Auto Rental News, Spring 2017

AUTO RENTAL NEWS Spring 2017 15 see that the issue has been recognized People want to be heard and want their issues addressed Speed Auto Rental will respond to negative online reviews in a timely manner The negative reviews that point out something that can be improved must be addressed says Juliana Ely owner of StartUPing US the consulting agency in charge of Speed Auto Rentals social media program Acknowledge the problem offer a solution or show how you will improve Whats the best way to respond to negative reviews Reponses should always be done in a professional manner but it depends on the situation whether you want to go into full detail on the social media site or contact the customer offline Morningstar has seen some rental companies leave a quick reply on the social media page I would like to contact you to discuss this further and then reach out to the client via email or on the phone Peter Chapman general manager of Alaska Auto Rental responded in more detail to a negative one star review on his companys Yelp page to clarify that the review of events werent true The reviewer claimed that the counter agent overcharged her and wouldnt let her keep the car an extra day She also claimed that a tow truck took the vehicle and kicked her and her child onto the side of the road Chapman read the review and through his response he was able to clarify that she didnt rent a vehicle from his company In fact the vehicle she was driving was rented by someone else and she didnt have authorization to drive it Additionally the person who rented the vehicle had stopped paying for it and refused to return it as required by his rental agreement After reviewing our call log I found that the staff member who assisted you was courteous and respectful in his responses to you Chapman wrote in his response During your conversation you became agitated and hung up on him Our goal is to be polite and respectful to every customer While you may not have appreciated the fact that we did not allow you to continue driving a vehicle that you did not rent or pay for our staff informed you of the circumstances in a polite and respectful way After you and the legitimate renter refused to return it we located the unoccupied vehicle and recovered it In his response Chapman explained what really happened in this situation and was able to emphasize that his company still treated her with respect even when she wasnt a legitimate renter He also told her to contact him directly if she had any questions ENCOURAGE REVIEWS The problem with Yelp says Chapman and others is that there is no system yet to remove demonstrably false statements Those reviews can be disputed in writing to inform readers yet the one star is still counted toward the average One countermeasure at least is to maintain quality service to drive positive reviews to dilute the impact of negative ones Reputation com an online reputation company helps car rental companies enlist reviews from their customers It offers a platform that makes it easier to request reviews Reputation com reviews requests through email and RSS feed In addition it can also develop a review template at a rental counter kiosk customers can then leave a review right after returning their rental according to Mark Lange chief marketing officer at Reputation com More reviews will help drive up a rental companys average star reviews says Lange The volume of reviews you get and the sentiments of those reviews have a huge impact on page rankings Google rewards a company when it comes to reviews The first 10 reviews you get will likely move your company from the second Google search page to the first according to Lange On Google Maps a companys position on the map a big dot versus a small dot is driven by how many reviews it receives and how positive they are Reviews have a big impact on business traffic says Lange If your company gets 50 reviews your click though rate nearly triples Reputation com customizes review templates for each company according to Lange By wiring the platform into a companys CRM system any responses to reviews will be automatically posted to the companys social media pages its review sites such as Yelp or TripAdvisor or wherever reviews are happening on the web Companies can use online reviews to improve their customer service process Social media is a key driver of the customer experience says Lange Its like a stethoscope You get a clear signal from individual customers about their experiences Companies are realizing that they can assess that signal and use it to improve the way they run their businesses Alaska Auto Rental regularly responds to negative reviews on review sites like Yelp Through this response General Manager Peter Chapman was able to clarify that the reviewer didnt even rent a vehicle from his company ISTOCKPHOTO COM ARDA GULDOGAN