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	<description>Communication Strategy</description>
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	<item>
		<title>Is It Important To Respond To Reviews? It Absolutely Is!</title>
		<link>https://calidascope.com/is-it-important-to-respond-to-reviews/</link>
					<comments>https://calidascope.com/is-it-important-to-respond-to-reviews/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Barrie]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Aug 2024 15:22:23 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Customer Experience]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://calidascope.com/?p=1440</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>As someone who spends a large chunk of their life responding to guest reviews (mostly for Hotels and Restaurants), I&#8217;m often asked if it&#8217;s really important to reply to reviews? By golly YES IT IS! It&#8217;s massively important for some and all of the following reasons: IT SHOWS YOU CARE About your guests / customers [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/is-it-important-to-respond-to-reviews/">Is It Important To Respond To Reviews? It Absolutely Is!</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As someone who spends a large chunk of their life responding to guest reviews (mostly for Hotels and Restaurants), I&#8217;m often asked if it&#8217;s really important to reply to reviews?</p>
<p>By golly <strong>YES IT IS!</strong></p>
<p>It&#8217;s massively important for some and all of the following reasons:</p>
<p><strong>IT SHOWS YOU CARE</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>About your guests / customers / clients. That you&#8217;re interested in what they have to say. Both the good bits and the bad.</li>
<li>About your business. Enough to invite the people who spend their money in your business to contribute their perspectives and their experiences of whatever it is you&#8217;re offering.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>IT GIVES YOU A HUGE ADVANTAGE</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Over your competitors who aren&#8217;t engaging and listening to what their guests / customers / clients have to say. The more relevant you are regarding what your guests / customers / clients are wanting, the better your business is always going to be.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>IT SETS YOU UP FOR THE FUTURE</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Future guests / customers / clients gain confidence that they&#8217;re about to engage with a business who cares and is interested.</li>
<li>Future guests / customers / clients develop a sense of who you are, or who the business is, before they engage with you for the first time. How you respond to good and not so good reviews says plenty.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>THE IMPORTANCE OF REVIEWS DURING A TRIP TO A CITY I DIDN&#8217;T KNOW</strong></p>
<p>This past weekend I visited a city I didn&#8217;t know. All I had was transport and Google Maps to get around, and decide where 20 plus people were going to eat for lunch and dinner. For the 3 Full days we were there we required 6 different dining establishments. They needed to be above average.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s how I made the decision on where we&#8217;d go:</p>
<ol>
<li>Ratings help to sift through the large number of options.</li>
<li>A quick glance through the reviews (arranged by most to least recent) help to get an idea of the current state of affairs.</li>
<li>Menu items and prices.</li>
<li>Photos of the environment and the food.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>GETTING UNSTUCK ON SIMILAR SPOTS</strong></p>
<p>The most interesting part was that there were times where we were stuck with a few options for the next meal. Ratings were equal. Reviews were as good. Menu items and prices looked similar, and pics didn&#8217;t make a difference.</p>
<p><strong>In the end it all came down to owner / manager response to the reviews.</strong> Did they bother to respond? If so, what was their tone, and how did they go about it? In fact, it proved to be really easy making decisions with that last piece.</p>
<p><strong>When all was equal, the response won! Every single time.</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/is-it-important-to-respond-to-reviews/">Is It Important To Respond To Reviews? It Absolutely Is!</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
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		<title>Occasionally our Bot behaves like a Naughty 5 Year Old</title>
		<link>https://calidascope.com/occasionaly-our-bot-behaves-like-a-naughty-5-year-old/</link>
					<comments>https://calidascope.com/occasionaly-our-bot-behaves-like-a-naughty-5-year-old/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Barrie]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Jun 2023 13:34:02 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[AI]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://calidascope.com/?p=1424</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>We recently launched a ChatGPT powered Bot on one of our Client&#8217;s website. Lanser&#8217;s on Main is Bryanston&#8217;s best Bistro (according to TripAdvisor). They&#8217;ve wanted a Bot since ChatGPT was made public in 2022. It makes perfect sense. Why make people wander around your website looking for answers, when they can ask an always learning [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/occasionaly-our-bot-behaves-like-a-naughty-5-year-old/">Occasionally our Bot behaves like a Naughty 5 Year Old</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We recently launched a ChatGPT powered Bot on one of our Client&#8217;s website. <a href="https://calidascope.com/we-built-a-chatbot/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lanser&#8217;s on Main</a> is Bryanston&#8217;s best Bistro (according to <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.co.za/Restaurant_Review-g2076941-d13803421-Reviews-Lanser_s_on_Main-Bryanston_Sandton_Greater_Johannesburg_Gauteng.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TripAdvisor</a>). They&#8217;ve wanted a Bot since ChatGPT was made public in 2022. It makes perfect sense. Why make people wander around your website looking for answers, when they can ask an always learning and intelligent ChatBot, who will give them exactly what they&#8217;re looking for?</p>
<p>We trained up ChatGPT on their website and we continue to add to our hundreds long list of questions and answers document. We&#8217;re training all the time, as new people use it, and fresh questions are asked.</p>
<h3>A Naughty Five Year Old</h3>
<p>About a month into our training, we started asking the Bot questions, and quickly discovered the articulate 5 year old lurking somewhere inside of our Bot. I say 5 year old in reference to a TED talk given by Sir Ken Robinson, titled &#8216;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY&amp;vl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Do Schools Kill Creativity</a>?&#8217;. Somewhere in his talk he speaks of a marvelous characteristic of children to try things without the fear of failure. He described children&#8217;s behaviour in this regard as, &#8216;if they don&#8217;t know, they&#8217;ll have a go&#8217;. He then goes on to describe how we lose this characteristic as we grow older.</p>
