(#374) FOUNDATIONAL SOCIAL PROOF: TESTIMONIALS, RATINGS & REVIEWS

How to ask for social proof (GREAT TESTIMONIALS)
and why it's important

Think of testimonials like an insurance policy on your marketing initiatives. They provide a guarantee through the “testimony” of others that who you say you are is who you really are. This powerful social proof reduces the risk of making the wrong buying decision for your prospects. And studies show that what others say about you can be 10 times more powerful and persuasive than what you say about yourself. 

So while good marketing gets them in the door, powerful testimonials help close the sale. 

If crafted correctly, testimonials can take down the toughest objections for you by letting your happy customers do the talking...aka the heavy lifting. 

WATCH: HOW TO ASK FOR GREAT TESTIMONIALS!
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When and what to ask for testimonials? 

Timing is important. You really want to gain that fresh energy and that insight and enthusiasm. Consider different times in the leasing process, move-in, resident events, after solving a difficult situation, renewals and move-out.

Move-In: 

• “Was there anything that pleasantly surprised you during the move-in process?”

Events: 

• “What do you enjoy about the events that we host? What’s been your favorite so far?”

After Solving a Difficult Situation: 

• “We recently had ___________________ (describe situation). And I know that caused some frustrations. What …”

Renewal: 

• “Why did you choose to renew?”

What to ask? 

• “What were you nervous about before choosing _________ Apartment community to be your new home?” 

  This draws out some common objections, maybe past frustrations with other products or services and it also may give you fantastic material for the rest of your marketing in your product development. 

• “What has been your experience since living here?”

• “What is your favorite part about your home?”

  To provide some concrete information about why your product or your service rocks and these answers will help prospects who are checking you out actually imagine themselves using your product or service, which is a very subtle and powerful conversion tool because you’re activating their imagination and they’re getting to hear from people who have already purchased your product or service what it’s like. 

• “Would you recommend our community?”

• “Is there anything else you’d like to add?”

Additional Tips: 

• A testimonial should include name, length of time living at your community and any other personal detail (ex. Place of work)

• Bonus points for adding a picture 

• Video testimonials are hugely powerful 

• Screenshots of direct testimonials on FB or another online source…

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Reviews: the good, the bad, the ugly…and how to handle them all.

To address bad reviews: Apologize. Empathize. Realize. 

• Apologize to the resident because they didn't have a great experience.

• Empathize to show that you care about their thoughts and want to know how you can do better.

• Realize and invite them to come up with a solution together. The goal here is to take it out of the public eye but also show that you are responsive.

• TIP: Before responding, click on that person's profile. If that person seems like all they want to do is fight online, I recommend not responding. You would know this if their personal posts are constantly complaining or targeting other businesses and their bad experiences. Sometimes people just like to "troll" and it's best not to engage if that is the case. 

What’s a Troll? In Internet slang, a troll is a person who starts quarrels or upsets people on the Internet to distract and sow discord by posting inflammatory and digressive,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses[2] and normalizing tangential discussion,[3] whether for the troll's amusement or a specific gain. Wikipedia 

• Fill in the blank response example:

  • Insert Name, we are so sorry to hear about your experience. We truly care about our residents and those who visit our community and are always looking for ways to improve [insert problem area they mentioned]. Please send us a private message with your contact information and we would love to reach out and discuss a solution. Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.

How to Combat Negative Reviews: Bury Them With Good Experiences

• Focus on resident appreciation! Small things that make a big difference like candy at their door, sodas at the gate, etc. You need to create more positive moments in-person first before it will translate online. 

• Get ahead of problems before they become public. Surveys are a great way to do that or even including a line in your signature that encourages residents and prospects to share their feedback via email. This way at least if you are going to get bad feedback, you get it in a private way. Most people write bad reviews for the public because they don't feel like they will be heard anywhere else. 

• Random acts of kindness that are personalized. Having an average experience isn't enough to write a good review. You have to go above and beyond in a random way that surprises your resident or prospect to make them take that extra step. 

How to Encourage More Reviews 

• Remind residents about reviews during our daily routine: when prospects sign their lease, move-in to their homes, come into the office, see them in the hallway, they pick up a package, etc.

• Have your team add links to places to review your community in their email signatures

• Including a flyer about reviews in your welcome folders

• Throwback Thursday or Flashback Friday: Reshare old reviews to get people to continue to review.

• Post these graphics around the community in common areas or place in units after the maintenance team completes a request. Use the video on social media to encourage feedback, too!

Find more designs HERE. Search “review”

• Remind residents at events with a framed design like this one OR Search “review” to choose another design.

• Do a simple in-person reminder every time your team interacts with a resident or prospect. Say something like this at the end of a conversation: If you don't mind, we would love it if you could post a review on [insert platform]! I know other residents would love to hear about your experience and it would mean the world if you could leave a quick review!

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REPUTATION RESPONSE

MAD LIBS TO MAKE WRITING RESPONSES A BREEZE

POSITIVE REVIEWS 

In this scenario, the reviewer provided a detailed review with specific highlights...

[Insert Name], thank you for taking the time to write a review on [Insert Channel such as Facebook]. We love hearing that you had a wonderful experience and [insert anything specific they mentioned in their review]! 

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In this scenario, just provided a simple rating with no detailed feedback...

[Insert Name], thanks for taking the time to give us  [Insert Number] stars. We appreciate your feedback! 

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NEGATIVE REVIEWS 

In this scenario, the reviewer provided a detailed review with specific highlights...

[Insert Name], we are so sorry to hear about your experience. We appreciate your feedback and strive to find a solution to [Insert Issue]. We would love to discuss ideas to improve your living experience, please contact us at [Insert Contact Info].

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In this scenario, just provided a simple rating with no detailed feedback...

[Insert Name], thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. We strive to ensure you have a positive experience, so feel free to share detailed feedback by sending us a private message or reaching out via [Insert other preferred method of contact]

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In this scenario, they provided a negative review on something they did that violates your policies: 

[Insert Name], thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. We are sorry that you had to experience this and although we can not change our policies,  we do wish you the best.

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SHARING REVIEWS 

In this scenario, you got a great review and want to share it to encourage others to write one.

We want to send a quick thank you to [Insert First Name Only] for taking the time to write a review on our page. We love reading through your feedback! If you haven’t already, feel free to share your thoughts with us: [Insert Link and photo of review] 

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In this scenario, you want to throwback an old review to encourage others to write one

#ThrowbackThursday On days like today, we love reading through your feedback and this is one of our favorites. Feel free to share your thoughts by writing us a review: [Insert Link and photo of review].

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Additional Resources:

• Part 4 in online reputation: 

review POSTCARDS

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No more bad reviews here!