Best Practices to Stand Out with Reviews

Welcome to our 9th webinar of 2013!

• Specifically for our premium members • Please ask questions throughout • Send questions to ‘Organizers and Panelists’ • We’ll try to answer questions at the end

• We’ll send you a copy of the presentation and post in our Education Center!

Share key takeaways on Social Media:

@WeddingWireEDU

@sonnyg

Holly

Joe

Alison

@chappleflowers

@bunndjco

@AlisonHarperCo

Best Tweet gets a Bluetooth Speaker

REVIEWS MATTER

% of consumers who trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations

% of engaged couples who use online reviews to select their vendors?

95%

The magic number of reviews for consumers?

11

Average traffic increase for wedding pros with 1120 reviews?

106%

REVIEWS

ENDORSEMENTS

TESTIMONIALS

SOCIAL SHARING

The biggest obstacle to reviews is not asking

just ask

Feedback should be part of your sales cycle

A negative review may come at some point

Dealing with negative reviews 1) Take emotion out of the equation 2) Stick to the facts 3) Try to stay positive 4) Be understanding and sincere 5) Outliers can help credibility

don’t wait for a negative post to get involved

your track record of success is an ongoing journey

WW Reviews

We have always put an emphasis on you!

WeddingWire is #1 site for wedding reviews

All reviews from those you’ve worked with

We let you know every time you get a review

Showcase all your reviews on WeddingWire

The leading Awards programs in industry

Easily add reviews to your website & blog

Add your reviews onto your business page

Take action on each review when needed

AK

EXPERT ADVICE

Joe Bunn

@bunndjco

• Our company does around 450 weddings per year and another 200 private events • We have 17 part-time DJs on staff • Joe has been speaking at The DJ Expo and the Mobile Beat Show the past few years helping other DJs grow their businesses • He was the DJ at Wedding Wire World this year!

• Catch him October 3rd at Wedding MBA with his seminar called “Girl, You Need Professional Help!”

The Impact of Reviews For many years, we used to send out our own survey with about 20 questions and a place at the bottom where the client could make comments. We would then cut and paste those comments to the DJ’s bio page.

Recently, we have strictly asked our clients to leave us a review on Wedding Wire. We were getting so many clients saying that they had seen all of our positive reviews on Wedding Wire, we thought, why not add more!

It is incredible the amount of brides currently using Wedding Wire to plan their wedding, and find their vendors. Great reviews lead to easy bookings!

Tips for Getting Reviews

Tip 1: Strike while the iron is hot, but not too hot!

We don’t send out our email to the couple asking for the review immediately after the reception. Why? Because they are usually on a honeymoon. Let them get back and regroup and catch up on emails before you hit them with it.

Tips for Getting Reviews Tip 2: Automate It! We use a system to send this exact email out 10 days after the show: Thanks so much for letting us be a part of your event!

I was wondering if you could do me a quick favor‌ Would you please post a review on Wedding Wire? (make sure to insert hyperlink) Thank you so much!

Sincerely, Joe Bunn & Staff

(You would be surprised at how many you can get by doing this!)

Tips for Getting Reviews Tip 3: Follow Up! I am a big fan of following up. Not only with email and phone leads that come in, and with people we meet with, but also with clients we have already worked for.

Don’t see a survey coming in a few weeks after the wedding and you know they loved you?

Ask again‌gently.

Tips for Getting Reviews Tip 4: Go All Out! If you have a bigger company like we do, offer incentives to your staff.

On Monday September 9th, we had our monthly staff meeting. I told my guys I wanted 300 wedding reviews on WeddingWire by today. We were at 272.

Guess what our number is today?

And now I’m out $500 on beer, pizza and go-karting

Holly Heider Chapple

@chappleflowers

Holly Heider Chapple Flowers LTD. has been providing trend setting and unique flowers “designed with style,” to the Washington, DC metro area for over 21 years.

