Fewer than 50% of small businesses think that customer reviews are important, but here are 5 compelling reasons why businesses of all sizes will benefit from showcasing customer reviews on their website.
Validate your business
Reviews are an excellent way to prove to your prospective customers that you have an engaged customer base and a demonstrated sales history. Boosting the level of confidence your audience has in your business, this offers reassurance that they will receive the goods or services they pay for should they make a purchase.
As tempting as it might be, you should not remove reviews that aren’t overflowing with positivity as page after page of glowing praise can actually put consumers off because it can look artificial or staged. That said, a string of continuous negative reviews may be damaging. Monitoring your reviews will help you to identify opportunities that might improve your business, which will also demonstrate to your audience that you not only value their comments but that you’re also willing to act.
Boost your sales
Consumers are turning to reviews written by fellow consumers more than ever before. Personal and unbiased evaluations of precisely how a product or service performs can give consumers the push they need to make a purchase.
Customer reviews are powerful and provide audiences with information that simply cannot be communicated through product descriptions alone. Considered to be more than 10 times more trustworthy than manufacturer descriptions, customer reviews have become an essential component of the purchase decision-making process.
Inspire brand loyalty through effective customer engagement
When a customer takes the time to post a positive review, it is important to recognise that they will likely return to your business in the future. If you want to maximise the chance of repeat custom, be sure to acknowledge their feedback. Saying thank you can be enough to differentiate you from your competition by demonstrating that you are committed to providing good customer service.
Your prospective customers will see these small interactions and will feel more comfortable contacting you with any queries, because they will feel confident that you are likely to respond and they aren’t wasting their time.
Enhance your SEO
As well as boosting your brand’s relationship with your customers, reviews also help to strengthen your relationship with search engines. You will see your search engine ranking increase as a direct result of the regular and relevant content provided by your customers.
This is important because increasing numbers of consumers are conducting searches for terms like ‘product/service + reviews’ and if you’re on the first page of those results, your core metrics will receive a significant boost.
Encourage a culture of user reviews and customer feedback
Many of us instinctively enjoy sharing our opinions and detailing our experiences with a product or service and the more of your customers you persuade to give their feedback, the more information your future customers will have to inform their purchasing decisions.
Getting the review ball rolling can often be the most difficult part, so don’t be afraid to contact your customers directly to ask for their opinions. Often, they will be more than happy to share because your request demonstrates that you are prepared to listen and feasibly use their feedback to make positive refinements to your business in the future.
If you are looking to increase and improve reviews for your business then check out netreview.
Reputation Management for your business
- Monitor existing reviews across multiple review platforms
- Netreview allows you to prompt your customers to leave reviews
- Capture and respond to negative reviews before they go public.
Find out more at www.netreviewservice.com
