As a business owner, you’re always looking for new and effective ways to improve your marketing and bring in more customers. Many studies have shown the one essential marketing strategy many businesses are still failing to make use of is online customer reviews. The importance of online reviews is only becoming greater so it is vital to capitalise on this. Having a positive online review profile is the best way to influence prospective customers to do business with you without ever having to talk directly with them. Let your satisfied customers do the talking for you with this word-of-mouth marketing tactic.
Why Are Online Reviews Important?
Online reviews are a vital piece of information many customers look for when looking for any business. Online business reviews give valuable customer insights into your business in an unbiased way. The more 5 star customer reviews you have, the better chances you have to convert customers into buyers. The most common review site that customers check first is Google. This is why Google Reviews are important for you to acquire. Below it can be seen that 92% of all search engine queries worldwide use Google (as of August 2022). This is the best starting point for obtaining more reviews for your business online. Alongside acquiring more Google Reviews, there are so many additional benefits of online reviews that are outlined in more detail below.
Reviews Are Free Advertising
Collecting reviews from customers from Google, Facebook, Yelp, or other review sites are a form of free advertising for your business. This helps to expose your company name, products, and services, thus increasing brand awareness. It’s the best form of advertising you can get because it’s unsolicited and unpaid. They come from an independent source and are thus unbiased, unlike marketing content coming from your own business.
Online reviews work for many different types of businesses and they’re especially effective for locally oriented SMBs. They can give you the type of free exposure that you simply might not be able to afford or obtain through other marketing channels.
Reviews Provide Social Proof
Online customer reviews provide social proof to any potential customers who need more validation to make a buying decision. Any information coming from your own business may be deemed untrustworthy but reviews from customers help take out any scepticism. There is no need to spend heaps of money on paid media to gain more credibility. All you need is a good reputation and some high quality reviews.
Customer reviews help build trust between you and your customers, but can also have the opposite effect. If someone has a bad experience with your business, then chances are they will tell their friends, family, and the public about it. That means you can lose out on future sales as well as any referrals you may have received. If someone has had a good experience with your service or product, then they will be more likely to recommend you to their close contacts and even leave an excellent review. In turn, this could lead to increased sales and repeat business.
Reviews Improve Search Rankings
Positive customer reviews can also give a big boost to your website’s local SEO efforts. As part of their search algorithm, Google notes how often your company name appears in reviews. The more often it’s mentioned, the more likely your site will rank higher in search results for your particular type of business. The prominence of Google reviews is a ranking factor that can improve your local search rankings if you have more positive reviews. It really can make a big difference, and your customers do all the work for you which makes it even better.
Reviews Build Credibility & Trust
There’s hardly a better way to build customer trust in your products and services than having more online reviews. Positive reviews are important no matter what type of business you have. Your business could be a tile wholesaler or a local skylight contractor and it wouldn’t matter that these are niche business types because reviews will still make an impact. For example, if you are a local plumber in Melbourne and you have 2 negative reviews, but your competition has 20 great reviews, who are potential clients more likely to call? Some recent survey data has dived into some interesting review information more in-depth.
- 85% of consumers say they have a high amount of trust in online reviews, as much as they do for recommendations from friends and family members
- 97% reported that they have consulted reviews before deciding to buy from a business
- Converting customers is 82% more likely when you have online reviews available because they’re getting the information they need to decide to buy, and it builds trust and confidence
- If you take time to respond to reviews, both positive and negative, it convinces 41% of potential customers that you really care about them
- 73% of consumers said that positive reviews make them trust a business more
Why Is Customer Feedback Important?
Customer feedback can be extremely helpful for every single business. It gives you valuable insights into what your clients think of your products and/or services. Negative feedback lets you know if there are any problems with your business, whereas positive feedback provides your business with information about what you’re doing right. It’s important to note that negative reviews aren’t necessarily bad if they can help improve your business performance. They just need to be taken seriously. Your loyal customers will give you feedback (both positive & negative) if you ask them so you can make improvements to your business.
Using Customer Reviews in Marketing
Reviews are a great marketing tool to help increase your lead generation and product/service sales. If you’re not using reviews as part of your marketing strategy, then you’re certainly not maximizing your opportunities. A lot of other businesses are using consumer reviews successfully and your main competitors are probably among them. It is therefore vital to capitalise on the importance of customer reviews to help elevate your business in line or ahead of your competition.
How To Get Positive Reviews From Customers
The best way to generate more positive reviews is by providing good products and/or services plus having excellent customer service. If your customers are happy they’ll say good things about you. Keep in mind though that happy customers are less likely to share their experiences than those that had a poor experience. Only 1 in every 10 customers who have a positive experience will leave a positive online review. This is compared to around 50% who leave a negative star rating review after a bad customer experience. Of course, there are some people who are just hard to satisfy no matter what, and stuff happens, so you’ll always have some negative reviews.
To make sure negative experiences can be acted upon, it is important to respond to these poor reviews from customers quickly and diplomatically. The next best thing you can do to get more reviews is simply to ask for reviews. Most people will be willing to leave a review if you invite them to and make the process quick and easy. Of course, you have control over what kind of reviews you publish on your website and on your social media sites.
Generate More Positive Online Reviews with AddMe
Today it’s easier than ever to manage your reviews with reputation management services like AddMe Reviews. Click the button below to begin a 14 day trial and see the platform in action firsthand. So if you’re not already doing it, it’s time to take control of your online customer reviews and start making them work for you more effectively. It will probably be the best marketing business decision you’ll make this year.
