Today, the internet is at our fingertips and almost everything is just a button away! From buying groceries to electronics to clothes, you can look for the options on any e-commerce platform. Now the internet is evolving and soon it is turning into a place where various customers can evaluate and review different products and services with like-minded people.
Reviews have the power to influence both the consumers and the businesses as well. For the consumers, it helps them with the information or the insights of the other buyers and gets an idea of how the product is. For businesses, customer reviews act as feedback, be it positive or negative. They get to know the areas they are good at and the ones where they need to improve. If we speak statistically, 95% of the customers read reviews before purchasing any product or service and 91% of the people trust the recommendations given by the others.
Tips to get your customers review your page or product
Benefits of Customer Reviews
It is said that having an online store without reviews has no soul to it. It creates distrust among the customers and doesn’t give a positive sign to the business. Customer reviews have helped in bridging the gap in the communication of the business and consumer and hold power to influence one’s decisions. Here are the following benefits of customer reviews:
Helps in your buying decision
Reviews provide insights and information to the customers from the buyers who already had an experience with that particular product or service. It stimulates you to buy it or not. Suppose you enter a website and find a pretty dress. You would look for the customer ratings or stars ratings that the dress has received. And if you wouldn’t be satisfied, then you would look for the written reviews.
Increases the confidence of new customers
Whenever you try something new, you look for the opinions of the people who have already been a part of the consumption. Reviews tend to increase the confidence of the new consumers and they tend to rely on that particular e-commerce site. Thus the reviews can turn a buyer’s decision from ‘add to cart’ to ‘proceed to buy’.
Builds loyalty among the customers
The online reviews help build a community wherein the customers can interact with each other and share their experiences among themselves. Building an online community is not an easy task for a business. It generates repeat purchases and helps the business stand in a better position on the web, which would be discussed later.
Builds reputation in the market
Reputation marketing is a marketing approach that uses your brand reputation to stimulate potential consumers into customers. Reviews can help with reputation marketing. If a business doesn’t have reviews on its website or portal then it can harm its reputation. For people to buy from you, they need to be sure that you are a dependable and credible source for purchasing. Therefore having reviews can add brownie points to your reputation in the market.
Use reviews as a tool to increase sales
Businesses use reviews to increase the sales of their product. For example, there are brands that would quote their customer reviews or have customers speaking about their product (as per their strategies). We all are social creatures and always curious to know what others have to say, therefore this proves that reviews are a good tool to have an increase in sales.
Increases Traffic and optimises the social presence.
Do you know, your review helps the business in getting a better rank on google web or any other search engine? Yes, the review helps with SEO that is Search Engine Optimisation. The better your review, the better rank you have in web portals.
In simple words, google bots look for some quality content in the web portal and rank that particular website accordingly.
As you start receiving a wider reach with your reviews, you tend to have a better impact on your presence on media platforms. The more you optimise, the more your profile gets displayed on the screen with a higher rank.
Tips to get your customers to review your page or product
Social proof adds a cherry on the cake for one’s business. As said earlier, it is one of the best marketing strategies in today’s time that a business can opt for. It helps the business get validation and whether it be a business or a person, everyone seeks validation!
Here are some tips that a business can follow to make people review them:
Tip 1: Provide them with different platforms where they can review your venture. This will provide them options and will also help you increase your presence across different platforms.
Tip 2: Ask the customers to write a review. It’s that simple. Don’t make this message a complex one as if you ask too many questions, people might lose interest in writing the review. It also costs time and as people are too sensitive about this issue, it’s better to keep this one simple.
Tip 3: Make it easy for them to leave a review. Those who are satisfied and happy with your services are likely to not leave a review. The people who are angry tend to take revenge on the business by writing a negative review. Therefore, you might call for trouble. Make it easy and influence them to write the review (even the positive ones).
Tip 4: Provide incentives to your customers for writing a review. Tempt them and make them leave feedback. A little bit of encouragement never hurts anyone! This doesn’t mean bribing the reviewer rather you are simply providing incentives for leaving a review. It’s just a reward for their extra effort. You can give them some points or provide them with some special services.
Tip 5: Please express your gratitude. Yes, you read that correctly. These words have the potential to make a big difference in your company’s success. In the corporate world, it’s a must-know phrase.
As 88% of the consumer’s decision gets influenced by the reviews, you cannot afford to go wrong with this. While you don’t have an influence over what people say in their reviews, you can influence and make people write it. People are talking and people are listening. With consumers reading and making their decisions on the basis of the reviews present, what do you think about the importance of reviews in the business world?