GUIDE

Reputation Experience
Management
How to successfully introduce and
implement RXM in your company
From Online Reputation to a better Customer Experience

Online Reputation drives a company’s success. At a time when Reputation Experience Management (RXM) ensures
the Internet influences almost every purchasing decision, what that brands build a positive reputation consistently. The
your customers say about you influences every aspect of your combination of managing Online Reputation and Customer
business, ranging from your reputation to your revenue growth. Experience strengthens businesses for growth. Businesses can
If you do not convince people to choose you online, your potential attract new customers and build lasting relationships with them.
customers will buy from the competition.

Increasingly, brands need to manage all customer touchpoints This guide offers:

to fully optimize customer experiences. Only those brands that • Practical assistance for the Reputation experience
can delight their customers everywhere and at all times will management
be successful in the long term. Think of satisfied customers as
• A checklist for the introduction of an RXM into your company
magnets who attract new customers!
• Figures, data, facts from current studies and

• Illustrative examples

• Links to learn more

76% 60%
76% of consumers are influenced by ratings and reviews 60% are less likely to react to a negative review, if the company has responded to it.
when deciding on a purchase.

— Statistical data: nV=1,000 consumers or nU=503 companies A survey by London Research and reputation

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 2

Contents
A Closer Look at Reputation Experience Management (RXM) 4

Step 1: Get found  6

Step 2: Get Chosen 8

Step 3: Get Better 11

The 5 must-haves for successful RXM in your company 13

Checklist: Successful introduction of RXM 18

For further information 21

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 3

 A Closer Look at
Reputation Experience
Management (RXM)

Guide: Reputation Experience Management

Companies face the challenge of offering customers and Reputation Experience Management means obtaining customer
prospects the best possible experience at every single contact feedback, responding to it, and acting on that feedback to
moment — via personalized marketing messages, individual improve the company’s services, optimize the Customer
offers and tailor-made services. Experience and thus enhance the reputation of the brand. It
includes not only the evaluation of self-gathered, structured data
One bad experience can ruin a customer’s relationship with the (e.g., from customer surveys), but also the unstructured “data in
service provider and the brand forever. the wild” that people leave on the internet about your company
— and is much more difficult to find and capture.
This is exactly where Reputation Experience Management
(RXM) comes in. It combines the optimization of Customer Only if you are able to listen, understand and act, can you set
Experience with the management of a company’s Online yourself apart from your competitors and be truly successful.
Reputation.

The Impact of a positive Online Reputation

+59% +57% +46%

The majority of companies are most
likely to measure the impact of a positive
Increased sales Conversion rates Increased ROI for Online Reputation in terms of customer
marketing
relationships - specifically increased
sales (59%), higher conversion rates (57%)
and better marketing ROI (46%).

— Status Report Online Reputation Management 2020

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 5

 To attract customers, you should be able to be found on the Internet. The basis for
Step 1: Get found findability is a consistent online presence of your company. That’s because search
engines such as Google compare all available data sources and display those
results at the top of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

As a result, you need to keep data up to date across all digital touchpoints — from
your own website to business directories, social media and Google. Make sure that
Step 2: Get Chosen customers and prospects can find reliable information wherever they are.

Make Google My Business Your Business!

Many consumers begin their search on Google. Therefore, it is a good idea for you
– or each of your locations – to appear directly in the Local Pack — the three most
Step 3: Get Better relevant search results in the geographical vicinity of the searcher. To do this, you
need to claim and carefully maintain the Google My Business page associated with
your location. This page is your digital business card on Google, where customers
can leave feedback and learn more about you, including your location information.

Of course, you should not neglect your website. In addition to following SEO
best practices, we recommend including an FAQ page with the most important
information about your location. If you have many locations, it is also important
that they all have their own sub-pages and are easy to find. A location finder on
your parent brand site is also a good solution to help customers find the nearest
stores or contacts.

