Are you a business owner who is worried about your insurance company’s reputation? You’re not alone.
Between social media, blogs, and review sites, it’s easier than ever for consumers to share their thoughts and reviews of products and services – and unfortunately, they’re not always positive. Some reviews can damage a brand’s reputation, whether justified or not.
Luckily, there is hope in the form of online reputation management. You can get ahead of any negative attention by actively managing your company’s online reputation.
You may even be able to change the conversation into a more positive one. In this article, we’re going to give you a simple guide to reputation management for insurance companies.
Why is Reputation Management Important for Insurance Companies?
At this point, you may be thinking: everyone has to deal with bad reviews every once in a while, why should I be so worried about my insurance agency?
If you want to succeed in the highly competitive insurance industry, you’ll need to do what you can to stand out from similar companies in your area.
And since online reviews can impact customer decisions, taking the time to manage your reviews and do some reputation damage control is important, especially if your competitors aren’t doing the same.
Reputation management could be the competitive edge you’ve been looking for in managing your online presence and helping to bring in potential customers.
How Insurance Companies Can Manage Their Online Reputation
Perhaps your company already has the expert knowledge, exceptional customer service, and professionalism that come along with an excellent reputation in the insurance industry. So, what can you do online to help manage your reputation? Here are some of our top tips:
Manage Your Google Business Profile
If a potential customer is looking for an insurance company online, odds are they will use Google to find it. This is why it’s so important to ensure that the information on there is accurate and up-to-date, and the best way to do this is to claim or create your Google Business listing.
This will allow you to manage all the details about your company on the listing and make it much easier for customers to find and leave reviews.
Google reviews are essential for several reasons, so you want to ensure that they are easily accessible for those who wish to leave customer reviews and for those who are looking to read them.
You’ll also be able to keep an eye on them and respond to a Google review through your account. And since minimizing the impact of a bad review with the proper response is possible, this can be a great way to help take control of your online reputation.
Monitor Popular Review Sites
Though it is one of the big ones, Google isn’t the only place people look for insurance company reviews – your potential clients likely frequent sites such as Facebook, Yelp, and Insure.
Once you create or claim your listings on these sites, they will give you many more opportunities to engage with potential clients, collect reviews, and respond to them appropriately.
Brand consistency is one of the most important things to remember when interacting with existing or potential clients across these different websites. You want to maintain a consistent tone and voice no matter what kind of reviews you are responding to, both good and bad.
Mixed messages can confuse potential clients, making it difficult for them to build trust with your brand. And when they’re shopping for something as important and personal as insurance, confidence in your company is essential.
Ask Customers for Reviews
You must proactively take charge of your insurance company’s online reputation. This means actively asking your customers for reviews and not just sitting back and waiting to see who responds.
There are many reasons customers won’t leave reviews for your business, so it’s essential to try and figure out a way around this. This is especially true for your more satisfied customers (you probably won’t miss any reviews from some of the harder-to-please ones!).
You will want to make the review process as easy as possible. This may mean collecting the links to your company’s listings on the most popular review sites and sending them directly to your clients.
You could send it in an email after purchasing your products or services or even in a quick text. The point is to let customers know that you really would appreciate their reviews and feedback and that it does make a difference to you and your company. They may not even realize the impact that reviews can have!
Embrace Negative Feedback
It can be easy to lose your cool if your insurance company receives a negative review, especially if you feel it isn’t justified. However, even bad reviews can be good for business. It’s all in the way you handle them. Everyone makes mistakes or has misunderstandings, and publicly admitting them can be very humanizing for your brand.
Besides, there may be some helpful customer feedback in negative reviews. You need to recognize both the good and the bad if you want to succeed in the insurance industry, and reviews help you do just that.
The Bottom Line
If you want to take control of your insurance company’s online reputation, you need to start putting in the work. You must claim or create your online business listings, monitor popular review sites, ask customers for reviews, and embrace negative feedback.
Sure, it can be a lot of work, but fortunately, there are services available that can help. Review Rabbit is a review generation service that can help increase your review count and boost your online reputation.
Learn more about our service, and get started with reputation management today!