Reviews and ratings determine how customers perceive your brand. The problem is, they can pop up on a multitude of platforms across the web, and if those platforms aren’t part of your strategy, your trust score is left vulnerable.
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Here’s how to make 3rd party reviews part of your approach and keep your online reputation on track.

REVIEWS.io is a Google Licensed review collection platform. We provide a solution for businesses to easily collect, manage and publish user generated content in the form of text, photo and video reviews. For consumers, we offer a transparent space to share their experience of a company.


What Are 3rd Party Reviews?

When we talk about 3rd party reviews, we refer to sites outside of our solution where customers are free to leave their opinions, and others go to understand more about your business - sites you may not be actively monitoring.

And there’s a lot of them. From industry specific review sites and social media, to localised search tools like Yelp and Google Local.  

‘Local’ doesn't necessarily mean small or independent. It could be the local branch of a national, even global, enterprise.

Take Domino’s for example. A customer has a great experience with their food order, and decides to leave a glowing review for their local store on TripAdvisor. 10 people have already done the same, 15 have reviewed the store on its Facebook business page, and five on Google. Said branch of Domino’s now has 30 reviews across three 3rd party platforms.


Why Collect 3rd Party Reviews?

It may seem like too much of a juggling act to monitor reviews across multiple sites, but here’s the thing - regardless of whether you ask them to or not, customers will review your business, and they will use whichever platform they’re most familiar with.

If you’re not part of the conversation, your online reputation may slide into murky waters:

  • Unsolicited reviews tend to be negative. Customers are far more likely to vent their frustrations online than they are to voluntarily praise a business. And when they see others also have a negative view, their opinion is swayed even further. So by leaving these 3rd party platforms unattended, you’re likely to end up with a number of low rated reviews and less than favourable feedback.
  • Inconsistencies raise doubt. If a customer sees a 4.8 star rating on a Google Ad, but a 2 star rating elsewhere, it makes them dubious. And because you’re not encouraging positive reviews on these 3rd party platforms, essentially you’re undoing all the work you’ve put into building your reputation on your chosen review collection site.
  • A lack of control can be damaging. A negative review isn’t the end of the world - if you’re able to remedy it. By responding to negative feedback, you offer the customer a resolution, hopefully changing their experience, and subsequently their opinion, as well as showing other potential customers that you're proactive in handling complaints. But you can only do this if you have a 3rd party review strategy. Without one, you have no control over the damaging effects of a bad review.
  • It’s all about managing your online reputation in full. You want consistency across the board that leaves customers in no doubt as to the credibility of your business. And you want the ability to handle any and all negative reviews effectively.

That’s where our unique 3rd party solution comes into play. It allows you to collect and manage reviews across multiple sources, all from within your REVIEWS.io dashboard.


Where Can 3rd Party Reviews be Left?

REVIEWS.io focuses on the fundamental places 3rd party reviews can be left. Not all are applicable to every business, but most brands will have at least two or three 3rd party sites that they'll need to keep tabs on:

In the past I have tried Trustpilot among other similar companies but none of them are as intuitive and honest as reviews.io. Besides a smarter software which can automate your reviews across multiple platforms like facebook, google, yelp and so fourth — their customer service is on-point.

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Google Local

We all know how influential Google is, and with a Google My Business page, you can showcase customer reviews and star ratings, remove google reviews if needed, boost your visibility in search listings and stand out against your local competitors.

Facebook

User generated content on Facebook, including reviews, creates far greater engagement than brand generated content. By collecting customer feedback on your business page, you build a community around your brand and cement your reputation in front of billions of users as well as being able to turn off and delete Facebook reviews.

Amazon

If you’re an online retailer selling through Amazon, product reviews are an absolute must. They have a huge impact on shopping behaviours, and give consumers rich product insights that prompt them to convert.

Yelp

Yelp is a local search tool that helps customers find physical businesses and services in their area. Listings appear with star ratings and reviews below their name, and since customers can filter by ‘highest rated’ the more reviews you have, the more visible you become.

TripAdvisor

The go to site for travel and hospitality listings, TripAdvisor helps customers decide where to stay, where to eat and what to do wherever they may be. If you’re a holiday home, restaurant or tourist attraction, a TripAdvisor listing should definitely be on your radar.

Yell

Yell is the online equivalent of the good old Yellow Pages, an online business directory that helps people find and assess businesses and services local to them. As with Yelp, your listing will have a star rating and show all reviews left by your customers.

AutoTrader

One for those in the automotive industry, AutoTrader allows customers to leave star ratings and reviews for car dealerships across the country.

Houzz

Houzz is a great platform for home design professionals, from builders and interior designers to gardener landscapers. What’s great about Houzz is it’s a highly visual platform, with customer photos left alongside ratings and reviews.

Checkatrade.com

When it comes to the trades, reviews are incredibly influential to customer behaviour. Checkatrade.com hosts a huge online database of tradespeople and businesses across the UK, helping the public find reputable suppliers.

The most influential channels are Facebook, and of course, Google Local. With 3.5 billion searches daily, and over 1 billion daily active users, businesses that top the SERPs are highly visible, and review ratings are a huge part of that.


How REVIEWS.io Can Help With Your Online Reputation

We’ve taken the hassle out of 3rd party review management with a simple solution that allows you to manage your reputation across the web from one place.

You can easily direct customers to all the major platforms, and choose what percentage of your reviews are published where. And you can change this distribution at any time, so if you need more reviews on a particular site for a quick boost, it’s an easy fix.

This solution is available across all our plans, so no matter the size of your business (or budget) you can reach a wider audience, promote trust, and increase sales with a solid, consistent reputation.


Summary

Reviews for your business will appear on multiple sites across the web, but with a strong strategy in place, it’s not a problem. It’s an opportunity.

The key thing is to make sure your review partner integrates with these platforms. Our 3rd party solution is one reason so many users are switching from Trustpilot to REVIEWS.io as a trusted alternative.

Create an account to start collecting 3rd party reviews on sites that matter to your business, or give one of our team a call to discuss your review needs further.

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