<p>Well, our Bot &#8216;has a go, when it doesn&#8217;t know&#8217;. Our first insight into this was asking it for directions from Sandton City to Lanser&#8217;s on Main? It answered articulately and confidently that you needed to turn right on Rivonia Road into William Nicol Drive. And then finished the directions pretty well. What we realised is that William Nicol Drive and Rivonia Road never intersect, so you can&#8217;t perform that turn. There&#8217;s a road missing.</p>
<p>We appreciated that &#8216;it had a go&#8217;, but having a go can be disastrous in some situations. We&#8217;ll keep on watching, tweaking and training, learning the best way to get our Bot up to speed.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/occasionaly-our-bot-behaves-like-a-naughty-5-year-old/">Occasionally our Bot behaves like a Naughty 5 Year Old</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
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		<title>We Built a Chatbot for a Client, and it&#8217;s Pretty Cool</title>
		<link>https://calidascope.com/we-built-a-chatbot/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Barrie]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jun 2023 11:05:36 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[AI]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://calidascope.com/?p=1417</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Ever since ChatGTP was released into the public domain, we&#8217;ve been playing with it and working out ways it could be used intelligently for our clients? While the academics, Tech CEO&#8217;s and relevant government officials were thrashing out whether Artificial Intelligence is going to &#8216;end us&#8217;, we were looking for practical ways it might be [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/we-built-a-chatbot/">We Built a Chatbot for a Client, and it&#8217;s Pretty Cool</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Ever since <a href="https://chat.openai.com/chat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ChatGTP</a> was released into the public domain, we&#8217;ve been playing with it and working out ways it could be used intelligently for our clients? While the academics, Tech CEO&#8217;s and relevant government officials were thrashing out whether Artificial Intelligence is going to &#8216;end us&#8217;, we were looking for practical ways it might be useful?</p>
<p>One of our clients is a restaurant in Bryanston. <a href="https://lansersonmain.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lanser&#8217;s on Main</a>. It&#8217;s rated the best Bistro in the area on TripAdvisor, and Lanser and his team have shown enough interest in our sandpit experiments to be the perfect test case for what &#8216;could be&#8217;?</p>
<p>Last week we finished training ChatGPT on everything Lanser&#8217;s on Main. It wasn&#8217;t as easy as handing over his website URL for ChatGPT to wander through and gather information (although that was part of it). The heavy lifting was building a document for it to read and learn from, on every angle we could come up with. In the end, it consisted of hundreds of possible questions and answers people might ask (and we&#8217;re not finished yet). Having built &#8216;automated bots&#8217; for websites for the past few years, you&#8217;ll not imagine the questions people will ask on a given subject, and more importantly, how they&#8217;ll ask them. In the old days you had to get pretty close to predicting. Today, there&#8217;s a lot more &#8216;play&#8217; allowed for a great answer to be delivered.</p>
<h3>Ozee is Given Life</h3>
<p>Today we&#8217;re turning the Bot for Lanser&#8217;s on Main on, and letting it play with his guests and future guests via the <a href="https://lansersonmain.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a> (bottom left corner). It&#8217;s name is Ozee, and it&#8217;ll greet you with:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Hi my name is Ozee. I think I&#8217;m a really intelligent Bot. Ask me something about Lanser&#8217;s on Main</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Ozee is only trained on Lanser&#8217;s on Main, and in theory Ozee isn&#8217;t supposed to tell you who the President of South Africa is, or even take a guess at the weekends Lottery numbers. However, if you want to know the opening hours of Lanser&#8217;s on Main, whether there are vegetarian options, or what&#8217;s in the Steak Tartare, Ozee is going to shine (in theory).</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve only allowed Ozee to answer 4  of your questions at a time (within a particular time period). We&#8217;re doing this to watch Ozee for now, and also because each answer has a cost, and we don&#8217;t want a lonely human, with 2 bottles of wine in them, playing with Ozee for hours on end. Well, not just yet.</p>
<h3>A Hybrid Model Makes Sense</h3>
<p>The reason we embarked on this project is because a hybrid model makes sense to us. Websites are still useful for many things, but if a Bot can intelligently answer questions about some of the information you&#8217;re not sure where to find, why wouldn&#8217;t you ask it? It&#8217;ll save you tons of time if Ozee can do the heavy lifting and answer your questions about Lanser&#8217;s on Main, while you work out what date you&#8217;d like to make a booking.</p>
<p>The future is always arriving. Let&#8217;s see how <a href="https://lansersonmain.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ozee</a> does?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/we-built-a-chatbot/">We Built a Chatbot for a Client, and it&#8217;s Pretty Cool</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
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		<title>Guest Reviews Are How You Get Ahead In Hospitality</title>
		<link>https://calidascope.com/getting-ahead-in-hospitality/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Barrie]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 May 2023 15:17:12 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Brand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Customer Experience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Digital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategy]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://calidascope.com/?p=1408</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>There&#8217;s one sure way (as in almost 100% guaranteed) I&#8217;ve seen Hotels, Restaurants, Lodges, BnB&#8217;s, Movie Theatres, Golf Courses, etc, etc get ahead of their competition! Guest Reviews!! I&#8217;m not going to explain why guest reviews are so important / critical in a world of always on mobile connectivity. That&#8217;s been covered in a gazillion [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/getting-ahead-in-hospitality/">Guest Reviews Are How You Get Ahead In Hospitality</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There&#8217;s one sure way (as in almost 100% guaranteed) I&#8217;ve seen Hotels, Restaurants, Lodges, BnB&#8217;s, Movie Theatres, Golf Courses, etc, etc get ahead of their competition!</p>
