For ID firms, building a positive online reputation can be a powerful tool for attracting new clients and retaining existing ones.

One of the most effective ways to enhance your online reputation? Customer reviews!

In this article, we will discuss how to use customer reviews to build your online reputation and grow your interior design firm.

1. Encourage Customers To Leave Reviews

First, always be sure to encourage your customers to leave reviews.

One simple way of doing this is by following up with clients after completing a project. This can be done through a follow-up email or phone call where you thank them for choosing your interior design firm and ask them to share their experience by leaving a review.

When you ask your clients to leave you a review, don’t just ask for a review and stop there.

Instead, let them know how important their review is for your company, and tell them that this will help you grow and sustain your business. Assuming you’ve done a good job and your clients are satisfied with your work, they should be more than happy to leave you a review.

Of course, the timing at which you ask for a review is important as well.

The best practice is to ask for a review at the end of a project, once you’ve got all the loose ends wrapped up.

If the project is mostly done but there are still pending items that your client is waiting for you to fix, then that’s not the best time to ask. Always wait till everything’s settled and your client is satisfied before asking.

2. Make It Easy For Customers To Leave Reviews

When asking your clients to leave reviews, provide clear instructions to make things easy for them.

The goal is to make the process as simple and straightforward as possible, so your clients don’t get frustrated or confused and give up before completing the process.

One way to do this is by providing step-by-step instructions that walk customers through the process of leaving a review on your chosen review sites. For example, you might include instructions such as:

• Go to our Google business listing (insert link here)
• Click on the “Write a review” button
• Give us a rating out of five stars
• Write a brief description of your experience working with us
• Click “Post” to submit your review

You can also include screenshots or images that show customers exactly what they need to do at each step of the process.

Most importantly, share a direct link to your firm’s Google business listing, Facebook page, or wherever you want your customers to leave a review. Don’t make your clients search it up themselves – they might not be able to find the link if your SEO isn’t good enough, or they might accidentally leave a review on the wrong link (seeing as a lot of ID firms have similar names!)

3. To Incentivise Or Not To Incentivise?

Incentivizing customers to leave a review can also be effective. For instance, you can offer a discount on their next project or a free consultation for leaving a review.

This not only encourages customers to leave a review but also shows that you value their feedback and appreciate their business.

However, it’s important to ensure that your incentives are not perceived as paying for positive reviews, as this can harm your online reputation and violate the terms and conditions of review sites.

To avoid this, be clear that the incentive is for leaving a review, not for a positive review.

Encourage customers to leave honest feedback, whether positive or negative, as this will help to improve your services and build trust with potential clients.

4. Respond To All Reviews

Assuming you’ve now got a steady stream of clients leaving you reviews, what should you do next?

The next step is to… respond to those reviews!

Responding to reviews shows that you value your customers’ feedback and are committed to providing excellent service.

Don’t just respond to positive reviews – respond to negative ones as well. And when you’re responding to a negative review, be sure to acknowledge their concerns and offer a solution.

This shows that you are willing to take responsibility for any mistakes and are committed to resolving any issues.

5. Use Reviews In Your Marketing Materials

Using customer reviews in your marketing materials is a great way to leverage the power of positive feedback to build your online reputation and attract new clients.

Once you have a collection of positive reviews, it’s a good idea to use them in your marketing materials and share them on your website and social media platforms.

How do you choose which reviews to share?

Not all reviews are created equal, so it’s important to focus on the ones that are most likely to resonate with potential clients.

Here, look for reviews that mention specific aspects of your services that are particularly important to your target audience, such as your attention to detail or your ability to work within a budget.

These are the reviews that are most likely to influence potential clients and help to build your online reputation.

Additionally, look for reviews that feel genuine and authentic.

Reviews that are overly generic or seem too good to be true may actually harm your online reputation rather than help it. Focus on reviews that include specific details about the customer’s experience and how your services helped them.

Finally, assuming you’re trying to expand your range of clientele and diversify, then aim for diversity in the types of reviews you highlight as well.

This means including reviews from a range of clients, such as those who have worked with you on different types of projects, have different budgets, or have different design preferences.

However, if your firm wants to specialise in a specific type of project or client (eg only condo projects, or only landed projects), then it’s perfectly fine to only highlight reviews within that niche. It all boils down to your business goals and objectives.

What channels can you use to share your reviews?

Don’t limit yourself to using reviews on just one platform or in one format. Instead, include them on your website, social media platforms, and in any printed materials such as brochures or flyers.

This will help to maximise the impact of your reviews and make it easier for potential clients to see the positive feedback that others have left about your services.

How do you reformat reviews to use online?

Depending on the medium and channel you’re using, you might want to reformat your reviews rather than just putting the entire review there.

Be creative, and play around with the different options here.

Say you’re creating a Facebook ad, for example. You could use a quote from one of your reviews below an image of a five-star rating, in order to make more of an impact visually.

