If you run a business, you can almost guarantee potential customers are actively looking for your customer reviews. The good, the bad and the ugly. Reviews act as a little snippet into the customer experience someone can expect when dealing with your business.
If you want your business to thrive in the digital age, customer reviews can be a powerful tool. Let’s break down some of the different ways you can tap into the potential of online reviews, to support your business and help you stand out.
Before exploring the potential advantages of customer reviews, let’s quickly cover what they entail.
Customer reviews are written opinions or feedback about a business's products or services. Other potential customers can read these reviews online to help them make informed purchase decisions. These reviews provide valuable insights that other potential buyers rely on. Many customer reviews include ratings (for example, star ratings) which help prospective buyers quickly evaluate businesses. Positive reviews with high ratings can boost a prospective customer's trust in selecting your business when buying.
Customer reviews can act as a form of social proof. They demonstrate that others have purchased and enjoyed a product or service. Authentic and positive reviews help boost potential customers' trust and confidence in your business. They can help add credibility through genuine experiences shared by real customers.
Word-of-mouth marketing is incredibly effective. In fact, a Nielsen report showed that 92% of people trust word-of-mouth marketing over any other form of advertising.
A customer review is the digital version of a word-of-mouth recommendation. So, they can have a big impact on the buying decision.
Publishing customer reviews online, can improve your SEO rankings. Simply put, SEO is the process of using keywords to improve your online visibility. It helps potential customers find you when they’re using search engines like Google. When customer reviews contain keywords that users are regularly searching for, this can have a positive impact on your SEO. Boosting your SEO is a great way to help new customers find you online – which often results in more sales.
To learn more, read our article that explains how to help boost the search engine ranking of your business.
Customer reviews provide valuable feedback from customers about their experiences. This highlights areas for improvement and can give you insight into what customers value most. Ultimately, customer reviews can help you uncover what’s working well and what’s not. You can use this information to identify recurring trends and common pain points during your customers’ purchase journey. And then use this information to resolve any issues and improve customer experience.
Giving your customers the opportunity to leave a review is a simple way to show them that you care. It gives them a voice and can help you build a brand community. This in turn, increases customer loyalty.
You may even want to go one step further and consider incentivising your customers to leave a review. For example, writing a review in exchange for a discount code or a voucher towards their next purchase. A little bit of motivation can go a long way when encouraging customer loyalty and repeat business.
Discover more ways to create customer loyalty.
The more reviews you receive the more you’ll get noticed. Receiving ongoing customer reviews is a simple way to generate brand awareness.
Investing time and resources into obtaining and managing reviews will serve your business well in the long run. This approach is not only cost-effective compared to paid advertising but also leverages the power of word-of-mouth. Letting your customers speak for your brand through reviews not only builds trust but also helps amplify your reputation in the marketplace.
It’s important to understand where your customers are leaving feedback, so you can meet them there. The good news is that you can easily get started building your online reputation and footprint. Here are some of the channels your customers could be using to read and write reviews.
You can choose a functionality that allows users to review your products and services directly on your business website. As you own this channel, this offers more control when it comes to managing reviews. You may also want to feature some compelling testimonials on your website too.
If you use social media, it’s likely your customers are finding your channels to discover more about your business. Or provide feedback. Over 73% of internet users in Australia are active on Facebook. Users have the option to recommend a business on Facebook. This feature can help your business become more visible in your local community while attracting new customers.
Google reviews show up next to your business profile in both Google Maps and Google Search. So, it’s important to make sure these reviews are regularly being monitored and responded to. It could be a good idea to develop a strategy to get Google reviews. As this means when users come across your page, they’re reassured that your business is both credible and trustworthy.
Potential customers may also be using platforms that are specifically focused on reviews. For example, Product Review and Trustpilot. It’s worth checking and monitoring how your business is represented on these review platforms. They provide another channel to capture customer feedback and resolve any issues.
There are also many third-party platforms, which provide a forum to capture reviews. For example, Uber Eats and eBay. Industry or product specific review platforms also exist. For example, Vivino, which is an app dedicated to reviewing wine. Consider where your target market is online and where existing customers may be talking about your business. Once you work this out you can focus your time and energy there.
Businesses can boost customer reviews through a variety of methods. Read on to explore some of these in more detail.
By actively seeking customer reviews and taking on feedback, businesses can improve their products and services and enhance customer loyalty. Customers are often eager to share their experiences. So, it can be as simple as just asking.
Responding to reviews online, both the good and the bad, shows your customers that you care.
Generally, your responses are public and visible, so it’s important you respond promptly and appropriately.
How you manage feedback (both positive and negative) can boost buyer confidence and reduce any doubts. This can be the difference between someone choosing to spend with you or look elsewhere.
Creating an online review strategy for you and your team can help set a consistent standard for managing feedback. You may want to develop some example responses so anyone can pick up the responsibility and maintain your business’s tone of voice. This will also help make sure that all your customers receive the same great service.
Customer reviews and the way you respond to them can have a huge impact on customer behaviour. They can be the difference between closing a sale or not.
With a bit of effort and a clear strategy in place, reviews can be a valuable tool. They can help generate new customers, help increase repeat business and can help you transform customer experience.
Originally published January 2024, updated August 2024.
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