With the advent of fierce e-commerce business as well as the rising popularity of social media channels, the significance of online reviews has also grown considerably. Today, online reviews regarding various products and services are playing a role of guiding post for many consumers. With the help of these, it is easier for people to make decisions as to which products or services they should buy. Which is why, online reputation of businesses can be directly linked to the flow of reviews that they get online from various quarters.
In recent years many studies have been carried out to determine the impact of reviews on businesses’ status. Consider this research by searchengineland: 88% of consumers consider online reviews as personal recommendations. 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business. Consumers are likely to spend 31% more on products/services from businesses that have excellent reviews. These stats clearly tell us that the online reviews and feedbacks indeed affect the popularity, number of sales, conversion rate as well as profitability.
Therefore, it is pertinent for businesses to understand the need for positive reviews as to how they are boosting confidence among consumers and how they are influencing their buying behaviors.
Here is how online reviews can help businesses to positively change their status:
Online reviews reinforce credibility
With the advent of social media and the outreach of internet accessibility, more and more customers are researching goods and services before they go on to buy them. By analyzing reviews, they get a better glimpse to purchase your product or service that will provide a good value to their money. Positive online reviews essentially tell the potential customers that you are doing right. These reviews dispense a range of information that pertains to your products or services. For example, whether your product is capable of solving their problems or how relevant will it be in the future. Only after getting a complete assurance on account of positive online feedbacks and your increased credibility, the potential customers will be drifted towards you.
- They increase transparency and build trust
Transparency and trust go hand in hand. As a simple matter of fact, mindless advertising along with rating oneself as the best in the industry is not going to get an entity anywhere. Rather, it is the appreciation by customers about your products or services that matter the most. It is, in fact, an evidence for others to take up your services. Today, more than any other media formats, consumers tend to trust online reviews and this trend is only growing. Due to this increased transparency and trust, the positive effect gets amplified further.
- Increase Website Ranking on Google Local
As far as a business’s credibility is concerned, “reputation management” is very crucial for the business owners as it is related to the online ranking on local search results. The fact is, Google and other search engines prefer good reputation of websites because the more popular a company is, the more people will trust it and consequently, the conversion rate will increase. Now, the conversion rate is a key factor that search engine use to increase rankings of websites. Online reviews allow interactions and engagements among viewers, which also impact ranking. The more review sites that feature your company, the more backlinks your website attracts. Moreover, fresh reviews about products on your website allow you to post fresh content, thereby increasing your authority and relevance.
- Online reviews allow businesses to take corrective action
Fresh online reviews are always a means of validation that help you gauge the impact of changes, which you have made in your products or services. This is what constitutes the proactive management of your online reputation using feedback to take corrective action. Without reviews, it is quite difficult for any business to know whether you have made a positive impact on the customer experience. It is, therefore, a profitable proposition to monitor and capture the reviews that provide you with the necessary steps to track relevant trends. The corrective actions spurt the need for better employee engagement on the part of businesses, which in turn helps them to brainstorm possible solutions in terms of upgrading the products or services.
- They make website responsive that results into higher conversion
More online reviews make your website highly responsive, which results in a higher conversion rate for your products. The catch is even if you are getting some bad reviews, you can still turn the tide in your favor. You cannot erase bad reviews; you can counter them by responding back. The strategy here is to downsize the negative information being reflected through bad reviews by putting positive information about your brand. This approach provides you an opportunity to directly address and resolve the issue(s) highlighted in the reviews. This strategy, in the end, forms the bedrock for a long customer interaction and due to which you will achieve a higher conversion rate.
Final Words
Online reviews help customers make more informed decisions in almost all conceivable areas because they reduce the likelihood of bad experiences. Even one bad review can make other reviews more credible and acceptable. Therefore, they are highly important for the success of your business.