Do I Need To Respond to Positive Reviews?

Why It's Important to Respond to Your Reviews

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of reviews. More than 90% of customers use online reviews to inform their buying decisions, and higher ratings will often lead to more business for your brand.

To get even more out of your reviews, you should try to respond to them all — both positive and negative. Here are some of the ways responding to reviews can help your business. 

Shows Appreciation

Responding to a positive review shows the customer that you care about their experience. When you respond only to negative reviews, it can seem like you care only about the customers who are unhappy. Happy customers want to hear from you, too. 



When you respond to positive reviews, thank the satisfied customer for their support. Show your appreciation for their purchase and positive feedback. While it may not seem like much, thanking a customer for leaving feedback online can go a long way toward building a relationship with your community.

Builds Loyalty

Acquiring new customers is great, but securing loyal repeat customers is even more important for your brand's long-term success. Responding to customers who leave positive reviews can help.

Think about how much it means to you when someone takes the time to leave a review for your business. Customers feel the same way when a company acknowledges their comments. 

Strengthening that connection can help you build a more loyal customer base. And when you have more loyal customers, your business can grow much faster. According to Harvard Business Review, companies with strong customer loyalty grow their revenue 2.5 times faster than their competitors. 

Increases Visibility

Engaging with your customers online helps with your search visibility as well, showing the algorithms that your page is active. Search engines and social media platforms want active users, so they push businesses that promote engagement and time spent on their platform.

Google is the most popular review site, hosting around 73% of all online reviews. Other popular sites for online reviews include Yelp, Facebook, and Tripadvisor. Responding to reviews on these platforms will help more customers discover your brand. 

Sets a Competitive Advantage

More than 60% of customers say a business has never responded to their online reviews, so responding to both positive and negative reviews can set your business apart from the competition. Customers will see that you value their feedback and, in turn, will be more inclined to buy your products or services in the future. 

This social proof also builds a level of trust that other brands may not have. Your responses will show potential customers that you handle both constructive feedback and positive reviews professionally, influencing their purchasing decisions. 

Increases Spending

Responding to all your customer reviews can even increase the amount that shoppers spend on your products or services. When you respond to all reviews, positive and negative, you show that you are invested in what people say about your business, which can influence customers to spend up to 40% more with you.

Tips on How to Respond

Finding the perfect response for customers who leave positive reviews can be tricky. Apply these tips when crafting your responses.

Keep Your Responses Timely

Online platforms are looking for engagement, so it's important to stay active and respond in a timely manner to all comments and reviews. You should aim to respond within the first 24 to 72 hours after a customer posts a review. This will not only show that your brand is active and engaged but also demonstrate your commitment to customer service.

The majority of customers expect brands to respond to negative feedback within a week. When you respond to someone quickly, they're more receptive to your response. Apply that same speediness when responding to positive customer reviews. These customers had positive experiences and probably don’t need you to provide a solution to a problem, but they still value timely responses. These customers will feel like you’re really listening to their feedback and care about providing a great customer experience. 

Be Personal

When writing your responses, you shouldn't just say the same generic thing to each customer. Using the same stock positive review response template every time can make your words feel hollow. 



Instead, customize your response each time. Address talking points the customer used in their review or comment, and address them by their name if possible. 

Show Thanks

Whether they left you a negative or a positive review, it's important to thank each customer for taking the time to leave feedback. Showing gratitude demonstrates your professionalism, and it's an excellent way to kick off your response. 

Try options like:

• Thank you for your feedback.
• We’re so grateful for your review.
• Thanks for sharing your experience.
• We appreciate you taking the time to share your review.

You can also look at different positive review examples by industry to see how similar brands have responded in the past.

How Can Optimize Help?

Responding to all of your online reviews can be time-consuming, especially as your business grows. Are you struggling to keep up with all of the reviews you're getting from the various platforms out there? 



Here at Optimize, we offer solutions to help you manage your online reputation so you can focus on the nitty-gritty of operating your business.

Reputation Protection

Our reputation protection program is designed for busy owners who don't have the time to manage all of the reviews their businesses get on different platforms. Our trained professionals can help you craft a personalized response for each customer. Along with review and comment responses, our experts will also manage your listings to ensure all of your business's information is up to date across platforms. 

If you would like to learn more about how Optimize can help you manage your online reputation, schedule your free consultation today!