33%
Almost 33% of Google Local Pack Rankings factors are influenced by Google My Business. (2020 Local
Search Ranking Factors)

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 6

The Local 3 Pack

John and Lucy walk through the Liverpool City Center. Lucy is
looking for an outfit for her job interview. John is rather hungry
and needs something to eat. The couple see a variety of suppliers
in the vicinity. But where should they start - especially since both
obviously have time-critical problems to deal with? “Hey, Google,”
John says into his smartphone, “Where can I get a burger near 4.9 (213) • 0.3 mi
me?” Meanwhile, Lucy searches online for a clothing shop
specializing in business and office wear.

If a company doesn’t appear here in the Local Pack, they will

4.2 (81) • 0.2 mi
most likely not make any sales with John and Lucy - and will not
be able to reach many other potential customers either.

4.0 (34) • 0.8 mi

Business wear near me

Report: The State of Property Management 2020 Reputation | 7

 Reviews and ratings on Google, your website, and third-party sites influence
Step 1: Get found your search ranking. It is therefore important to actively and continuously ask
customers for feedback.

This is the only way to increase visibility and thus gain the interest of potential
customers. What’s more, the feedback from your customers and prospects is
valuable to you in three ways: In addition to visibility, you have the opportunity
Step 2: Get Chosen to positively influence the Customer Experience from the very beginning, for
example by responding to queries via social media or Google reviews.

On the other hand, you learn how your company is positioned, what customers
find particularly good or where there is still room for improvement. In addition
to the content and length of the reviews, the number and topicality of ratings
Step 3: Get Better also influence the Google ranking. Learn from all your reviews, both negative and
positive!

What is the impact of online ratings on purchase decisions?

76% 81%
Most important when 64%
searching for information
about products and services:

Ratings and Friends and References on

reviews family provider websites

— Statistical data: nV=1,000 consumers or nU=503 companies A survey by London Research and reputation

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 8

To benefit from the feedback of your (potential) customers, you
Channels for requesting
need to do two things:
feedback:
1. Encourage feedback
• Feedback requests via PC, tablet,
Ask all customers for feedback. You can ask for a rating on Google, social smartphone on site
media or various industry portals and encourage participation in a survey. It
• SMS / Messenger (please note opt-in)
is important to find the right channel for your customers, and it is essential
that you ask for feedback, realizing that you will receive both negative and • E-mail / Newsletter (please note opt-in)
positive reviews. Oftentimes, unhappy customers are the ones who express
• Social media
themselves publicly on the Internet, which can distort sentiment about your
• Website
company. Asking for reviews is more likely to activate the “happy majority”
who just need some nudging to speak up for you. But do not try to ask only
satisfied customers for feedback. If Google believes that you are trying to
manipulate reviews by encouraging only positive ones, Google will have
We want to hear about your experience!
the rating stars deleted. In addition, more well-rounded ratings are more
credible, and every bit of feedback gives the chance for a dialogue with the
customer.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Response rate to feedback requests across channels

Consumers are more likely to respond

to feedback requests via e-mail than via
social media
39%
Hi! Thanks for visiting.
—S
 tatus Report Online Reputation
Management 2020 How was your experience?

12%
Response to Response to
e-mail requests social media
requests
Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 9
2. Deal with feedback appropriately
Tips for dealing with
Online reviews can have a negative effect if you do not react to
them at all or react improperly. Consequently, it is important to
feedback
register and categorize customer opinions across all channels: • Monitor and process feedback from all channels.
• Is the feedback positive, neutral or negative? • Answer 100% of negative and at least 20% of
• Has a product, delivery or service been evaluated? positive evaluations.

• Which location is involved? • Answer in a friendly, understanding and

solution-oriented manner.
The more systematically you do this, the easier it is to evaluate
and answer the feedback and gain insights from it. • Always say thank you for the feedback.

• Never try to justify yourself online! Offer a

Managing feedback company-wide separate conversation instead.

The use of an RXM software solution is recommended when • Be specific about the request instead of

many locations need to be managed. This allows you to collect answering with run-of-the-mill phrases.

and categorize feedback from Google, business directories, social • Respond to feedback within 24 hours.
media, and other channels by region or branch, by company
or service area and by value. Ready-made text modules and
personalization functions facilitate prompt responses – either
centrally, (e.g., by your customer service team) or by an employee
of the respective location.

