Some perks to using review sites

Online review sites are a great opportunity for you to gather feedback and information from your customers. While some would argue that these sites are mostly used as a place for consumers to complain about their negative experiences with local businesses, that’s rarely the case. There are more five-star reviews than one-, two- and three-star reviews combined. This is reflective of most consumer experiences, as well.

People turn to online review sites because they want to share the great experiences they had with others and let them know where to spend their hard-earned money. Review sites are not just for consumers, though. They also provide an opportunity for businesses to insert themselves into the conversation by engaging with reviewers and expanding on the information they provide.

Think of it this way: a customer of yours, happy or not, decides to announce in front of 20 other potential customers about how their experience with your business was. Would you respond to them or simply stare blankly until they walked away? Naturally you would respond. Head to bit.ly/customercommunication for some ways to respond to reviews on social media and review sites.

If you’re interested in being profiled by Lawn & Landscape, writing a story for the magazine or just have a good story idea for us to look into, visit bit.ly/companysubmission. Our editorial team will review it and see where you might fit into our upcoming coverage.

This month we’re featuring our Benchmarking report. Take a look at our report from 2012 at bit.ly/Benchmarks2012 to see how industry averages have changed over the last five years. To explore more past issues, check out our archives at bit.ly/backissuesll.

Head to Instagram and follow @lawnlandscape. Use the hashtag #lawnlandscapefeature and you may see one of your photos on our page.

We like to highlight the events we attend, and recently Editor Brian Horn went down to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for the annual RISE meeting.