<blockquote>
<h4><strong><em>Guest Reviews!!</em></strong></h4>
</blockquote>
<p>I&#8217;m not going to explain why guest reviews are so important / critical in a world of always on mobile connectivity. That&#8217;s been covered in a gazillion places distributed all over the interwebs. There&#8217;s plenty of research out there and you can <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=how+important+are+guest+reviews&amp;rlz=1C5CHFA_enZA788ZA791&amp;oq=how+important+are+guest+reviews&amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j33i10i160l2j33i22i29i30l6.6239j0j7&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;bshm=bshqp/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google some of it</a> here.</p>
<h3>No one else gets reviews like Hospitality does!</h3>
<p>I&#8217;ve regularly thought about this, and I can&#8217;t think of any other industry that get reviews as often and persistently as the Hospitality Industry does. For example, as a Hotel General Manager, you can know about a broken shower in one of your rooms before your Housekeeping department has even started their daily routine. As a restaurant manager you can be alerted to a happy or unhappy guest, before they&#8217;ve paid the bill. Reviews come thick and fast, and it&#8217;s the biggest gift, if you have the correct attitude and approach.</p>
<p>At their most basic, guest reviews are feedback, and feedback is critical if you want to know how well you&#8217;re meeting your guest&#8217;s / customer&#8217;s / client&#8217;s needs? Let&#8217;s be honest, if you&#8217;re not meeting those needs, you&#8217;re not going to be in business for much longer. Businesses that survive into the future will be those that are still relevant to their customer&#8217;s needs in the future.</p>
<p>We have and have had a lot of clients in the Hospitality Industry, and while they serve different markets, some definitely do better than others. And while it&#8217;s not good science to boil it down to just one element, there is definitely a correlation between success and those who take reviews seriously.</p>
<p>And it&#8217;s really quite simple&#8230;.</p>
<h3>Read / React / Reply / Repeat</h3>
<p>That&#8217;s the magic formula that I tell all our clients. When a review comes in&#8230;.</p>
<ol>
<li>You <strong>read</strong> it,</li>
<li>you <strong>react</strong> (make the necessary changes, if any),</li>
<li>you <strong>reply</strong> to the guest, thanking them, and letting them know how you reacted (by replying, you&#8217;re letting that guest, and the next guest know that you&#8217;re invested enough to take their feedback seriously),</li>
<li>and you <strong>repeat</strong>, for every single piece of feedback you receive.</li>
</ol>
<p>The majority of our clients agree, and as a business we spend much of my time replying to reviews, and in conversations with clients on how they&#8217;re reacting to reviews? When they fail to react properly, reviews in the future continue to highlight the issue, until it&#8217;s been handled properly. However when a repeating issue isn&#8217;t dealt with, they sometimes enter a downward spiral that has a negative end result.</p>
<p>Whether it&#8217;s a particular staff person, a team, paint that&#8217;s peeling in a bathroom, a pothole in the driveway, etc, when these are repeatedly highlighted and not dealt with, it spells eventual trouble. The last thing you want are reviews reinforcing that you&#8217;re not interested in fixing the things your guests are asking you to fix. As I said earlier, if you&#8217;re not relevant to what your guests want and need, you will soon have no business.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve watched business after business, who take reviews seriously, slowly and consistently climb up whatever list they&#8217;re measuring themselves on. Whether it&#8217;s TripAdvisor, Booking.com, Lekkerslaap, Travel Ground, Google or Facebook. The formula is simple and it works for every single platform. Read / React / Reply / Repeat.</p>
<p>Sadly, I&#8217;ve watched other clients do the opposite because they didn&#8217;t think guest reviews were important.</p>
<p>#takeahorsetowater</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/getting-ahead-in-hospitality/">Guest Reviews Are How You Get Ahead In Hospitality</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
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		<title>The Power of Word of Mouth Marketing</title>
		<link>https://calidascope.com/word-of-mouth-marketing/</link>
					<comments>https://calidascope.com/word-of-mouth-marketing/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Barrie]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 Dec 2020 05:57:35 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Digital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategy]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://calidascope.com/?p=1350</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Word of mouth marketing (WOMM) can make or break a business. When people are talking about you positively, you&#8217;re flying. When people are talking about you negatively, you&#8217;re in trouble. In fact, if you get word of mouth marketing right you’ll possibly have little to no need of an advertising budget. Customers continuously telling others [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/word-of-mouth-marketing/">The Power of Word of Mouth Marketing</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Word of mouth marketing (WOMM) can make or break a business. When people are talking about you positively, you&#8217;re flying. When people are talking about you negatively, you&#8217;re in trouble. In fact, if you get word of mouth marketing right you’ll possibly have little to no need of an advertising budget. Customers continuously telling others about how awesome you are is better than any billboard or Facebook Campaign.</p>
<p>While Word of Mouth Marketing has been around since the beginning of time, don&#8217;t make the mistake of thinking it has nothing to do with digital.</p>
<ul>
<li>Facebook likes</li>
<li>TripAdvisor Reviews</li>
<li>Google My Business Comments</li>
<li>Twitter Followers</li>
<li>Instagram Likes</li>
<li>Brand Mentions</li>
</ul>
<p>These all form part of WOMM, and should be <a href="https://calidascope.com/fake-online-reviews-hospitality/">lovingly and carefully curated and looked after</a>.</p>
<h3>It&#8217;s Never Too Late To Build Your First Website</h3>
<p>A few weeks ago I met a business owner who&#8217;d not had a website or much of a digital presence over their 45 years of existence. How was that even possible I had wondered to myself? I felt like I was talking to someone from another dimension, and couldn&#8217;t wait to hear more. I work for <a href="https://calidascope.com/">an Agency helping our clients communicate</a> to their audience and market, and a digital presence is always a critical and important piece of any strategy.</p>
