Your brand reputation is what people think and say about your business. It’s how your customers perceive your products, services, and overall reliability. 

Prioritizing your brand reputation is an essential practice for building trust. And, according to the Institute of Customer Service, 81% of customers say trust plays a crucial role in determining whether or not to use a brand. 

Beyond getting in your client’s good books, building a strong reputation can also give you a competitive advantage in the market. For instance, when customers have a positive experience with you, they're more likely to return and even recommend you above businesses with a poor brand reputation.

In this guide, I’ll share how you can solidify your online store’s reputation and keep a good relationship with existing and potential customers.

What is Brand Reputation?

Brand reputation is the overall opinion or public perception of your business. Your brand perception is typically based on several factors like how you offer services, the quality of your products, customer experience, and the appeal of your social media presence. 

A positive reputation builds trust, attracts customers, and ultimately gives you a competitive edge. On the other hand, a negative reputation can harm your credibility and cause you to lose customers. 

As an online store owner, it’s crucial to actively manage and improve how people see your brand.

3 Steps to Solidify Your Online Store's Brand Reputation

Here's one key strategy for building positive brand reputation: deliver high-quality products to customers. Without this, the other efforts you make may not be as effective.

Once you’ve ensured that, go ahead with these 3 steps to building a favorable brand reputation for your online store:

1. Focus on Brand Identity and Messaging

Your brand identity and messaging shape how people see you. You want to ensure consistency in both so customers always know what to expect from you. Consistent branding also makes it easy to build an emotional connection with your target audience.

It’ll help if you develop a style guide, especially if you hire people to handle your marketing activities. 

Your style guide should define the following:

• Tone: how you want to sound. Confident, conservative, friendly, etc.

• Visuals: the colors, typography, design elements, and overall look and feel of your online content.  

• Messaging: words you use/don’t use. Your core values, unique selling proposition (USP), or brand story.

Whether you’re posting on social media or sending newsletters, you want to keep your voice consistent and authentic. So, your voice guide should address the online platforms you’ll use to communicate with your target audience. The goal is to build consciousness about your brand in the minds of customers.

Your brand messaging should be authentic too. A report by Asendia also reveals that almost 70% of customers would patronize retailers they perceived as authentic. 

Being authentic means being honest about what you offer and transparent about your processes. If something goes wrong or you can’t meet certain client demands at a particular time, don’t ignore it. Instead, address the issue through your customer support channels, like email, social media, or even a call center service, and explain how you’re working to fix it. Customers appreciate brands that communicate openly and take responsibility.

 2. Engage and Seek Feedback

Customer engagement is another important reputation strategy to adopt. Ideally, your customers want to know you will always be there when they need you. Provide this assurance by showing up and engaging with your audience across key touchpoints like social media platforms, emails, and your website.

So, how can you engage your customers?

Answer customer questions on your social media page and website. Also, answer questions they ask on other social media accounts in your niche (not those in direct competition with you).

Like Lego in the example below, you can occasionally give a warm and friendly reply to comments on your social media posts:

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Respond to reviews. According to Bright Local, 88% of consumers would use a business that replies to reviews. Satisfied customers are likely to give you positive reviews. It's not a bad idea to acknowledge their comments with a simple “thank you.” For negative comments, try to empathize with customers, especially if they are complaining about a bad experience.

Feedback is another valuable asset in your brand reputation strategy. Asking for feedback is one to show your customers that you’re in business to “serve” them. So, ask your audience what they think and act on their suggestions. This can also help you build trust with customers over time—who wouldn’t like a brand that listens to them? 

You can collect customer feedback by sharing a simple survey after people buy from you. The focus should be to get a deeper understanding of their user experience and identify issues they encountered. If you use a reputable email service provider, you’ll be able to automate this process so that shoppers receive an email after completing a purchase. 

Keep in mind that customer experience (CX) plays a big role in reputation. So, aim to ensure that your customer interactions leave them satisfied. 

3. Prioritize PR and Crisis Management

Public relations (PR) and crisis management are effective strategies for building a positive image, especially in a competitive market. PR aims to drive a good narrative about your business while crisis management aims to fix negative narratives that may give you a bad reputation.