•

We specialize in the complete flower experience from consultation to delivery and are a flower boutique, not retail shop

•

Every event is custom designed and arranged by Holly and our enthusiastic, expert staff at our home based studio located in Loudoun County, Virginia

•

We are proud to have 251 WeddingWire Reviews from past clients

•

We have 5 enthusiastic team members, plus sub contractors

•

We serve 170 weddings & events each year

•

Our studio has seen consistent and significant growth in the last five years. When the economy headed into a downturn we made a conscientious effort to increase our online presence, and have seen the results pay off significantly. We are also active on social media!

The Impact of Reviews • My excellent reviews create consumer trust, often resulting in bookings even prior to consultations • My reviews show a consistency in our work and a pride in our studio’s accomplishments • We thoroughly enjoy the ability to have our review link published on our blog allowing clients a better opportunity to see the reviews

Tips for Getting Reviews Tip 1: Connect with Past Clients One of our staff members reaches out to all of our clients every three to six months.

She goes back through the calendar year and via the WeddingWire Review Collector, sends out an automated request for reviews. We do refrain from sending out this request to clients that were not pleasant to work with. If you have had a difficult client, I would not suggest sending out the request for a review. There are unfortunately some people that should not receive this invitation.

Tips for Getting Reviews Tip 2: Say Thank You & Share the News When a client writes us to tell us thank you, we ask if their lovely note and praise can be recorded and saved for our records.

At that time we encourage that person to go to Wedding Wire and cut and paste the praise they have just sent to us to submit as a Review. We tell them their feedback is an important part of our history.

Tips for Getting Reviews Tip 3: Keep Reviews Recent I explain that even though we have a lot of reviews, we need our new clients appraisal of our studio.

Having new reviews is a healthy and important part of our online appearance.

Alison Harper

@AlisonHarperCo

• East Coast consumer based freelance hair & makeup agency with award winning team of talented artist that specialize in weddings • We are the largest consumer based hair and makeup agency, and represent over 35 hair and makeup artists • Two teams that service four states • Annually completes over 350 weddings • Our work has been featured on over 32 blogs and in 12 magazines • We currently have 160 reviews on WeddingWire

The Impact of Reviews • Almost all of our clients search our client reviews before booking our services • It is helpful for us to have the opportunity to collect and share them in one place • After we received over 15 reviews, we noticed immediate increases in the number of inquiries we’ve received

Tips for Getting Reviews Tip 1: Prioritize Reviews • Make it part of the discussion. We communicate with our clients from the beginning about how important reviews are for us. That way our clients expect us to ask.

• Make it part of your work flow. Just as we confirm appointments, we also follow up. Since we have regular email conversation with the client a review request doesn’t come as a surprise.

• Make it easy for the client. We send out a basic email, thanking them for using our service and include the link.

Tips for Getting Reviews Tip 2: Showcase Reviews • Do it promptly! Don’t wait too long after the clients experience has ended. We usually send it out about a week and half after, that way it is at the top of their inbox when they get back from their honeymoon. Clients are more likely to leave a review while it is fresh on their mind.

• Make sure to share reviews and publicize them when you receive them. It will continue your message of the importance of reviews to current clients.

• Encourage your team by educating them on the importance of reviews for your business, so that they too can have dialogue with the client.

Tips for Getting Reviews Tip 3: Stay Personal • Don’t auto-send template and mass emails regarding reviews.

Make sure to personalize the client’s email and to tell them how important it is for your company to have glowing reviews!

• Make sure to follow up! We always send the initial email two weeks after the wedding. If we haven’t heard anything we send a short, professional email asking them to leave us a review. Quite a few times, clients have apologized because something came up and they needed to be reminded.

• Don’t harass someone for a review. They are not obligated to do so and if you do harass them, it is likely that a mediocre experience could progress into a bad review based on your follow up.

THE REVIEW COLLECTOR

We’ve made it simple to request reviews

You’ve always been able to email past clients

Now you can easily import your contacts

Best of all, you now have email transparency

Our system can send 2 automatic reminders

100 Review Club

100 Review Club members receive:

The Goal: 1 review a month

Q&A