<p><a href="https://anthonypools.fun" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anthony Pools is a swimming pool contractor</a>, who have been building and renovating swimming pools throughout South Africa and across Africa for 45 years. They&#8217;re a successful business and in 2020 they decided a digital presence was needed.</p>
<p>I asked their MD, Warren Peterkin, how they&#8217;d done it? Survived and thrived for 45 years without much of a digital presence.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Word of mouth has worked for us for over 45 years. We build great pools and finish within the agreed upon time frame, with a top class team of people. We&#8217;ve attracted customers through our customers talking about their great experience with us.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>And why digital now? What changes where you seeing that brought on a change in strategy?</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Increasingly people have been asking to see pictures of our work, and I got tired of sending photos via Whatsapp, and scrolling through images on my phone. Having a website means there&#8217;s a place to send people who&#8217;ve asked to learn more about us.</em></p></blockquote>
<h3>Two Things I Learned</h3>
<p>I walked away with two things from my conversation with Warren.</p>
<p>Success isn&#8217;t determined primarily by your marketing (no matter how much money you throw at it). Success is determined by a great product, delivered when you say it will be, through an awesome team of people. When you&#8217;ve got that right, then you have something worth telling the world about.</p>
<p>When you&#8217;ve got a great product, delivered on time, through a great team of people, you don&#8217;t even have to tell the world. Your customers, guests or clients will tell the world for you!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@benwhitephotography?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Ben White</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/whisper?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/word-of-mouth-marketing/">The Power of Word of Mouth Marketing</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
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		<title>Fake Online Reviews in Hospitality are Extremely Risky</title>
		<link>https://calidascope.com/fake-online-reviews-hospitality/</link>
					<comments>https://calidascope.com/fake-online-reviews-hospitality/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Barrie]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 28 Nov 2020 12:26:57 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Customer Experience]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://calidascope.com/?p=1340</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;re in the hospitality industry then you understand the value of an online review. Great one&#8217;s get you customers, and bad ones chase them away. Reviews have become a key marker towards your success. In todays connected and digitised world, a large number of people read online reviews before they visit your Hotel, Restaurant, [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/fake-online-reviews-hospitality/">Fake Online Reviews in Hospitality are Extremely Risky</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;re in the hospitality industry then you understand the value of an online review. Great one&#8217;s get you customers, and bad ones chase them away. Reviews have become a key marker towards your success.</p>
<p>In todays connected and digitised world, a large number of people read online reviews before they visit your Hotel, Restaurant, Bar or Entertainment Establishment, and then make a decision as to whether they&#8217;ll visit or not?</p>
<h3>HOW IMPORTANT ARE REVIEWS?</h3>
<p><a href="https://calidascope.com">We manage 4 hospitality properties in South Africa</a> who hold a number one position on <a href="https://tripadvisor.co.za" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">TripAdvisor</a> in their category and area from a ratings perspective. Each one of these clients is very sensitive to their reviews, and take a review under 5 stars very seriously. Holding the number one position is extremely prestigious and we go out of our way to remind current and future guests of their position. It&#8217;s a confirmation of the service and experience you can expect to receive during your visit.</p>
<p>We sometimes spend hours pouring over a negative review in an attempt to deconstruct what happened, and to ensure it doesn&#8217;t happen again. We then carefully write a response detailing what happened and why the guest can be assured it wont happen again. These are key elements for the contributor and future guests who will come across the review.</p>
<p>A quick search on Google results in more than enough evidence to show the importance of a review and its influence of purchasing behaviour.</p>
<p>As one example, according to <a href="https://medium.com/revain/why-are-customer-reviews-so-important-185b915d4e5d#:~:text=The%20Impact%20of%20Reviews,to%20improved%20profits%20for%20businesses." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Revain</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>In the U.S., 68% of online shoppers are more likely to engage with businesses that have positive reviews (<a href="https://www.brightlocal.com/learn/local-consumer-review-survey/#q1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BrightLocal 2017</a>), and 93% determine whether a business has a good reputation (or not) based upon the available reviews. In 2016, <a href="https://fanandfuel.com/no-online-customer-reviews-means-big-problems-2017/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fan &amp; Fuel</a> reported that 92% of consumers hesitated to make a purchase if there were no customer reviews, and a full 97% say customer reviews factor into their buying decisions.</em></p>
<p><em>Products with reviews are 270% more likely to be bought than a product without, according to <a href="http://spiegel.medill.northwestern.edu/_pdf/Spiegel_Online%20Review_eBook_Jun2017_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Speigel Research Centre</a> (2017). For a higher priced product, this likelihood increases to 380%.</em></p></blockquote>
<h3>FAKE ONLINE REVIEWS ARE RISKY TO YOUR BUSINESS</h3>
<p>With reviews significantly influencing purchasing behaviour, it&#8217;s obvious that using fake reviews to enhance your status is a very attractive strategy.</p>
<p>Fake online reviews can include asking friends and family, or even go as far as using services where you can buy fake reviews.</p>
<p>According to an article on <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/11/how-fake-customer-reviews-do-and-dont-work?curator=briefingday.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Harvard Business Review</a>, as many as 4.5 million sellers sourced fake online reviews in the past year (2020).</p>
<p>These Fake reviews are fraught with problems:</p>
