Most businesses respond promptly to negative online reviews, because you want to save face and rectify the situation quickly. That’s a great thing to do, but should you also be responding to positive online reviews? Sure, the customer is happy with you already, so there’s no situation to fix. However, it is definitely in the best interest of your business to respond and thank your customer for taking their time to leave you a positive review. As you know, positive reviews are the lifeblood of businesses and are tremendously beneficial. So, how should you respond to positive reviews?

Personalize Your Response

When you respond to a customer’s review, positive or negative, be sure to include their name. Instead of just writing, “Thanks!” start off with something more meaningful, “Thank you for your feedback, Jessica!” That personalizes the review and shows them that you really value their opinion. Try to mirror the information they shared in the review. If they mentioned that they really enjoyed working with a specific person, bring that up in your response.

When you personalize something, it automatically becomes much more meaningful to the recipient. Since your customer was happy with you and willing to help you out by leaving a positive review for your business, go the extra mile in your response. People like feeling like they were heard and valued, and the best way to do that is by personalizing your response to their review.

Express Your Gratitude

When someone leaves you a review, they are really helping your business out in a big way. Reviews are like gold for businesses and people really only trust businesses that have positive reviews online. Remember that it took time out of your customer’s day to write you a review. They are doing you a favor, so be sure to thank them. Express your gratitude for their review in your response by thanking them and maybe mentioning how much you value their feedback.

“Thank you for your feedback, Joe!” or “Thanks, Karen, We really appreciate your review.” are both proper responses to express your gratitude for a positive review.

Respond Promptly

Positive reviews are just as important as negative reviews, but in a different way. When you receive a negative review, it’s important to respond promptly because you have an upset customer and a negative situation to rectify. When you receive a positive review, you have a happy customer who has the potential to become a lifelong customer, and really values your business. In turn, you should show your customer that you value them by giving a prompt and thoughtful response to their review. Don’t stress yourself out about responding in a matter of minutes, but instead put it on your to-do list and respond within the week.

For more insights on marketing strategy that actually works for small business, subscribe to the FreshLime Newsletter here. Connect with Jay Bean, Founder of FreshLime and Small Business Marketing Expert on LinkedIn and Twitter. And last of all, if any of these tips have helped you or if you have anything to add please comment below. We’d love to hear from you!