Responding to customer feedback has a positive effect

on consumers:

41%
On the evaluation of
37%
On the probability of a
36%
On the brand
the satisfaction new purchase perception

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 10

 The information contained in reviews and comments from social networks is worth
Step 1: Get found its weight in gold. Unfortunately, this data is also unstructured, which often makes
it difficult to analyze and gain useful insights. However, if you want to optimize your
Online Reputation in the long term and unerringly approach the ideal Customer
Experience, it is not enough just to initiate and react to feedback. You have to look
at the big picture to really learn from your customers’ experiences and opinions.

Step 2: Get Chosen

The three “C’s” for the optimal Customer

Experience
• Control: With an appropriate categorization and structuring of reviews
Step 3: Get Better from the various sources, you can find out areas of your company that
need improvement and the strengths/weaknesses of each of your
locations.

• Competitive comparison: In the battle for customers, it is not enough

to have a good Reputation Score and to have positive ratings on
the Internet. Above all, you have to do better than the competition.
Therefore, also look at how your competitors present themselves
online and deal with customer feedback.

• Consequences: If you know what your customers complain about

and what they are happy about down to the location level, you will be
given initial starting points for improvement. You can use particular
locations as best practices from which the others can learn. Assign
the respective (especially time-critical crisis management) tasks to
the right people within your team. Initiate appropriate measures and
check whether these really lead to improvements.

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 11

The Power of an RXM Platform
With a powerful RXM platform, you can efficiently analyze feedback and data
from ratings, surveys and social media. Such a platform offers a clearly arranged
dashboard that bundles and visualizes all data. In this way, you can see company-
wide and site-specific or regional operational areas where there is room for
improvement. Such insights can be used for comprehensive optimization
measures – from supply chain management to employee training.

What’s Your Reputation Score?

Measured on a scale of 0 to 1,000,

Reputation Score is a comprehensive
index of the digital presence of business
locations in over 70 industries.

A Reputation Score is calculated based

on nine factors that reflect and impact
a consumer’s buying experience, online
and onsite.

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 12

 The 5 must-haves for
successful RXM in your
company

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 13

You can improve the Customer Experience at any time using Companies that implement Reputation Experience Management
the numerous insights from your analyses. In this way, you have a strong competitive advantage over competitors that do
perpetuate a virtuous cycle: better customer experiences lead not. They benefit from greater trust in the brand and thus form
to positive reviews, which improve the reputation of all your new and stronger customer relationships. The good news is you
locations – resulting in new and more satisfied customers. can manage RXM with a holistic software platform.

Ask Listen Improve Convert

Solicit feedback Collect and analyze Apply organizational Acquire more
f rom customers feedback data improvements based customers by
on feedback improving experience

The following five points will show you what is required

for successful Reputation Experience Management.

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 14

1. Your Reputation Score

The Reputation Score takes into account all factors that influence
your reputation. It integrates Google ratings, business directory
entries, social media and survey results in one platform. This
provides you with a 360-degree view of your brand’s performance,
enabling you to compare it with local competitors and key
industry benchmarks.

2. Sentiment and competitive analysis

Intelligent analysis tools help you understand your competitors.

How do they deal with their customer feedback? An AI-based
sentiment analysis of online reviews also gathers and reports
customer feedback from disparate channels in a location-
specific keyword cloud. The larger the keyword cloud, the more
often it appears in the comments. The color also indicates if the
sentiment is positive or negative.

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 15

3. Performance measurement

Analysis and reports are equally important to substantiate the

results of your RXM. Management needs to know the metrics
and understand their relevance to different aspects. Clearly laid
out KPIs provide information on how the company is perceived
online, how it positions itself against the competition and how
individual locations perform. An RXM platform can combine data
from all touchpoints into a single database, conduct detailed
quantitative and qualitative analysis, and present the results in
a central dashboard in an easy-to-understand way, as well as
generate reports.

4. Centralized feedback

With centralized ticket management for all channels, you

always have an eye on incoming feedback from all sources. Via
defined and automated workflows, feedback requiring action
is sent directly to relevant employees. At the same time, every
ticket-related activity can be tracked centrally. In this way, you
ensure professional handling of feedback and increase customer
satisfaction.

