If a business has any sense, it will monitor online reviews to see if customers are favorable or unfavorable. The more negative the review, the stronger the indication that potential customers must not be taking advantage of the business.
Even if a business can’t prevent its customers from giving negative feedback, businesses should take every opportunity they can to improve their services and products to regain the trust of their customers. In this day and age, when almost everything has an “echo chamber” effect on people, having great customer service is as important as ever.
However positive or negative a customer review may be, it can have a major impact on how likely that person is to purchase from a particular company again. When it comes to helping your business gain more loyal customers and retain current ones, there are many reasons why online reviews are so crucial today. Read to find out.
Two Types of Online Reviews
1. Positive Online Reviews
The most obvious reason is that customers are more likely to shop from brands that have positive online reviews. If a customer has a great experience when visiting a brick-and-mortar store, they’re more likely to shop at your online store too.
Brick-and-mortar stores are often tied to specific industries, like furniture or clothing, whereas online stores are often more general. Here are a few ways to boost the positive online reviews that you have: Write great reviews for all your products. Customers are more likely to shop from brands that have great reviews, after all.
Take the time to write detailed reviews for all your products, and be sure to tag them with photos too. Build a loyal customer base. Customers are more likely to shop from brands they like, after all. Spend a little time and effort on social media, and you’re sure to build a following of happy customers.
What to Do When a Review Is Positively Inflated?
There are a few things you can do when a review is positively inflated.
Celebrate
If someone wrote a glowing review of your product or service, celebrate with that person. You’ve earned that customer, and they’ve shown it by leaving you a thoughtful review.
Follow Up
If a customer wrote a positive review and you didn’t get in touch with them, follow up with them and let them know why you didn’t get in touch with them. They may have allowed you to give a proper review, and you could have been missin’ the mark.
2. Negative Online Reviews
The vast majority of online reviews are positive, and these are generally very helpful. However, there are negative reviews that can also happen, and those are the ones that businesses need to carefully consider. Let’s say a client reviews your service negatively.
Do you respond to that review? No, you don’t. Why not? Customers deserve better. You have a reputation to maintain, and a negative online review can do nothing but hurt your brand.
There are a few reasons why you might choose to ignore a negative online review: You might ignore a negative review just because you don’t know the author. In many cases, you won’t even know who the author is unless you sign a confidentiality agreement.
Importance of Online Reviews
Great Way to Retain Customers
Customers are more likely to shop with a brand that they have positive online reviews for than with a brand that has negative reviews. If a customer shops at your store and then reviews your brand on various online sites, it is much more likely that the customer will shop at your store again.
This is because having positive online reviews gives a customer confidence in your brand, and they will be more likely to make purchases from you in the future.
How To Build Trust Through Online Reviews?
When it comes to building trust with your customers, reviews from other customers are a goldmine. The more positive the reviews, the better. However, it’s important to keep in mind that not all reviews are created equal.
Many businesses are under the assumption that if someone has written a negative review, they must have been unhappy in the store, and therefore, they must be lying. This is very far from the truth, and in fact, it’s pretty darn predictable.
All you have to do is ask. If a customer is unhappy with your service, they will tell you. If they haven’t left a review yet, they probably won’t. That’s why it’s critical to proactively ask for customer feedback—it will only help you in the long run.
Essential for Customer Service
Customers will often leave reviews on online sites if they have a problem with the service or product they received. If you take the time to write a quick customer service email or call a customer service number after a purchase, you are acting as an ambassador for your brand.
It only makes sense to proactively support your customers if they are already happy with your business.
Help Build Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is one of the most important things a business can do. If no one knows about your company, then there is a good chance no one will be as willing to buy from you as if they did.
By creating positive online reviews for your brand, you are showing other people that you are a trustworthy source of information and products. This can also help build brand awareness in other countries since so many customers are now shopping from home.
Effective Way to Increase Conversion
When a customer clicks “buy” on an online site and is taken to the checkout, that is an opportunity for her to make money. This is the “buy now, pay later” model that many eCommerce sites use. But when a customer goes to your website and clicks on the “more info” or “read more” button, that is another opportunity for you to make money.
One way to think of it is that when someone first comes to your website, your online marketing team is trying to “buy” their attention. Pushing them towards your brand by including relevant info, reviews, and images will help your online marketing team build brand awareness and increase conversion rates.
Know More About Your Product/Service
When a customer walks into your store and sees a product that you have listed for sale, the first thing that usually happens is that the customer looks at the product and then at you. As soon as the customer has an idea of what they are looking at, the buying decision is usually over.
Online reviews allow you to know more about your product or service and what problems or issues your customers are experiencing. This is especially useful if you are selling a high-end product or service and want to know how your product compares to the competition.
Get More Online Reviews
After you’ve gotten some great reviews, it’s time to put your best foot forward. Build your email list. You can’t just skip this. Get in touch with as many people as you can through social media, and encourage them to join your mailing list.
Get your website optimized. Your customers are more likely to shop from you if they can find you easily. Build a great Brand. Every online review is a potential new customer, so build your brand strong enough to stand out from the crowd.
Wrapping Up
Online reviews are something that every business must take notice of, as their importance cannot be overstated. As you can see, building trust with your customers is just as important today as it was when we started. Whether you need to gain more customers or retain current ones, online reviews are a great way to do it.
When done right, online reviews allow people to leave a tangible, positive representation of themselves and their experience with your business. If a customer has an amazing experience when visiting your business, they’re more likely to stay a customer. And if they’re unhappy with your services, they can always leave an honest review to show the world what they think.
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