Are online reviews a part of your insurance marketing strategy? If they aren't, they should be. While online review sites like Yelp, Angie's List, Google My Business, and Yahoo! Local Listings don't completely determine the public's view of your customer service, according to Small Biz Trends, more than 85 percent of customers rely on word of mouth about a business to make purchasing decisions. These days, word of mouth doesn't just spread at the corner coffee shop. It spreads through web-based reviews and posts about your business.
Create Your Profiles
When you're planning to get more active in the world of online insurance marketing, you need to begin by ensuring that your online profiles are up to date. When you Google your business or find yourself on local business listings, are your address, phone number, and business hours correct? Keeping your listings up to date shows customers that you care and makes them more willing to post a positive review.
Respond to Feedback
While you can develop your own profiles and even add content to some sites, on others you have less control. Take control of your online profile by actively monitoring, reading, and responding to reviews when necessary. Develop a corporate policy that guides you in your tone and what you have to offer to customers who post online about an unsatisfactory resolution or customer service experience. By actively engaging with customers online, you'll not only be aware of your online profile, you'll help to create it.
Bad Reviews Can Add Balance
Should you report bad reviews or try to eliminate them from websites whenever possible? Sometimes a mildly bad review can generate more interest in your business. If a customer sees a balanced assessment of your business on a review site, that individual is more likely to understand the pros and cons of your business and make a purchase. Customers tend to be suspicious of sites with completely positive reviews. Bad reviews can also make your business look stronger if you respond to them and the prospective customer sees that there has been a successful resolution.
Encourage Positive Word of Mouth
Take control of the web platforms that you can manage yourself. On your Facebook, encourage customers to post insurance questions or problems and find solutions, or ask customers to share a situation in which insurance saved the day. Add to and update your blog and your website with positive content from your customers. Get active on positive review sites such as Goodsnitch that focus on spreading the world about the benefits of your business and encourage customers to contact you privately about the problems they've experienced. These positive actions will help shape customers' perceptions of your business. Activity on these will move those websites up in the search rankings.
User reviews aren't just the gravy on your insurance marketing plan. They can be the key that turns casual viewers of your products into converted users of your products. Positive and honest online reviews help your prospective customers feel more confident about your business. For example, according to an iPerceptions survey, "63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site which has user reviews."
Are you ramping up your internet marketing? The American Agents Alliance can help you ensure that your business website and marketing are ready to meet the challenges of the online world. Contact us today to learn more about our continuing education, networking opportunities, and other membership benefits for independent insurance agents. 