Use good online PR to promote positive stories about your business and highlight your impact. Don’t just show how you’re helping customers; also show how you’re contributing to society. Promoting sustainable practices? Helping marginalized communities? Supporting education? Whatever the positive impact is that you’re making, let your audience know.  

For example, see how Patagonia goes bold in its activism for protecting the environment.

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Consider working with a dedicated PR company that caters specifically to your industry. They can help you with effective strategies for boosting your corporate reputation. If you are in the food and beverage industry, for instance, you can work with a good food PR company to manage content creation and distribution for your reputation campaigns. 

Now, what happens when you face negative press or a customer backlash? 

Well, one thing you shouldn't do is ignore the situation. That's a reputational risk that may not end well for your business. The best approach is to address the issue head-on:

• Investigate why there's a backlash

• Apologize if needed or clarify what the real problem is

• Explain what you’re doing to fix the issue

• Follow through

That’s exactly what California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) did when they had viral bad publicity about a mistaken order and it worked just fine.

You should create a crisis management plan well in advance so you’re not confused when unexpected situations arise. This is important because a timely, genuine response can prevent minor issues from escalating. Of course, crisis management agencies can also help you handle problems like this more effectively.

Important Brand Reputation Indicators

Brand reputation is measurable. That’s what the following 4 indicators can help you achieve.

Net promoter score (NPS):

NPS measures how likely your customers are to recommend your store to others. It’s a quick way to gauge customer satisfaction and loyalty.

High scores mean people trust your brand and are willing to endorse it. Low scores indicate areas that need attention, such as product quality or customer service.

To determine your NPS, ask customers to rate, on a scale of 0 to 10, how likely they are to recommend your store. Group their responses into three categories:

• Promoters (9-10): Loyal customers who love your brand and spread the word.

• Passives (7-8): Satisfied but not enthusiastic customers.

• Detractors (0-6): Unhappy customers who may discourage others from buying.

Subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters to get your NPS. For example, if 60% are promoters and 20% are detractors, your NPS is 40. High scores mean strong customer satisfaction and loyalty, while low scores show areas for improvement.

Brand Perception

Brand perception is more of a qualitative measurement to help you determine how customers view your store. Do they see you as reliable, affordable, or trendy? This perception influences their decision to shop with you. 

Regular surveys or social listening tools can help you understand how people perceive your brand. With surveys, ask questions like

• What do you associate with our brand? 

• What stands out about us?

• What comes to mind when you hear (your brand name)?

Of course, you’ll provide options that customers can choose from. This will help you quantify your data.

Analyze online reviews, comments, and social media sentiment using listening tools. Check if you have more positive or negative reviews. Assessing how people feel about your store can also help you identify areas to strengthen or adjust.

Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty reflects how often customers return to your store. Loyal customers are your biggest advocates—they’ll stick with you even if competitors offer similar products. 

To measure customer loyalty, track repeat purchase rates, subscription renewals, or participation in loyalty programs. You can also conduct surveys to understand why customers keep coming back.

Social Media Metrics

Social media metrics like engagement rates, shares, and comments reveal how people interact with your brand. 

High engagement shows you’re connecting with your audience, low numbers suggest that you may need to rethink your strategy. 

Occasionally, you should monitor these indicators to understand public opinion about your store.

Conclusion

Building a strong brand reputation takes effort, but the rewards are worth it. For one, it can help you earn customer trust and significantly improve your relationship with prospects.

That said, here are some effective reputation management strategies to keep in mind:

Focus on establishing a clear brand identity and messaging. Consistently engage with your audience—respond to their questions, comments, and reviews to build a positive brand image. Gather feedback from your audience. To sustain a positive online reputation, you should also prioritize good PR and crisis management. 

Additionally, it’s important to assess your brand reputation over time. That’s where indicators like NPS, brand perception, and social media metrics come in. When you spot a decline in any of these indicators, do a deeper investigation to find the cause and fix it.

Remember, a solid reputation ensures that your online store remains a trusted choice for customers.