<p>The larger review sites are getting smarter at detecting them. As an example, in 2019 alone, Amazon spent more than <a href="https://themarkup.org/ask-the-markup/2020/07/21/how-to-spot-fake-amazon-product-reviews" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">R7.5 billion and employed more than 8,000 people</a> to reduce fraud and abuse on its platform, deleting around 40% of these fake reviews. With this kind of investment fake reviews increasingly run the risk of being identified and your business being penalised for posting them.</p>
<p>While there may be a short term gain from fake reviews, you either need to continue to buy them, or grow your family / friend base in order to sustain them. Once they stop appearing on your platforms of choice, the real reviews begin to dominate, potentially leaving future guests confused as to what to expect from your establishment.</p>
<h3>REVIEWS ARE YOUR FRIEND</h3>
<p>Outside of Hospitality I can&#8217;t think of another industry that receives a similar amount of in-the-moment feedback. It&#8217;s my personal view that you can almost run your entire hospitality business by taking all your reviews and authentically responding and actioning them. As a Hotel General Manager you can be alerted to a broken shower before your housekeeping team have entered the room. As a Restaurateur you can know that someone had a wonderful meal before they even arrive at home after leaving your establishment.</p>
<p>Reviews allow you to see your business and staff from the most important perspective possible&#8230;. the customer. Your processes, procedures, quality, pricing, value, etc, etc.</p>
<p>By responding with care to each review, you illustrate your commitment to quality service and experience. Each review response is read by the contributor and multiple guests into the future. Even if an error was made, you have the opportunity to apologise and show your passion and commitment to your customers and your business.</p>
<p>By looking back each quarter at your collective reviews you can spot trends and themes in what people are writing and get a unique perspective on what&#8217;s going on.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Handled well, reviews are not something to be faked or afraid of. To the contrary, they are enablers of your business, as long as you are committed to listening, responding and actioning what the most important person in your business is saying to you. The bonus&#8230; they&#8217;re doing it for free and on their own time. Now that&#8217;s commitment worth matching, at the very least.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@hjkp?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">henry perks</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/reviews?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/fake-online-reviews-hospitality/">Fake Online Reviews in Hospitality are Extremely Risky</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
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		<title>What I want to learn from the Big Social Media Advertising ‘Pause’</title>
		<link>https://calidascope.com/what-i-want-to-learn-from-the-big-social-media-advertising-pause/</link>
					<comments>https://calidascope.com/what-i-want-to-learn-from-the-big-social-media-advertising-pause/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Barrie]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2020 20:47:34 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Brand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Disruption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Trends]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://calidascope.com/?p=1272</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Oh dear. Things just got a lottle ugly out there for advertising platforms, as some very large Brands pull and pause their social media advertising spend. Facebook is getting the brunt of the attention over their lax approach to moderation by the Stop Hate for Profit initiative (their stock was down 8% this week). Some of those brands include: [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/what-i-want-to-learn-from-the-big-social-media-advertising-pause/">What I want to learn from the Big Social Media Advertising ‘Pause’</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Oh dear. Things just got a lottle ugly out there for advertising platforms, as some very large Brands pull and pause their social media advertising spend. Facebook is getting the brunt of the attention over their lax approach to moderation by the <a href="https://www.stophateforprofit.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Stop Hate for Profit</a> initiative (their <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53204072" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">stock was down</a> 8% this week).</p>
<p>Some of those brands include: Coca Cola, Unilever, Starbucks, Beam Suntory, Ben &amp; Jerry’s, Verizon, Diageo, Ford, North Face, Honda, Dockers, Levis, Patagonia and many more.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Coca Cola’s official statement includes: “There is no place for racism in the world and there is no place for racism on social media. The Coca-Cola Company will pause paid advertising on all social media platforms globally for at least 30 days. We will take this time to reassess our advertising policies to determine whether revisions are needed. We also expect greater accountability and transparency from our social media partners.”</em></p></blockquote>
<h3>What I’m Most Interested In?</h3>
<p>Of course there are multiple angles to what’s going on, and there’s lots to read and learn about in the process. Debating online censorship and the responsibility of these powerful advertising platforms is long overdue.</p>
<p>However, what I’m most interested in is what impact will this have on the sales of these Brands? Digital Advertising was one of those things that arrived and everyone jumped on board. The hype around the benefits of digital advertising is massive and there are entire industries that strongly support that message.</p>
<p>Well, we’re about to find out what the real impact of digital advertising is? In this case, what the impact of no digital advertising is? For some of these brands, their advertising boycott is only in the US, and for others it’s Global. Assuming they all stop for at least a month, there are going to be some really interesting numbers that emerge. There are also going to be some interesting stories of how these brands re-emerge?</p>
<p>I’m expecting the result will be that digital advertising is key to the revenue of these brands, but this is a rare opportunity to attempt to measure exactly how key it is?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@thoughtcatalog?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Thought Catalog</a> on </em><a href="https://barriebramley.com/s/photos/social-media-advertising?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText"><em>Unsplash</em></a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/what-i-want-to-learn-from-the-big-social-media-advertising-pause/">What I want to learn from the Big Social Media Advertising ‘Pause’</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
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		<title>In a Digital World there&#8217;s no Substitute for Great Writing and Beautiful Images</title>
