If you’re a business that takes the time to respond to your Google reviews, there is good news afloat! Google just announced that it will now notify a reviewer when a business has responded to their review. Google is calling this new feature “Owner Review Response Notification.” Here’s what Google had to say about this service:
We’re launching notifications to inform your customers when you respond to their reviews, with plans to release mobile push notifications at a later date.
When businesses respond to Google reviews or update responses to customer reviews, the customer now receives an email notification. The business’s response is published immediately and 5 minutes later, the notification is sent. This 5 minute delay allows time for the merchant to make any corrections to their response after submitting.
The notification email informs the customer that a reply to their review has been posted and contains a link to a page that shows the full owner response.
This new feature, combined with the fact that Google uses review responses as a ranking factor, shows us that Google is giving preference to the companies that take the time to connect with their clients.
We applaud Google’s emphasis on review responses. From our own research, we have found that most consumers like and appreciate it when a business responds to their review. These responses can create goodwill and understanding. It can demonstrate a spirit of gratitude. It can be a helpful tool to reach out and clear up any misunderstandings or be a medium to put an action plan in place to correct any mistakes. Plus, it’s all done in a public forum so the world can evaluate how you treat your clients.
We know that responding to every review can be a monumental effort that requires a great deal of time and attention to detail. However, we’re certain that doing so really pays off and this latest move from Google is even more encouragement to continue responding to customer reviews.
