A positive review is one of the best ways for businesses to reach new customers, drive loyalty and boost sales. According to research by BEND, users trust online reviews as a source of information when making purchases. 90% of adults check digital reviews before buying a product or service.
A study from Harvard Business School revealed that in the hospitality industry, third-party reviews have the potential to increase revenues by 9%. In this article, you will learn about how important are online reviews for businesses and why you should encourage your customers to leave them after every purchase. Keep reading to find out more!
Reviews help businesses grow in many ways, but how do you know which ones are most important to you? Consider the following:
How do Online Reviews Help Businesses Grow?
1. Understand Your Customer
If you’re wondering how to encourage customers to leave reviews, you first need to know why they’re so important to your business. While product or service reviews might seem like just another feature on your website, they provide a lot of value to your business.
Because of this, you should consider how to encourage customers to leave reviews, particularly on your business’s social media pages. If you know how reviews can help your business, you will be better prepared to make a strategy to get more of them written. Reviews help you understand your customers’ needs, likes, and dislikes. When you read online reviews, you get direct feedback from your customers.
This is incredibly useful, as you get to hear their thoughts and suggestions directly. This can help you make adjustments to your business and make improvements to your products and services. Understanding your customers through their reviews can help you create better products and improve customer service.
2. Drive Loyalty and Engagement
Businesses often wonder how to encourage customers to leave reviews, but they don’t always realize that reviews bring far more than just a single-time benefit. Positive reviews can help your business in many ways, including increasing loyalty. When your customers feel appreciated, they are likely to become more loyal. This means that they are more likely to come back to you, and they might also tell their friends and family members about your business.
The more positive reviews your business has, the more likely customers are to become loyal to you. Reviews can also help you engage your customers. When your customers feel like they can contribute to your business, they are more likely to feel a part of that business. Engaging customers can help you build stronger relationships with them, which can lead to increased loyalty.
Reviews can help you engage your customers by providing them with a platform to share their thoughts and feedback. When customers feel like they can contribute to your business, they are more likely to become engaged and invested in it.
3. Increase Sales
When you encourage your customers to leave reviews, you are opening the door to new sales opportunities. A positive review can make a lasting impact on potential customers when they search for your business online. A recent study found that 86% of consumers say positive online reviews make them more likely to purchase from a particular vendor.
Reviews can help boost your sales in two main ways. First, they can help you stand out from your competition. The Harvard Business Review study mentioned previously found that hotels with a high number of reviews had a 17% higher booking rate than those with fewer reviews. When you encourage your customers to leave reviews, you are putting yourself at an advantage over other businesses.
Businesses with a lot of positive reviews are likely to show up first in search engine results. 86% of consumers say they’re likely to click on the top-listed business, according to the previously mentioned study.
4. Reviews Build Trust
Reviews are a way for customers to demonstrate that your business is trustworthy. Trust is incredibly important for businesses these days, particularly when it comes to eCommerce.
Consumers are more likely to trust a brand with a large number of reviews than one without any. When you encourage your customers to leave reviews, you are helping to build trust among your customers. When you receive positive reviews, you can use them to show potential customers that your business is trustworthy and reliable.
5. Find Issues and Opportunities For Growth
When you encourage your customers to leave reviews, you give them a platform to speak out about their experiences with your product or service. This offers you a chance to receive valuable feedback that you can use to improve your business and grow as a company.
Reviews are a great way to identify issues with your product or service or areas where you need to improve. This can help you improve your products and services and even prevent future issues.
3 Easy Ways to Increase Reviews
Reviews are a great way to help your business grow. However, not all customers will leave reviews even though they have the intention to do so. Some customers might forget to leave a review, or there might be other reasons why they haven’t done it yet. That’s why it’s important to encourage your customers to leave reviews, even after they’ve already completed their purchase.
Reminder Email
One of the easiest ways to encourage review is by sending a reminder email. This can be helpful if you sell products that take longer to ship or if you offer services. Try to send the email within a couple of days of the purchase. In the email, be sure to let customers know that you appreciate their business and would like to see them leave a review.
You can also let customers know that they don’t have to use the site to leave a positive review. If customers prefer to leave a review on another site, they can do so by clicking a link in the email.
Social Media Message
Social media is another great way to remind customers to leave reviews. Try creating a social media post asking customers who have purchased from you to leave reviews on the sites where they are written. You can also copy the review request and paste it into the comment section of your online reviews.
Text Message
If you sell a product that has a shorter sales cycle, you can send a text message to let customers know you’d like to see them leave a review. Make sure to include a link to the review site in the text message so customers can easily leave a review without having to take extra steps to find the site.
Be Available to More Sites
If you sell products that are difficult to ship, you might not be able to encourage reviews on sites like Amazon and Walmart. However, there are many other review sites that you can be present on, such as Trustpilot, Shopper Approved, Reseller Ratings, and more.
Be sure to create an account on each of these sites and actively encourage customers to leave reviews. You can also respond to any negative reviews by following these sites’ guidelines.
2 Things To Avoid When Responding To Reviews
Don’t Be Too Eager
As mentioned above, you need to avoid being too eager to respond to reviews. While you should respond to positive reviews as soon as you can, you should hold off on responding to negative reviews. Responding too quickly to negative reviews could make you look defensive.
When a customer leaves a negative review, you need to take it seriously and respond as soon as possible. However, when you respond, you have to be careful not to come across as defensive. You can do this by thanking the customer for leaving the review and letting them know you appreciate their feedback.
Don’t Be Too Quick to Respond
As mentioned above, when you respond to negative reviews, you need to take your time. Customers want businesses to take action when a review is written, but they don’t want businesses to rush their response. A common mistake businesses make is responding too quickly to negative reviews.
While you should respond to negative reviews as soon as possible, you shouldn’t rush your response. To avoid making this mistake, you need to set aside some time to respond to each review.
Final Words
Reviews are crucial for online retailers and brands. They build trust with customers, help you understand your customers, and find areas for growth. With reviews, you can attract new customers and retain your current ones. You can also use reviews to learn from your mistakes and make improvements. It’s important to be patient and proactive when responding to reviews.
Reviews are important to your business, but they can also be a source of pressure. After all, one bad review can affect your overall rating. One solution to this is to request reviews at different times during the year. You may notice that you receive more reviews during the holiday season as customers are shopping online more. Whatever you do, don’t let reviews stress you out. Instead, use them as an opportunity to improve your business.
Remember, reviews are a direct line of communication with your customers. They provide you with valuable insights into their thoughts and suggestions and allow you to make improvements to your products and services based on what they say.
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