a Community Manager for Yelp, it's my role to connect people with great local businesses and sometimes that means connecting the businesses back with the people!