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Love it or hate it, it's here to stay. Learn how to boost your ranking and how TripAdvisor reviews work.
Interested in marketing your business through TripAdvisor? Read on!
Customers worldwide are becoming more and more influenced by review sites such as TripAdvisor, often visiting before they make a booking and again after to leave feedback for others about their experience.
TripAdvisor has over 455 million unique users visiting the TripAdvisor site each month.
Many businesses, particularly in the hospitality sector, fail to collect or even respond to visitor reviews on TripAdvisor. They don’t realise the potential it can hold or that welcoming all reviews, good and bad, are worth their weight in gold.
Are Restaurants in Northern Ireland Engaging Customers on TripAdvisor?
We researched the Top 10 restaurants in Northern Ireland according to TripAdvisor and then looked at each restaurant's TripAdvisor profile to see who was responding to recent reviews.
The results are shocking! Only one restaurant had responded to all their recent reviews.
If you aren’t already on TripAdvisor or you simply don’t know how to make the most of your presence there, follow our simple guide to TripAdvisor success below!
6 Steps to TripAdvisor Success
- Ensure your page information fields are populated with the correct information and add photos to really show off your business.
- Review and update content regularly.
- Set up email alerts that will notify the person who is managing the page when a new comment has been posted.
- Add TripAdvisor branding on your website.
- Create a widget on your website directly to TripAdvisor to encourage customers to provide feedback.
- Add a catchy Call-to-Action like ‘Write a Review’ or ‘Review us on TripAdvisor’, encourage visitors to leave a review with an incentive like a small discount on their next visit.
How to Respond to Reviews
We can’t stress enough just how important it is to respond to reviews.
Whether they are good or bad, never ignore feedback. Responding to a complaint online shows that all feedback is welcomed and taken seriously and could encourage others to comment in the future.
- Be professional, no matter how difficult a user may be. Generally, the owner of the business is not the best person to manage TripAdvisor reviews. The business owner and anyone emotionally connected to the business are more likely to take any form of criticism to heart. You don't want to trigger a hot-headed response.
- If you feel angered by a review, leave it for a day or so, calm down and go back to it with an open mind!
- Take a personal approach when replaying and avoid automated responses. Engaging in conversation with reviewers personifies the brand.
How to get noticed on TripAdvisor
According to TripAdvisor, the Popularity Ranking is based on the quality, recency and quantity of reviews that your business receives from users, and the consistency of those reviews over time.
Quality
The bubble rating attached to your brand on TripAdvisor is an average of all the reviews users have left over time. If your business has great reviews and has a high bubble rating, this is where you will gain a higher ranking.
Recency
It goes without saying, recent reviews have more value than older ones. They are a more accurate picture of your business at present. Users are likely to look for a recent dated review rather than one from the previous year.
Quantity
The number of reviews on your page is another factor users look at when considering using your services. If you’re a new business getting started online, it's important to implement a strategy as soon as possible to get customers to review your product or service! This will be hugely beneficial to you and will encourage future customers. Although having hundreds of reviews does not improve your ranking, again it’s all about the quality and detail. TripAdvisor’s Popularity Ranking is designed to measure confidence about a user’s recent experience at your business.
The benefits to marketing your business on TripAdvisor are endless. Here a key few...
- Creates strong brand awareness online
- Shows excellent customer service
- Higher rankings on TripAdvisor – so you’ll get noticed by more users
How can we help …
- Increase reviews scores, number of reviews, freshness of reviews.
- Ensure interaction with those who submit reviews - good & bad.
- Boost ranking for specific search terms, for example, ‘fine dining Belfast’ to help you appear as far up the listing as possible.
- Automated emails after a visit, putting you in the forefront of people’s minds and increasing the number of reviews you get.
- Embed widget on the website and social media.
- Add Images on the profile that are eye-catching and truly grab the user’s attention.
- Make use of video. Create a video featuring your restaurant, bar or hotel etc.