If you’ve been putting off implementing a customer feedback management policy, this is a perfect time to shift your focus away from only trying to attract new customers to enhancing customer experiences.

Online reviews and social recommendations often differentiate which brands grow and which ones languish and die. How do you get started? Begin by asking for reviews, and closely monitoring social media mentions and review sites.

It’s easier than you might think. Did you know that asking someone if they believe they are a helpful person, before asking them for a favor, boosts your chances of gathering survey data by more than 75%? Quoting stats from a Robert Cialdini’s research study, Entrepreneur.com says asking this simple question increases the likelihood of getting a review by 77.3%.

Remember this when asking tenants and owners for their opinions about property management policies and service response.

Learn more about customer experiences by:

Posting social media surveys
Using guest registration cards on your website
Visiting online review sites and renter forums
Completing face-to-face interviews with prospects and current tenants
Prepare yourself. Some reviews are brutal – some justified, and other will lift your spirits!

Getting the Most out of Customer Feedback
Of course, gathering information about customer experiences is only the first step. How you respond to reviews – positive and negative – is the most critical component of transforming the customer experience. Customer service experts use these four strategies to manage their online reputations:

1. Say thank you, acknowledging all positive customer comments. This is necessary and appreciated.
2. Own your failings. First, apologize. Then take steps to make sure a similar bad experience never happens in the future. Let’s say you come across a negative review from a renter who claims they waited hours overnight for a response from maintenance while watching the toilet overflowing, sending water down the hall, soaking carpeting and everything at floor level. If you’ve relied on an after-hours answering machine (bad idea for this very reason), you can correct a slow response problem by:

Contracting with a reputable 24-hour call center for after-hours coverage
Forwarding your primary line to an on-call representative
Using online maintenance request technology that immediately sends a text to service teams

1. Respond as soon as you discover a negative review, promising to investigate and take corrective action. Update your response detailing any company changes, and thank all commenters for their feedback.
2. Deploy technology everywhere. Everywhere. Technology allows you to instantly respond to digital inquiries, and collect vital data that can be used with reviews to shape the customer experience.

Reviews and recommendations figure into how Facebook and Google rank your business. This year, showcase your brand by implementing an exceptional customer feedback management policy, one that embraces all input as an opportunity to build stronger relationships that garner positive reviews and recommendations.