How to Manage, Update, and Edit BBB Reviews
Savvy businesses have a plan to manage their online reputation. This includes paying attention to reviews and profiles on various websites, including the Better Business Bureau (BBB). In this article, you’ll learn how to manage, update, and edit reviews on the BBB website, as well as how to manage your BBB profile.
What Is the Better Business Bureau?
The Better Business Bureau has been around for more than 100 years. It was founded in 1912 as a private nonprofit organization. The BBB helps people find businesses, charities, and brands they can trust. It also accepts complaints and reviews of businesses.
Importance of Managing Your BBB Profile
Having and managing a BBB profile is a crucial part of maintaining your business’s reputation. The BBB is viewed as a highly reputable source thanks to its independent nature. As such, it is one of the most common places that potential customers will check before visiting your business.
If you choose to get BBB accreditation (which is highly recommended), you should promote it. You can also access online events from the BBB and get access to advertising. This includes official images that show your BBB accreditation, which are perfect for your website or social media pages.
BBB Accreditation Standards
The BBB charges a small fee for accreditation. This fee goes toward helping the BBB maintain its goals. Remember that the BBB is a nonprofit organization. Additionally, the fee varies by the size of the business and other factors. As such, it is not expensive for small businesses and is well worth the small cost.
To be accredited, a business must affirm its dedication to several crucial standards, including the following:
- Building trust
- Advertising honestly
- Telling the truth
- Honoring promises
- Being responsive
The BBB monitors every accredited business to confirm that it continues to meet those standards.
BBB Ratings
Whether or not you are a BBB-accredited business, you will have a BBB rating. These ratings do not include customer reviews. The ratings are letter grades, with A+ being the highest and F being the lowest. The higher your rating, the better able you will be to attract customers.
Some businesses will have “No Rating,” listed as “NR.” This can be the case if there isn’t enough information about the business or it is undergoing a review or update.
The following factors affect BBB ratings:
- Complaint history
- Type of business
- Time of business
- Transparent business practices
- Honoring commitments to the BBB
- Licensing and government actions the BBB knows about
- Advertising issues the BBB knows about
Managing a BBB Business Profile
The most important part of managing your BBB profile is making sure that you have up-to-date information. You should also add videos and images to your page.
The BBB lets you add a complimentary profile video. It only takes about ten minutes to log in and complete the relevant form. Use this video to highlight your value proposition.
In terms of images, you can upload .png, .gif, or .jpg images. The BBB recommends a 1:1 ratio or 400 x 400 pixels for logos. It also recommends a 16:9 ratio or 640 x 360 pixels for other images.
When you first create your BBB Business Profile, you will want to fill out each of the following categories of information:
- Company logo
- Business overview
- Category
- Contact information
- Services or products
- Hours of operation
- Service area
- Pictures and videos
- Links to social media pages
How to Create a BBB Profile for Your Business
Creating a BBB profile is simple. Start by confirming that your business doesn’t already have a profile that you would need to claim. To do so, search for your business using your name and city, state, or ZIP. If you see a profile for business, go ahead and claim it.
If you don’t, you can click on the link to “Submit a request for a new BBB Business Profile.” The process will start by having you confirm there is no profile for your business, and from there, you can request the profile’s creation and claim it.
Tips for Maintaining Accurate and Up-to-Date Information on Your BBB Profile
The best way to maintain up-to-date information on your BBB profile is to make sure to update your profile anytime the information changes. You should have a list of directories and websites, from the BBB to Google, where you update information as needed.
For reference, you will be able to update all of the following information:
- Business name
- Business address
- Business phone number
- Business fax number
- Email address
- Employee or contact information
- Website address
- Social media URLs
- Hours of operation
- Licensing
- Business categories
- Products and services
Writing a BBB Review
The BBB encourages people to leave reviews of businesses, and you should encourage your happy customers to do so. This will help you maintain a positive online reputation.
How to Leave a Review
- Search for a business on the BBB website using its name and/or city, state, or ZIP code.
- Click on the business’s profile.
- Select “Leave a review.”
- Give the business a star rating out of five stars.
- Fill out the text box (at least 10 words, up to 2,000 characters).
- Agree to the terms and conditions.
- Select “Leave review.”
Guidelines for Helpful Reviews
When writing a review of a business on BBB, you should keep the following guidelines in mind:
- Stick to the facts.
- Be specific.
- Remain polite.
- Be personable.
The BBB asks you to certify that your review is truthful and doesn’t include personally identifiable information. The review shouldn’t be written in exchange for any compensation or financial incentive. Also, anonymous reviews are prohibited.
How Reviews Affect Your Company’s Reputation and Credibility
As with reviews on any other platform, reviews on your BBB profile play a significant role in your online reputation. The vast majority of customers read reviews before visiting a new business. Additionally, most people give as much weight to reviews as they do to personal recommendations.
Managing, Editing, and Reporting Reviews
The only way to remove a BBB review is for the person who wrote it to remove it. You also cannot edit BBB reviews. Unfortunately, there is no procedure for flagging reviews either.
The good news, however, is that you can select “Not My Customer” when you receive a notification about a review. This is the best solution for fake reviews, as it requires the reviewer to prove that they interacted with your business and the facts are accurate.
How to Respond to Reviews
While you can’t edit, delete, or easily report a review on your BBB profile, you can respond to it. To do so, just follow the following steps:
- Log into your account.
- Go to the Customer Review Center.
- Select “View” to see your BBB Customer Reviews.
- Choose the review in question.
- Comment on the review, keeping in mind that both the review and your comment are public.
Best Practices When Responding to Negative Reviews
When responding to negative BBB reviews, follow the same best practices you would when responding to any other negative review. These best practices include the following:
- Responding quickly.
- Apologizing for poor customer service.
- Maintaining a professional tone at all times.
- Offering to take it offline.
- Sign with your name or initials.
Grow Your Online Presence with a BBB Profile
Managing your profile on the Better Business Bureau website is a crucial part of managing your online reputation. Do what you can to improve your business’s BBB rating and encourage customers to leave reviews. Claim your Better Business Bureau profile, fill it out completely, and keep the information up-to-date. Respond promptly to reviews or complaints to maintain your BBB rating.
Ready to learn more about how reviews affect your online reputation? Check out our Complete Guide to Reviews.
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