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 16

 5. Holistic approach instead of partial solutions

An integrated platform combines all relevant functions and

guarantees their smooth interaction. This reduces the risk of
data loss and minimizes complexity and costs compared to
several partial solutions. If additional functions can be added
in modules, you have a technology that can grow with your
requirements. With this, you are also optimally positioned for
the future.

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 17

 Checklist: Successful
introduction of RXM

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 18

 1 Bring the right departments together.
RXM does not only require the commitment of the Marketing or CX
department. Therefore, it is essential to convince all affected business
units – from Operational Customer Service to the Compliance Team
and Management – of the benefits of integrated Reputation and
Customer Experience Management.

• Who does the action of an RXM affect?

• Who decides on the introduction of an RXM?

• Who in the company should be responsible for the program?

• What and how many resources do you plan to devote to this?

2 Understand your current Online Reputation.

First of all, assess the status of your current online presence. If you
are already working on your digital image in some areas, evaluate or
check the effectiveness of the tools you use and also whether there
are any gaps existing.

• Do you have the Google My Business pages for all your sites under
your administration?

• Are you listed in all relevant listing sites?

• Are your Social Media channels up to date and being managed?

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 19

 3 Define the objectives for your RXM program. 5 Choose the appropriate software support.

Depending on how you are already set up, you need to define
Of course, not all technological solutions are the same. Use the
appropriate goals and objectives for your Reputation Experience
scoping document to determine which platform best meets your
Management. Think about which goals you want to achieve in
business needs. Consider engaging an experienced RXM partner
the short term and which you need to achieve in the long term,
to help you achieve your goals. The following criteria should be
such as
met.

• Higher star average on Google • Seamless integration of all RXM components

• More reviews on Google • Reliable, automated online monitoring for multiple locations
and websites (if applicable)
• Improved reputation compared to the industry
• Intuitive, easy to understand and clear dashboards that
• Higher conversion rates provide quick insight
• New customers • Powerful analysis and reporting tools

• More turnover
6 Set up your tool appropriately.
• Higher customer satisfaction
Think carefully whether you need an integrated software solution
• Higher employee satisfaction
or just individual tools. Pay attention to which functions are
important for your goals. It is helpful if your software partner
4 Develop a scoping document.
offers modular solutions that can be adapted and extended
Record all objectives and responsibilities in a concept and add as required – because even if you cannot or do not want to
a roadmap for implementation. Define specific milestones with implement everything now, your needs may grow in the future.
corresponding deadlines. In this way, management and the
departments and people concerned know exactly what is to be
7 Start your RXM in the three steps above.
done in which phase of the introduction
When all the signs are pointing to “Go!”, Start your Reputation
and Customer Experience Management with the three steps
you have learned: Get found, chosen and better. Then check
regularly whether your processes are working, and the measures
are having the desired effect. Here, the reporting options within
an RXM platform are suitable for achieving a rapid gain in
Guide: Reputation Experience Management
knowledge. Reputation | 20
For further information
Would you like to learn more? Reputation has a lot of useful content for you:

 Our videos give you a practical overview of topics such as Social Media
management, customer reviews & star ratings and the Reputation Score in
just a few minutes. There are also informative webinars on-demand.
View Videos.

 Numerous studies offer data-based insights into Reputation Experience

Management. Read our reports.

 Best practices and success stories around RXM can be found in our case
studies from different industries, for example automotive, hospitality and retail.
Learn more.

 You will also find other exciting content such as e-books, white papers and
checklists to help you get started with Reputation Experience Management
in your company on our website at Explore now.

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 21

About Reputation
Reputation pioneered the online reputation management (ORM) category. We
continue to lead the charge with the only proven, unified CX and online reputation
management platform, and innovative, customer-driven solutions. Our SaaS-based
Reputation platform manages tens of millions of consumer reviews and consumer
interactions across hundreds of thousands of touchpoints. The patented algorithms
behind Reputation Score are based on more than a decade of deep machine-learning
and data science expertise, providing businesses with a reliable index of brand
performance that they can use to make targeted CX improvements — and increase
their ability to get found, get chosen and get better.

Guide: Reputation Experience Management Reputation | 22