Just make sure that the quote that you use is a direct quote from one of your reviews – you shouldn’t be paraphrasing, or “framing” what you’ve client said in a certain way in order to make it sound better.

6. Showcase Your Work

After reading your reviews on Google or other platforms, it’s natural for potential clients to try to find your website or portfolio, in order to see some of your past work.

With this in mind, make sure that you showcase your work online. In an ideal world, your work should sell itself – you would get clients contacting you after seeing the work you’ve done, instead of you having to go out there and reach out to prospective clients.

One effective way to showcase your work online is to create a dedicated portfolio section on your website.

This should include high-quality photographs and videos of your completed projects, along with descriptions of the design concepts. You may also want to include information about your process and the types of services you offer.

In addition to your website, consider using social media platforms like Instagram to share images of your work. These platforms are highly visual and can be a great way to reach new audiences and showcase your work to potential clients.

Of course, don’t forget about ID platforms like Hometrust (that’s us!)

Hometrust is an online platform that specialises in helping homeowners find trusted home service professionals in Singapore, including interior design firms.

By creating a profile on Hometrust and regularly updating it with your completed projects and customer reviews, you can reach a wider audience of potential clients who are specifically looking for interior design services.

How do you showcase your work in an appealing way?

When showcasing your interior design work, it’s important to pay attention to the details to ensure that your photos and videos accurately capture the essence of your work.

One of the most important factors to consider is lighting.

Good lighting can make your work look more appealing and attractive, while poor lighting can detract from its quality. Natural lighting is often the best choice for interior photography, but if that’s not possible, consider investing in professional lighting equipment.

Another important factor is the angle of your shots.

Experiment with different angles to find the one that best showcases your work and captures the most interesting and visually appealing features of the space. You may need to get creative and move around furniture or adjust your camera height to achieve the best angle.

Finally, composition is also key when taking photos or videos of your work.

Consider the placement of objects in the frame, the use of negative space, and the overall balance of the shot. You want to create images that are visually engaging and professional-looking, which can help to boost your online reputation and attract more clients to your interior design firm.

7. Be Active On Social Media

Social media is a great way to share customer reviews, connect with potential clients and build your online reputation.

The golden rule for social media? Post regularly!

By posting regular updates, you can keep your followers up to date on your latest projects and design ideas, while also showing off your expertise and creativity.

In addition to posting updates, be sure to respond promptly to comments and messages. This shows that you value your followers’ engagement and are interested in building a relationship with them. It also helps to humanise your brand and make it more relatable.

When using social media to showcase your work and connect with potential clients, it’s important to be authentic and genuine.

Avoid using overly promotional language or sounding too salesy. Instead, focus on building a community of followers who are interested in your work and inspired by your design ideas.

8. Optimise Your Social Media Profile

In addition to sharing your work and updating regularly on social media, it’s important to optimise your profiles to attract potential clients.

The goal is to improve your conversion rate on your social media account.

For example, say your conversion rate is currently 2%. Out of every 100 people you see your page, two might DM you and ask about your services.

Now, say you grow this to 5%. Now instead of 2 people DMing you, you have 5 people DMing you, and that’s for every 100 people that sees your account.

Assuming you’ve got a decent-sized account that gets 5,000 views per month. With a 5% conversion rate, this means you’ll have 250 people reaching out to you per month, just from social media alone. Pretty cool, right?

So how do you optimise your social media profile and get more people to convert?

For example, on Instagram, make sure your profile is set up as a business account, which allows you to add contact information and a call-to-action (CTA) button.

This button can be customised to encourage potential clients to get in touch, visit your website, or learn more about your services.

It’s important to write a clear bio as well.

Your bio is the first thing visitors see when they land on your profile. Make sure it clearly describes who you are, what you do, and what sets you apart from other interior design firms.

Although you might have a CTA button already, you can also include another CTA in your bio that says something along the lines of “Contact us for a consultation” or “Redeem your free consultation”.

Finally, regularly review your social media stats using Instagram Insights.

Instagram Insights provides valuable analytics about your audience and engagement. With this data, you can optimise your content strategy and improve your profile’s performance.

A Final Word On Using Customer Reviews To Build Your Online Reputation

The most important thing to keep in mind about customer reviews is that… you gotta earn them.

These don’t just fall into your lap – you’ve got to reach out to your clients and ask them to leave you reviews, and make it easy for them to do so.

Yes, it might be tedious to add yet another administrative task to your workload, but think of it as a necessary evil. It’s just one of those things that you need to do in order to grow your word-of-mouth, which is crucial for ID companies and any firms in the ID industry!

Once you’ve got sufficient reviews, start sharing them on your website, social media and other platforms, and get creative and repurpose them for whichever channels you’re using.

Finally, remember to showcase your work on your website and ID platforms such as Hometrust, so that when potential clients see your reviews and then go hunting for your work, they’ll be able to view a range of projects that you’ve worked on in the past.

Want to get access to potential clients and have your portfolio seen by homeowners across Singapore? Start using Hometrust today!