		<link>https://calidascope.com/great-writing-and-beautiful-images/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Barrie]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Sep 2019 07:44:34 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Digital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Disruption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategy]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://calidascope.com/?p=1095</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Before it finally leaked out that Lance Armstrong had been making use of enhancements, there was a conversation that went something like this&#8230; Even if he is using enhancements, they&#8217;re all (professional cyclists) using them, so even if he is, it still makes him the best of the bunch It&#8217;s a conversation I often have [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/great-writing-and-beautiful-images/">In a Digital World there&#8217;s no Substitute for Great Writing and Beautiful Images</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Before it finally leaked out that Lance Armstrong had been making use of enhancements, there was a conversation that went something like this&#8230;</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Even if he is using enhancements, they&#8217;re all (professional cyclists) using them, so even if he is, it still makes him the best of the bunch</em></p></blockquote>
<p>It&#8217;s a conversation I often have in my head in today&#8217;s digital environment where businesses, large and small, are fighting for space in an overcrowded world of messaging to try and win customers over their competitors. The world of messaging has changed dramatically. Go back 10-15 years and the predominant platforms to speak to consumers were TV, Newspapers, Magazines, and Billboards. Over the past decade or so, the likes of Google and Facebook (and others) have been levelling the playing fields, creating a playground where even the smallest voice (budget) has a shot at outperforming the biggest. Today the unusual suspects often pop up in our streams, and the world has changed, possibly forever?</p>
<h5>Fast Movers Had A Digital Advantage</h5>
<p>During the transition, those that leapt first (the fast movers) into digital advertising discovered they had a firm advantage over the slow movers. They were usually the big voices (big business with big budgets) who were now dominating the old and new media.</p>
<p>As we know that&#8217;s all changing. Online advertising has become easier (it&#8217;s still not simple) and cheaper, as everyone jumped, and is still jumping, into the game. Our feeds are now made up of large brands, and my next door neighbour (selling organic carrots and potatoes).</p>
<h5>Great Copy and Eye-Catching Images Still Win The Game</h5>
<p>Even though its all changing, writing great copy (the words you use) and eye-catching images haven&#8217;t caught up, or haven&#8217;t made the same leap. While it can take no longer than 30 minutes to set up a digital advert that will run for weeks and months, writing great copy and sourcing the perfect images can take hours.</p>
<p>And yet, that&#8217;s where it&#8217;s all won and lost. Going back to my Lance Armstrong example&#8230; you can take as many enhancements as you want, if you&#8217;re not fit, strong, skilled, with the right body, experienced, well resourced, and surrounded by a great team, you are never ever going to win a Tour de France.</p>
<h5>You Need More Than Brute Force Paid Digital Advertising</h5>
<p>If your business has invested in digital advertising, you&#8217;re only part of the way there. You have to put your messaging up against those who are doing it well and getting the clicks, likes, comments, engagement and conversions. Don&#8217;t be fooled into thinking money alone is enough. Whomever you have working on your digital communication:</p>
<ul>
<li>invest in their writing and image sourcing skills.</li>
<li>meet regularly to discuss what they&#8217;re doing and what they plan to do?</li>
<li>benchmark yourself against those that are doing it well.</li>
<li>ensure they&#8217;re reading regularly to familiarise themselves with the latest trends (the internet is an incredible resource for learning from others).</li>
<li>do the necessary work to check that your messaging is alined to your business goals, and can result in getting customers to engage with you, be that in conversation, signups, or purchases.</li>
</ul>
<p>In todays world of digital communication doing better business is not as cheap as a minimum payment to Google or Facebook of R300 (plus VAT) per month. It takes focus, discipline and lots of time to make sure you stand out from an extremely crowded market place. The opportunity to stay ahead is incredibly large, simply because there aren&#8217;t many companies doing it really well.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h5><em>Are you Looking to Improve your Digital Communication?</em></h5>
<p><em>Calidascope works with small, medium and sometimes large businesses, no matter the size of their budget, to find ways to disrupt their communication playground. We&#8217;ve had some incredible successes and worked on some amazing projects. From consulting, to designing strategies, and executing on those strategies. If you&#8217;d like to explore how we can help your business, send an email to <a href="mailto:catri@calidascope.com">Catri Dixon</a> &#8211; <a href="mailto:catri@calidascope.com">catri@calidascope.com</a></em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@paolocandelo?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">paolo candelo</a> on </em><a href="https://unsplash.com/search/photos/cycling?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText"><em>Unsplash</em></a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/great-writing-and-beautiful-images/">In a Digital World there&#8217;s no Substitute for Great Writing and Beautiful Images</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
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		<title>Westville&#8217;s First Dedicated Click and Collect Supermarket</title>
		<link>https://calidascope.com/westvilles-first-dedicated-click-and-collect-supermarket/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Barrie]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Sep 2019 15:43:34 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Customer Experience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Digital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Disruption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Innovation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://calidascope.com/?p=1078</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Westville in Durban just got it&#8217;s first dedicated online, click and collect Supermarket. It&#8217;s called Kwanu When we first started Calidascope our goal was to do our best to find interesting clients, doing interesting things, who wanted to shake up the status quo and get the attention of their market (not matter the size of [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/westvilles-first-dedicated-click-and-collect-supermarket/">Westville&#8217;s First Dedicated Click and Collect Supermarket</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Westville in Durban just got it&#8217;s first dedicated online, click and collect Supermarket. It&#8217;s called Kwanu</p>
