|
Reputation is important regardless if it is personal or business. When you lose it, there are very real consequences. When it comes to business, your reputation can have a huge impact on your value, whether good or bad. Therefore, it's essential that you maintain a good reputation and in order to do this, you need to be able to track and measure it. So, how do you do this?
Companies that are looking to conduct reputation research often turn to online survey software. A survey tool like this can help you learn whether your company is considered better than your competition inside the same industry. By conducting reputation research through survey software, you can see any gaps between how you see your reputation as being and how others view your company and brand.
You can lose potential customers if your business is getting a lot of negative ratings and reviews and this can have a big impact on your bottom line.
Along with using a reputation research survey tool on a regular basis, you should also dedicate an individual to monitor your reputation on the Internet. They should be monitoring social media sites and other sites like Yelp, Angie's List, Open Table, Trip Advisor, Google Reviews, Planet Feedback, RipOff Report, ComplaintsBoard and more depending on which site is relevant to your business.
Just about anything can be written in a review about your company such as working conditions, compensation, benefits, company culture, management and more. Negative reviews on any of these can hurt your company's reputation and therefore your sales. It's essential that you also conduct research on your employees to see where they stand with your company.
Steps to Build Reputation
The reputation of a company is based more off of operational practices than it is by communication practices. In other words, your company actions speak louder than your words. Even so, communication activities can influence your reputation. To create awareness of your company's operational practices you could put a type of communication program in place to enhance your relationships with your consumers. Some ways of strengthening your reputation through this type of program include:
- Using online survey software to conduct research on consumer opinions.
- Research the primary factors that make up your company reputation and align them with programs, systems and policies.
- Set up a plan to exceed the expectations of your consumers.
- Measure goals and continue acting on improving results.
If you do find negative reviews and other information about your company that can hurt your bottom line, it's important that you conduct some reputation research so you can determine where the issues lie (whether by customers or employees) and work through them.
|