Why Customer Reviews Are Critical To Your Business
What goes into the decision making of purchasing a product or service? A lot of research, as it turns out. It’s not a decision that consumers makes on impulse, which is why many people turn to customer reviews as a way to gather information about seeking out the best product or service for their needs.
Importance of Customer Reviews
Virtually everyone reads a review before making a purchase, thanks to popular e-commerce sites that incorporate reviews into their product pages. That’s 90% of people, along with 88% of people who trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
72% of people surveyed say that online reviews make them trust a local business more, and that they will take action after reading a positive one. A third of consumers will need to read at least four to six reviews before they trust a business. 92% of users will use a local business if it has at least a 4-star rating.
Benefits to Your Business
Overall, reviews are helpful for acquiring more customers for the following reasons:
- Reviews posted online are a form of free advertising, especially if they are positive. Your name and service are exposed to readers, and may raise awareness about what you do.
- With increased mentions online, this improves search engine results as well. You’re likely to improve your ranking on search engines, leading more people to find your webpage more easily.
- Reviews are also a way to gain feedback about how to improve your service and business practices.
- By addressing customer concerns directly, you’re also able to show your customers how you handle and resolve them.
- It’s also a good way for customers to offer suggestions about better ways to do things, or product and service suggestions, so review sites can be a great source of business ideas.
Ultimately, customer reviews will allow you to build a better relationship with customers. By showing that you care about what your customers have to say about your product and/or service, it builds loyalty, higher chance of word-of-mouth referral, and repeat business.
Tips to Getting and Managing Reviews
Wondering how to get more reviews and manage them? Here are some tips to help you along the way:
- Address the reviews that you already have, and resolve any negative ones. It’s hard to generate more reviews when you have given a bad first impression.
- Ask for reviews — not just good reviews — at the end of the transaction, and let them know that you take their opinion seriously. It may also be good not to be pushy, especially if they are under 30. Simply let them know that your webpage exists, and they may post a review without your prompting especially since they are already accustomed to sharing their experiences online.
- Respond quickly to bad reviews, without becoming defensive. Focus on examining the problem and resolving it. If the bad review is warranted, remember to thank them for the review and apologize for their bad experience. A customer may go back to update their review once the issue has been resolved, so a negative can still be turned into a positive. You may also want to reach out to them directly if it’s a negative review.
- Also, keep it in perspective that the more reviews you get, the more likely you are to get one or two bad reviews. There will always be some who will tend to complain, so keep your sights focused on mostly good reviews.
- Lastly, make it easy for your customers to leave reviews, by placing feedback buttons prominently on your site or other methods.
In current times, customer review are critical to the success of your business. Keep these tips in mind to grow and manage a positive online reputation.