10 Reasons Why Reviews Are Import For Your Business
PeerDive
With the accessibility of the Internet available at the click of a button, it has become more important than ever to get positive reviews. As a result, over 90% of all consumers will read online reviews about a product or service before purchasing.
More importantly, over 94% of online shoppers have reported that they were convinced to avoid purchasing that business after reading a negative review. Whatever industry you are in, having a plethora of positive online reviews is now more than ever essential to bringing in new business. It is key to building a strong brand.
Our experts here at PeerDive have put together this fantastic guide showing you the top reasons why online reviews are essential for your business.
Do Negative Reviews Matter?
In today's web-based reality, almost every consumer is reading online reviews before making a purchase. While you don't want an overwhelming amount of negative reviews, it is important to offer consumers a spectrum of options.
Users tend to spend up to five times longer on sites when interacting with negative reviews leading to over an 85% increase in conversions. The more reviews, the better. Consumers don't want to see a single review with just a few positive words. The reason is that consumers like to see a lot of reviews from real, verified purchasers.
Don't be scared of having a few pieces of criticism. The most important thing is to take in the feedback and respond to customers in a productive way. Consumers would rather see a few negative reviews with a positive interaction from the owner than nothing at all. It's a safe assumption that no matter your target audience, everyone is reading your online reviews before making a purchasing decision.
Top Reasons Online Reviews Are Vital For Your Business
1) