A guide on how to respond to your reviews - both positive, and negative.
In a study, TripAdvisor found that representatives from properties who responded to reviews had 17% more engagement and were a massive 21% more likely to receive a booking enquiry than those who didn’t. Being responsive proves you care about your residents and prospective residents and value their feedback.
We recommend responding to all reviews, but other industries believe in responding to all negative reviews, and most would stress responding to at least 50% of your total reviews.
It’s good practice to make sure the most recent reviews have a management response.
Responding to positive reviews
If you’ve got a glowing review, then a simple thank you or letting the reviewer know you’ll share their feedback with the team is ideal. Responding to positive reviews reinforces loyalty and creates a dialogue and a connection with a resident.
The most important thing about a response is that it’s authentic – don’t copy and paste the same response to every post.
Responding to negative reviews
Approaching negative reviews head-on can leave a positive impact on your brand reputation. It shows confidence and generates trust with customers. Residents that have been responded to will feel that their concerns are being addressed.
Prospective residents will see that your company are proactive in actioning feedback.
Be respectful, courteous and aim to reply quickly. Feefo found that 53% of consumers expect a response to a negative review within seven days.
Try to clarify any unanswered questions and let the reviewer know what actions you’ll be taking (if any). The more personalised your response, the better.
If someone is really upset, take the matter offline:
- Invite the resident to speak to the concierge or property management team
- Share a direct customer service contact email address or phone number
Signing off your response
Leaving a response on HomeViews
Responding to reviews in the Partner Portal is easy. Simply log in here, and go to the Reviews section of the portal. When you click on the review you want to respond to, a window pops up on the right side of the screen. Here you can read the review in detail, and at the bottom you have 3 boxes to fill out:
- Reply - here's where you leave your response
- Display Name - this will auto-fill to the name on your portal, but feel free to overwrite this as something more generic like 'Customer Service Team' or 'General Manager' if you prefer
- Job Title - leave your job title here to let the reviewer know who you are
When you're happy with your response, click 'Submit for review' and our reviews team will check over everything and publish your response.