<p>When we first started Calidascope our goal was to do our best to find interesting clients, doing interesting things, who wanted to shake up the status quo and get the attention of their market (not matter the size of their budget). Over the last 6 years we&#8217;ve had incredible fun on these projects.</p>
<h5>FOR EXAMPLE &#8211; THE LEGO MOVIE AND LANSER&#8217;S ON MAIN</h5>
<p>We designed and delivered Lego Mini-figures to Fresh, Gareth Cliff, Banong Matheba, Lee-Roy Right and Caspar Lee for the launch of the Lego Movie on DVD.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-566 size-full" src="http://calidascope.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/comparison-600x459@1x.jpg" alt="Calidascope Lego Minifigure Bonang Mthetha Top Billing" width="600" height="459" srcset="https://calidascope.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/comparison-600x459@1x.jpg 600w, https://calidascope.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/comparison-600x459@1x-300x230.jpg 300w, https://calidascope.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/comparison-600x459@1x-480x367.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-556 size-full" src="http://calidascope.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Fresh.jpg" alt="DJ Fresh 5FM Lego Minifigure" width="600" height="409" srcset="https://calidascope.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Fresh.jpg 600w, https://calidascope.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Fresh-300x205.jpg 300w, https://calidascope.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Fresh-480x327.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>
<p>We&#8217;ve worked with <a href="http://lansersonmain.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lanser&#8217;s on Main</a> (in Bryanston). We used <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.co.za/Restaurant_Review-g2076941-d13803421-Reviews-Lanser_s_on_Main-Bryanston_Sandton_Greater_Johannesburg_Gauteng.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">TripAdvisor</a> as the bench mark when Lanser&#8217;s first opened their doors. If you&#8217;ve not been, it&#8217;s guaranteed to be an experience you&#8217;ll remember. In 18 months Lanser&#8217;s on Main has gone from 48th on TripAdvisor, all the way to Number 1. Definitely Bryanston&#8217;s favourite Bistro</p>
<h5>KWANU &#8211; WESTVILLE&#8217;s FIRST DEDICATED CLICK AND COLLECT SUPERMARKET</h5>
<p>And most recently, we&#8217;ve been involved in the launch of <a href="https://westville.kwanu.co.za" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kwanu</a>. A dedicated click and collect online supermarket located in Westville, Durban.</p>
<p>Kwanu is doing some interesting things in the world of online grocery shopping:</p>
<p>Located in Westville, as a Click and Collect service, they&#8217;re not focussing on national. In the words of Neville Dunn (ex MD of Masscash), &#8220;We&#8217;re not trying to solve for the National Market. We&#8217;re focussing on one community at a time. We think grocery online in South Africa will be most successful when it has a local focus and integration.&#8221;</p>
<p>They&#8217;re not a &#8216;buying business&#8217;, using local retailers. Says Andrew Mardon (ex National Buyer for Masscash), &#8220;Kwanu is focussed on delivering &#8216;everyday best prices&#8217;. We&#8217;ve built relationships with key suppliers, ensuring we can offer our customers the best possible prices everyday.&#8221;</p>
<p>By offering a click and collect service along with a focussed range, they&#8217;re solving the two biggest issues with shopping online for groceries&#8230; never substituting products for out of stock and South Africa&#8217;s unique challenges with delivery.</p>
<p>Kwanu&#8217;s results and <a href="https://facebook.com/pg/westville.kwanu/reviews/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">customer feedback</a> speak volumes.</p>
<p><em>Fast and friendly service! The quickest grocery run I have ever done.</em> &#8211; <strong>Kerri Wolfaardt</strong></p>
<p><em>WOW !!! Kwanu is just the most incredible way to shop and has the most user friendly website &#8211; they have thought of everything to make shopping easier and then to top it all they definitely have the best pricing in town!! Last night I had a total life transforming moment &#8211; sitting at my computer in my PJ&#8217;S &#8211; normally you see everyone you have ever known when you shoot into the shops in your old tracksuit !!!</em> &#8211; <strong>Abigail de Robillard</strong></p>
<p><em>Just had my first Kwanu experience. Will Def be back. Friendly guys and so easy. Thanks.</em> &#8211; <strong>Leigh Bolam</strong></p>
<p><em>At Kwanu Promotional pricing is great!! But what you have to look at is the pricing of the products that are not on promotion as they still make up a significant part of your shopping basket! Here is where Kwanu wins. Would love for Kwanu to be put up against Checkers, Spar, PnP, on a basket of products across the range. My guess is that Kwanu is significantly cheaper!</em> &#8211; <strong>Grant Surmon</strong></p>
<h5>More than just Grocery Shopping</h5>
<p>Kwanu is onto something. Grocery shopping is largely made up of the same basket of items, week in and week out. There isn&#8217;t any reason to have to walk the aisles of a store to do 90% of your shopping. Repeat purchases should be fast, easy and convenient. That&#8217;s what Kwanu is doing, and they&#8217;re doing it really well. We&#8217;re proud to be part of the adventure.</p>
<hr />
<h5><em>LOOKING TO DISRUPT YOUR MARKET?</em></h5>
<p><em>If your business is looking to disrupt your market, Calidascope has an experienced team to help you execute your idea into the world. Contact <a href="mailto:catri@calidascope.com">Catri Dixon</a> to set up some time to talk.</em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/westvilles-first-dedicated-click-and-collect-supermarket/">Westville&#8217;s First Dedicated Click and Collect Supermarket</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
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		<title>The Importance Of Online Customer Reviews</title>
		<link>https://calidascope.com/importance-of-online-customer-reviews/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Barrie]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Sep 2019 10:19:57 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Customer Experience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Digital]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>During the past 6 years I&#8217;ve responded to thousands of customer reviews, for multiple clients in a wide variety of industries. If I&#8217;ve learned anything, it&#8217;s this&#8230;. when customer reviews are central to your business the results are obvious. Why you can&#8217;t afford to ignore Online Customer Reviews! A quick internet search around the importance [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/importance-of-online-customer-reviews/">The Importance Of Online Customer Reviews</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>During the past 6 years I&#8217;ve responded to thousands of customer reviews, for multiple clients in a wide variety of industries. If I&#8217;ve learned anything, it&#8217;s this&#8230;. <strong>when customer reviews are central to your business the results are obvious.</strong></p>
