Did you know that ninety percent of consumers’ purchase decisions are influenced by online reviews? Where do your customers share their opinions about your business? Do you have a suggestion box or an online reviews platform?
Offering quality products in today’s competitive market is not enough. You need to be creative in winning more clients and boosting satisfaction. Online reviews are the modern suggestion box and word of mouth.
Reviews are valuable for both your business and customers. But, can online reviews lead to increased sales? Can online reviews boost your website’s credibility on Google and other search engines?
Keep reading to learn more about online reviews and their impact on business.
What Are Online Reviews?
Online reviews are posts by customers on platforms like social media, websites, and business applications. The posts provide feedback on a company’s products and services, customer care, and operations.
Companies in today’s digital world rely on the internet to promote their products and services. Online reviews help them do just that.
The internet has opened up avenues for people to share their opinions on things they purchase. These opinions are crucial in determining whether other people will spend money on those products and services.
Online reviews guide buyers on what to expect from a product or service. They offer an overview of the quality of services and professionalism of employees. These opinions can be positive or negative.
Reviews are written by someone who has experienced the product or service personally. They are posted on a business listing with specific information about the business. This may include address and phone number.
Why Are Online Reviews So Influential?
Reviews are the most powerful form of social proof. People trust other people more than they do companies or brands. With so many options to choose from in any given field, reviews are a critical part of that decision-making process.
Online reviews have become essential as online shopping has grown in popularity. Reviews offer valuable insight into the quality of the product and service. They are essential for small businesses that are looking to gain credibility.
Online reviews are an effective way to promote your business and improve customer satisfaction. They’re a powerful marketing tool. They help both your brand and customers immensely.
You can use reviews to influence more customers and produce more sales. This means more revenue for your company.
Where to Get Online Reviews for Your Business
If you have never used online reviews before, getting a little stranded is normal. An important consideration with reviews is the platform to use. Today, you have numerous options for getting customer feedback.
Here are some online review platforms to consider:
Your Business Website
You can customize your website with review widgets and other tools. This allows customers to leave their impressions of their experience with your products.
You can encourage customers to write reviews directly on your site by offering incentives. You can offer discounts or coupons for reviews.
Business Apps
If you have a business app, you can capitalize on this area. Many apps on Google and Apple App Store feature ‘user reviews’. This allows users to leave a star rating, as well as a comment, on an app.
The default functionality of the Android and IOS platforms doesn’t allow developers to customize this in any way. You need to make changes to your application to allow detailed customer reviews.
Social Media
Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ allow you to ask for feedback from your customers. Most people are happy to share their opinions about a good or bad product.
Create a simple survey with a few questions. Your goal should be to get an idea of how your customers feel. You can ask them if they would recommend your business.
Ask how they found out about you or what they liked or disliked about your services.
The comment section is also a great review platform. It’s commendable to leave the comment section open. This allows customers to offer honest reviews and make inquiries.
Third-Party Review Sites
Customer review sites can be a great asset to your business if you make the most out of them. Companies are turning to review sites more than ever. The most effective way to use them is by turning them into a marketing tool.
There are countless third-party review sites. They’re popular because they are more trustworthy than first-party sites.
These third-party sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor can increase your business’s traffic at zero costs. However, you have to pay to get your company listed for some sites. If you choose third-party customer review sites, make sure you conduct research to find the best ones for your product or service.
Some platforms have a poor brand reputation, which makes them unreliable.
How Do Online Reviews Help Your Business?
As an entrepreneur, you want to invest money and time on projects that add value to your business. Online reviews are an excellent opportunity to invest in. Here are the benefits your firm enjoys with online reviews.
Free Advertisement
Online reviews are essential in the minds of consumers when shopping online. Reviews get your products and services in front of many people and build trust.
It is done at zero or minimal costs. Advertisements can be costly for any business. Any free advertisement opportunity is worth exploiting.
The best way to do this is by using an online review exchange platform. These platforms work by giving you free advertising. This is in exchange for receiving honest reviews on your business.
All it requires is that you have an active website. Also, be willing to share your email address with them.
Companies position their products as perfect without any flaws. However, reviews by customers will highlight any flaws in the product or service.
Increased Conversion Rates
Online reviews build trust and credibility for your brand in today’s online world. Reviews have the power to increase conversion rates significantly.
Running a business can be quite hard. One of the hardest things is to get people talking about your business. There is only one thing that can get you that kind of publicity: online reviews.
