Marketing
Why reviews are important and how to get more of them
With an ever-increasing reliance on the internet for everyday tasks like shopping, online reviews are important links between people and businesses.
Did you know that over 90% of shoppers use online reviews when making purchase decisions?
With an ever-increasing reliance on the internet for everyday tasks like shopping, online reviews are important links between people and businesses. With billions of people using platforms like Google and Facebook each day, having a positive reputation online will help increase sales and sustain profits, while also boosting your brand equity.
What are Online Reviews?
Online reviews are customer testimonials that are posted after people interact with a product, service, or experience. Online review platforms are designed to help consumers make informed decisions when shopping or searching for new businesses. Several different platforms provide online reviews - including search engines, social media sites, ecommerce stores, and dedicated review websites.
Popular online review sites include:
Google Business
Facebook
Trip Advisor
Yelp
Amazon
While online reviews aid customers in making decisions, they can also be powerful digital marketing tools for businesses.
Why are Reviews Important to Independent Retailers?
Online reviews are important to independent retailers because potential customers use them to vet new businesses over the internet. Online reviews have become so important that the entire “peer-to-peer” (P2P) industry has been built around them. To illustrate, P2P juggernauts like Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and Verbo are 100% dependent on peer review systems.
When it comes to retail businesses, online reviews are important in several ways:
Legitimize your business with new customers
Boost click-through rates (CTR) on search engine results pages (SERPs) and social media sites
Increase visitors to your retail store
Strengthen your overall brand equity online
Since search engines like Google are the primary means people use to find new businesses, online reviews play a pivotal role in converting simple impressions to actionable click-throughs.
How Do I Get Customer Reviews for My Business?
The first step in getting customer reviews is setting up a business page on key platforms like Yelp and Facebook. With clear avenues established for online reviews, the next step is to actively engage your customers for feedback.
For many organizations, automating the review process as part of the post-purchase journey is the best bet. After somebody has interacted with your product, service, or experience, automatically send them a customer review request via an email or SMS message. These requests should include links directly to your review section on important platforms like Google Business.
One of the main takeaways here is to create as little friction as possible during the customer review process. Since you are asking for people’s time, the customer journey should be both smooth and easy.
How Do I Improve Online Reviews?
The most surefire way to improve online reviews is to offer better products, services, and user experiences.
Not only must the goods and services you sell be reputable, but it's also important to consider how people interact with your brand. Is the checkout process at your store smooth and easy? Do you offer warranties or returns on your goods/services? Is customer satisfaction one of your primary goals as a business? In the end, every touch point that a customer has with your organization will influence the type of online review they leave.
If your business has negative reviews, you should respond promptly and professionally to the postings. Moving forward, seeking feedback is a great way to learn about areas for improvement and to showcase your commitment to customer satisfaction.
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