<h4>Why you can&#8217;t afford to ignore Online Customer Reviews!</h4>
<p>A quick internet search around the importance of customer reviews returns a plethora of research indicating how important reviews have become in business today. Of course a large amount of the research is done in countries with a high online penetration, where increasingly people are shopping online. But even if you knock the stats down to a number you think best represents the South African Market, you&#8217;d be hard-pressed to deny the general trend.</p>
<p>Take a look through these stats from <a href="https://www.invespcro.com/blog/the-importance-of-online-customer-reviews-infographic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Invesp</a>, and compare them to your own purchasing / review behaviour:</p>
<ul>
<li>90% of customers read online reviews before visiting a business</li>
<li>For nearly 9 in 10 consumers, an online review is as important as a personal recommendation</li>
<li>Customers are likely to spend 31% more on a business with &#8216;excellent&#8217; reviews</li>
<li>72% say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more</li>
<li>92% of users will use a local business if it has at least a 4-star rating</li>
<li>72% of consumers will take action only after reading a positive review</li>
<li>Reliability (27%), expertise (21%) and professionalism (18%) are the most important reputation traits for a local business</li>
<li>86% of people will hesitate to purchase from a business that has negative online reviews</li>
</ul>
<p>In light of data like that, I&#8217;m often bewildered at why so many businesses pay little to no attention to their customer reviews, and worse, do it so badly?</p>
<h4>When It Works</h4>
<p>Don&#8217;t make the mistake of thinking that Online Customer Reviews are only important for online stores. It doesn&#8217;t matter if you&#8217;re a family hotel in the Drakensberg, a restaurant in a busy Jozi Suburb, or an online supermarket in Durban, in our experience at <a href="http://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>, customer reviews work well when they&#8217;re moved to the centre of your business.</p>
<p>Here are a few of the Signposts we&#8217;ve developed over time:</p>
<p><strong>Make sure you have competent and experienced people engaging with customers</strong></p>
<p>Experience matters when you&#8217;re dealing with people. Empathy is critical. Emotional tone is key. Being able to &#8216;really see&#8217; what&#8217;s being said, and what your customer is looking for in the exchange is important in order to craft the best response. Keep in mind, rave reviews are really easy to respond to. It&#8217;s the critical reviews that will test your metal. I&#8217;ve had clients, who from time to time, would far rather tell a client or customer to never come back. That&#8217;s never a great response.</p>
<p><strong>Respond Quickly</strong></p>
<p>When a customer takes the time to write a review, there&#8217;s a lot of effort that goes into it, for many people. There&#8217;s risk attached when putting yourself out publicly. The very least you can do is to get back to them as quickly as possible. Sometimes it takes us a day or two to gather all the information, to ensure our response is accurate and we have as many of the facts as possible.</p>
<p><strong>Create a direct line between the Responder and Senior Management</strong></p>
<p>We won&#8217;t take on a client if we don&#8217;t have access to a senior person in the business. Sometimes action needs to take place to rectify a situation, and if we can&#8217;t ensure the necessary steps are taken, then our responses are impotent, and the customer ends up losing. In fact, if it&#8217;s something that&#8217;s going to impact future customers, then all customers are losing, and the entire exercise becomes a farce.</p>
<p><strong>When necessary, pick up the phone</strong></p>
<p>Just because the review came in via an online channel, there are times when the response requires a phone call, or even a face to face meeting. In our experience the more extreme a review, the more likely that a phone call is the best response.</p>
<p><strong>You&#8217;re always responding to two people</strong></p>
<p>Keep in mind that you&#8217;re always writing a response to two people. The customer who wrote it, and future customers who will stumble across it and read it. Each reply is an opportunity to describe a fuller context, or educate, or promote, or illustrate, etc. While you and the first customer understand the situation, your future customer may not. Take the time to make sure both audiences have the full picture.</p>
<p><strong>Say Sorry! Even when you&#8217;re not wrong</strong></p>
<p>When you&#8217;re in the wrong, apologise. Don&#8217;t make excuses, don&#8217;t try and rationalise or explain things away. Simply apologise. Apologies are magical things. They can dissipate the anger of a client instantly and turn them into fans. They allow you to move beyond the problem and focus on the solution, or the next visit, or shop, etc. Sometimes you may even need to apologise when you had nothing to do with it. I&#8217;ve apologised on a number of occasions to guests staying at a Hotel because it rained all weekend. I&#8217;ve apologised to customers who had to sit in peak hour traffic on their way to a restaurant 🙂</p>
<h4>Customer at the Centre</h4>
<p>Placing your customer at the centre of your business is critical. It&#8217;s why you have a business in the first place. Lose touch with your customer and you&#8217;ll ultimately lose your business. In today&#8217;s digital world, customers have an incredible range of options to speak directly to you. To tell you what they love, and what they hate. To suggest fixes and tweaks to make your product or service better. It&#8217;s unprecedented in human history to have so much access to feedback from your customer. When you do it well, and you respond effectively to your customer and make the necessary changes and tweaks to your business, there&#8217;s a far greater chance that you&#8217;ll move ahead in your market and your industry.</p>
<p>I know this because I&#8217;ve seen it over and over again.</p>
<h4>Need Help with your Customer Review Process?</h4>
<p>Calidascope has years of experience working with small and medium sized businesses in a range of industries to assist them with their customer feedback. From building strategies, to training teams, to executing with our own experienced team. If you&#8217;d like to chat further, please <a href="http://calidascope.com/#contact_us">drop us a line</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://calidascope.com/importance-of-online-customer-reviews/">The Importance Of Online Customer Reviews</a> appeared first on <a href="https://calidascope.com">Calidascope</a>.</p>
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