93% of people say online reviews impact their buying decisions. With Tripadvisor bringing 455 million unique visitors every month, it represents an incredible marketing opportunity for businesses all over the globe.
It builds trust in your services, improves customer relations and encourages repeat business. Here’s how to get more positive reviews on Tripadvisor.
- Understand How Tripadvisor Ranks
- Get the Fundamentals Right
- Have You Tried Asking?
- Take Inspiration From Your Competitors
- Promote Your Tripadvisor Page
- Be Proactive With Reviews
- Make It Easy to Leave Feedback
1. Understand How Tripadvisor Ranks
The easiest way to gain better reviews is to actually understand Tripadvisor’s criteria for ranking. Though Tripadvisor isn’t explicit about the exact details of its popularity ranking algorithm, we do know it takes into account four factors when deciding where you’ll sit: quality, recency, quantity and frequency of your reviews.
TripAdvisor’s popularity ranking algorithm is designed to make the platform more balanced for businesses. For example, if reviews were based on quantity alone, then an established large chain hotel with thousands of fluctuating reviews would rank higher. This would be especially prevalent in comparison to a newly-opened boutique hotel that receives glowing ratings - but has significantly less capacity for guests to churn the reviews out.
Essentially, you want to continually receive high-quality, five bubble ratings to improve your ranking on the platform. Higher rankings mean more visibility for your business and more positive reviews which equate to increased trust in your business.
2. Get the Fundamentals Right
Although the goal is to improve your ratings on Tripadvisor, it’s important to not lose sight of the basic best practices. They’re essential so customers know they’re leaving a review for the right business and without these fundamentals, you risk being a blip on Tripadvisor’s radar.
A description is vital: Make sure to write clear, extensive and informative descriptions so customers can properly evaluate the experience. What questions would you have about your service offering if you’ve never been before? This is especially important if you offer something unique. If your descriptions are underwhelming and inaccurate, your ratings aren’t going to help much.
Use multimedia: If you’re in the business of selling products and services online, then you’re aware that relevant images and video are vital for winning over potential customers. The good news is you can leverage these on Tripadvisor too.
Use the Tripadvisor map: This feature is indispensable for local businesses on the high street. You can add tours to the Tripadvisor map so users can see where you’re based and don’t miss you on their next shopping spree.
Keep your Tripadvisor account up-to-date: Above all, make sure you keep your account up-to-date and complete all possible fields in detail. You don’t want outdated business hours, wrong contact addresses or old storefront pictures that might deter any possible customers.
Choose the right categories for your activities: This might seem like an obvious one but to help customers find you, make sure you assign your services to the right categories.
Just remember that TripAdvisor is optimised to provide travellers with a relevant browsing and buying experience. Your offering needs to align with the relevancy aspect to attract the right type of travellers to your high street.
3. Have You Tried Asking?
Take the opportunity when your guests are at the checkout to ask about their experience and for them to rate your business. Paired with an incentive like a discount for your services, it’s a guaranteed way to gain more reviews and encourage repeat customers.
Nowadays, most people understand the importance of leaving Tripadvisor ratings and reviews. Reviewers realise that rating businesses isn’t just beneficial for the company but more importantly - it benefits travellers like themselves who rely on reviews for an indication of the quality of experiences.
4. Take Inspiration From Your Competitors
Regardless of the sector in which you operate, keeping a close eye on what your competitors are doing is vital to ensure you don’t get left behind. You may find some insight into where the industry is heading.
Monitor what they’re excelling in and replicate it in your services. It’s also a good opportunity to identify their flaws too and how you can do it better to entice their disgruntled customers.
5. Promote Your Tripadvisor Page
Although Tripadvisor is a well-known review site, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t shout out about your presence there. Take the opportunity to publicise your Tripadvisor page at every touchpoint, whether it be on your website, receipts, social media channels and even your WiFi login page if you’re innovative.
Also, if your store features in a list such as the ‘Best High Streets To Visit’ then be sure to make it known. It’s no small accomplishment and ‘top’ lists receive high search traffic from inquisitive prospects.
6. Be Proactive With Reviews
Ideally, you want to diminish negative feedback before it appears on your Tripadvisor page. However, we know that’s not always feasible and you shouldn’t be surprised if you still get some bad reviews - it’s just the nature of the platform.
Respond to them publicly, quickly and with empathy to show them and other potential buyers that you truly care. Be sure to follow Tripadvisor’s Response Guidelines to avoid any potential policy violations. You can even offer refunds, discounts and other forms of compensation. These are effective ways to rectify the situation and show how proactive you are.
Any feedback you receive is invaluable. Not only can it be evidence that what you’re doing is working but it can also be used to draw attention to elements of your business that need improvements. Don’t neglect those positive reviews either. Show current and potential customers you value their feedback. It’s a great way to incentivise reviews and show that you prioritise their experience.
7. Make It Easy to Leave Feedback
What puts customers off reviewing is that the process seems long-winded and provides no real benefit to them. However, as businesses with modern solutions, we can make it significantly easier for them to leave their thoughts.
With an effective WiFi solution in place, the customer only needs to log-in to leave a review as it’s integrated with the platform. This not only makes it a lot simpler but it also unlocks beneficial data and tools that assist with the acquisition of more (and better) reviews.
Demographic details of the people that actually visit your business become available so you can deliver relevant offers and promotions to them, which encourages them to return.
Customers are more likely to recall their experiences in greater, more accurate detail within three to seven days of purchase. You can prompt them to leave valuable Tripadvisor reviews by sending an automated email or SMS message.
By gaining access to existing customer data you can drive repeat custom and harvest their reviews. But can a WiFi solution really achieve all that? In our latest resource, we’ve discussed how giving customers access to public WiFi can completely reform your high street. From increasing footfall to becoming digital hubs, you can get inspired to make the transition too.
Become a Successful BID to Invite Tripadvisor Reviews
Many high streets in the UK have been successful within their BIDS, with many implementing innovative technology and harvesting Tripadvisor reviews daily. It’s phenomenal what public, accessible WiFi can do for businesses. Increasing footfall, retaining customers and even establishing yourself as an innovator in retail.
That’s why we’ve created our ‘Transform Your Town’ guide which details how businesses and shoppers have all benefited from a reliable and intelligent WiFi network that incentives reviews. From towns that are already taking advantage of a checklist for securing technology leader status, get access by downloading the guide below.
