Accounting businesses and firms have to maintain a good relationship with their clients, which has to be built on trust. It implies that you need to keep a stellar reputation to lure new clients to your business. However, humans are bound to make mistakes. Eventually, your side will make a mistake, which could leave a client dissatisfied with your services.
Unfortunately, those customers can have a denting impact on your online reputation by leaving a bad review or showing a negative image of your business. It will be devastating for your online reputation. Therefore, it will be beneficial to have an online reputation enablement platform by your side.
Having an online reputation management software can help you mend the reputation of your accounting business. You can build a robust reputation management strategy to counter these negative reviews and deal with the online discussion on the various platforms.
Thus, it will help you maintain and promote a positive reputation for your accounting firm. So, what is an online reputation enablement platform? Why is it so important? And how does it help your business? We will cover all the things you need to know about and where you can find the best one.
What is An Online Reputation Enablement Platform?
The world is rapidly moving towards digitalization, and consumers turn towards online sources to know about the services or products they are looking to purchase. The online reputation enablement platforms enable businesses to keep track of the customer’s online reviews.
It also helps in promoting positive experiences through various social media networks. Accounting businesses use online reputation enablement platforms to submit positive reviews and leverage online advertising campaigns.
Businesses use the digital forms that the platform gives to execute various email marketing campaigns and create new positive reviews. In addition, the monitoring tools help to identify posts and discussions that the customers are having regarding your accounting business on various platforms.
The strategy can vary from business to business depending on what they want to achieve from the online reputation management tool, but below are some tactics that accounting firms use, such as:
- Helping tell your side of the picture in an ongoing discussion.
- Saturating search results on various search engines.
- Soliciting search engines to extract particular search results.
- And much more.
Garnishing a positive online image is imperative in this hyper-competitive online market. Regardless of the industry your business is operating in. You need to have an optimistic view of the business to attract new customers from your target audience. The case is no different for accounting businesses.
Transparency and trust are the two things that help accounting firms win clients and deliver them top-notch services. If they get a bad online reputation, it ultimately impacts their revenues. Therefore, having an online reputation platform is imperative for them. Let’s find out more about the sources of negative feedback.
What Are The Sources of Negative Feedback?
As stated earlier, the strategies companies use can vary depending on the negative feedback and reviews they are getting online. However, it is equally important to identify the sources of these negative feedbacks that can tamper with your business image.
You might find some genuine concerns from customers on legitimate platforms. The optimal way to deal with them is with professionalism, instead of bashing them out. But, you will find some criticism coming towards you, which shows the wrong side of your business.
And the only aim is to damage your business reputation. Usually, there are three sources of online reviews mentioned below.
Social Media
One of the most common ways for clients to talk about an experience with a particular company is to head over to a social media platform and post it. Clients can tell about their difficulties when working with a service provider.
So, if your accounting business finds an unhappy customer online, you should take the opportunity and interact with them. The best thing about social media is that it allows you to connect with such clients, present them with an apology and try different tactics to make things right.
You can present your brand as someone who cares about their clients, and the experience that happened was due to some misunderstanding, which you are ready to apologize for. Additionally, it gives you a chance to present your side of the story. In a nutshell, it helps to clear your brand reputation.
News
Another way your brand can see damage to its reputation is through bad media coverage. There is a possibility that an unhappy client might express their feelings and experience at any news outlet.
However, there is no need to panic since the media outlets will get in touch with you to present your side of the story. You can take that chance to show your side to mitigate the impact of the bad news.
Review Websites
You can also find unhappy clients turning towards platforms and review sites, such as Yelp. However, these sites can help you reply to the clients, and you can use relevant tactics to sway them in changing their reviews or present a better image of your business.
Understanding and having comprehensive knowledge that pushes your negative image and reputation. It can help you utilize the online reputation enablement platform in the best possible way to improve your reputation. Let’s go over the features you need to look for when choosing an online reputation software.
Features to Look for When Choosing an Online Reputation Enablement Platform for Your Accounting Business
With so many online reputation enablement platforms available, you might wonder which one is the best for your accounting business. Different businesses have different approaches in dealing with brand reputation. Nevertheless, here are some basic features the online reputation management system should offer you.
Business Management Features
The most important feature or platform the online reputation enablement platform should give you is business management. It should be an all-in-one solution for you to manage your business operations, enhance your online reputation, and help you keep track of your presence on Google.
It should help you set up and create a Google My Business. Having a clear display of the vital information of your accounting business is essential to building a strong reputation.
Communication
Communication plays a critical role in shaping the business relationship with their clients. If you can have a clear communication system in place, it can ensure your clients remain satisfied. Thus, it will prevent your business from facing negative criticism or reviews.
Therefore, you need to choose an online reputation management platform that enables you to track clients’ messages and their ongoing conversations. It should take the customer’s information and streamline the communication process.
Billing & Invoices
Another important thing for an accounting business is billing and invoices. Invoice management is crucial for every business, as sending invoices late gives clients an excuse to delay payments.
Also, inaccurate billing or information on the invoices can create a bad impression and impact your reputation. You need to have a robust solution by your side to get payments quickly from your customers.
Ways for Online Reputation Management for Accounting Business
There can be situations where things are difficult to handle, and it can significantly impact your business’s online reputation. It requires you to take on your feet and use the best strategies to help you control the damage and improve your brand image.
So, it is important to know how to deal with the situation for effective online reputation management. Here are a few tips to help you out with it. Using these tips, you can improve your damaged image to some extent.
Leverage Press Releases
Press releases are not new, as businesses have been using them for decades for their reputation management. It provides them with the opportunity to address hot topics, impacting your business’s online image and reputation.
Suppose a client’s negative review or experience is getting attention online. In that case, you can write a press release for a media outlet or a blog site with a good online reach to present your point of view regarding the situation.
But before you realize a press release, make sure you have a clear idea of what you will write in it. The content should help you mend your deteriorating online reputation rather than backfiring and creating further problems for your accounting business.
Show Professionalism
Maintaining a cool and calm composure is imperative for business when dealing with negative publicity. If you end up with a poor choice of words, it will only hurt your online business reputation. Therefore, no matter what the situation is, your business should respond to show professionalism.
If you want to respond to a client’s negative feedback by connecting with them on social media, you can choose to do that, but it should be professional. You should avoid using jargon or slang words and address them with complete respect. It won’t create any opportunity for further criticism.
Making a personal connection with a former client who is leaving negative reviews can be great for improving your online reputation. It can be beneficial in an escalating issue where the client’s negative feedback is rapidly gaining attention. As a result, it can bolster a positive image publicly.
Foster Positive Reviews
The ideal approach to deal with bad reviews is by encouraging positive ones. The positive reviews will outweigh the negative reviews, resulting in an overall positive outreach and a good reputation for your business. Therefore, your accounting business can ask for satisfied clients to leave a good review.
Even a few glowing reviews and testimonials can play a vital role at the time of the growing negative online feedback. So don’t miss any chance to grab recommendations, reviews, testimonials, or anything else to help your business with online reputation management.
Xoopah: An All in One Solution for Your Accounting Business
Online reputation management software can come in handy for your business to deal with negative feedback and other things that can hamper your business growth. That is why you need to have a robust online digital tool by your side to help you in core business operations.
And don’t worry about going through the hassle of finding one because we have one right here for you. Xoopah is a great digital solution that offers your small accounting business a plethora of tools. You can use them to your advantage and take your company to the pinnacle of success.
So incorporate it today and streamline your complex business process, such as invoicing, billing, customer support, etc. And if you have any questions, you can always reach out to our ever-responsive customer support team.
Share On