Online reviews have been the reason for a significant increase in conversion rates. But how do they work?
Positive reviews influence potential clients to buy more into your companies. It creates curiosity to test the products and services, and experience their value. This drives sales and profits.
Boost SEO and Keyword Rankings
Online reviews were not always a top priority for business owners in the past. Today, online reviews are a great way to generate traffic and boost SEO. Ranking well on Google is a crucial factor of successful blogging.
You can repost some of the reviews on your website or social media page. This positions your website as a relevant answer to clients’ questions, and it will help you rank well on search engines.
The higher your website ranks on search engines, the more traffic it attracts. If you are looking to drive sales, encourage your customers to offer reviews. It will boost your visibility online, promoting brand awareness and sales.
Builds Clients’ Trust
Online reviews are a critical part of the online shopping experience. The majority of consumers do not buy without first reading reviews. Eighty-four percent of clients accord online reviews the same level of trust as friends’ referrals.
This is an excellent opportunity for brands to engage with already interested buyers. You get to encourage them to purchase through incentives and discounts.
As an e-Commerce business, your product page or service page is integral to your website. Your goal is to convert every visitor on the page to an active shopper.
Reviews help customers make more informed purchasing decisions. They are trustworthy because they are made by real people, not companies.
When clients see positive reviews, it gives them the sense that your company has the expertise and experience to deliver.
How to Encourage Positive Feedback
Unfortunately, there are plenty of fake reviews. These reviews can mislead customers and cause them to make uninformed decisions. Reviews can be written by anyone, including other businesses or friends.
Target reviews from people who have had actual experience with your products and services. It allows you to get authentic and reliable feedback.
How do you encourage customers to leave reviews?
Make the Customer Review Process Simple
Reviews do not have to be complex, time-consuming processes. Before setting up the review process, ask yourself the following questions:
What is the purpose of the review? What information do you need from each customer? How should this information be collected? The customer review process should be simple.
If you are a small business, invest in creating and managing long, in-depth customer reviews. If you are a large company or an e-commerce site with thousands of daily visitors, automate the review process. This will help your customers voice their opinion in a simple step.
Complex review processes are disincentives to clients’ participation.
Respond to Customer Reviews
By responding, you show that you care about your customers. This will make them feel special and more likely to leave a review next time.
If a customer leaves a negative review, it can be tempting to ignore it or delete it. But responding will help you turn angry customers into happy ones.
Instead of deleting the review, send them a personal message thanking them for their feedback. This lets them know that you are working on resolving the issue. You may also ask them to change their star rating.
Many companies ignore their reviews, even negative ones. Ignoring reviews might seem like the best cover-up for a potential problem. However, it can cause more harm than good.
It positions you as ignorant to customers’ needs and concerns, and this may tarnish your brand name.
Use In-App Review Prompts
Many people discover products on the Internet and purchase them from a retailer. If you use an app, ask your customers to leave a review. This is a great way to increase your customer’s engagement with your brand.
Ask for a review immediately after a customer completes a specific task or a purchase. A good example includes asking a customer to leave a review after reading an e-book.
A review prompt is a great way to increase user engagement with your app. Customers also leave a star rating.
For an effective review prompt, have the right permissions. Also, use the best practice of two prompts in a row. Give the user an option to reject the prompt completely to avoid the sense of coercion.
Offer Rewards for Reviews
Encourage customer reviews by offering rewards and coupons. Alternatively, run a promo for the first 100 reviews you get on Facebook. This is great if you have a few products in your store.
Also, if you sell something that’s a little on the pricier side, this option works well. When clients buy that product, they’ll want to share their thoughts on the brand.
Give them a coupon to use when they leave a review, and you’ll get more reviews.
Follow Up With Emails
A simple follow-up email asking customers to leave positive reviews on the website makes a huge difference. It doesn’t have to be much. It can be a friendly note thanking customers for their business.
You can also ask them to leave a review if they like the product. Follow-up emails also build customer relationships and build trust. It makes the clients feel appreciated and recognized.
Market Your Business Using Online Reviews Today
Reviews are a gateway to expanding your business. You don’t need expertise in online reviews or IT to enjoy the benefits of online reviews. Partner with us for professional assistance on any digital marketing needs.
Latitude Park is a creative marketing agency. We focus on driving sales and leads to our customers. We offer website design and development services, e-commerce marketing, and SEO marketing.
If you are looking to drive traffic and sales to your business, we are ready to help. Sign up today for our services.
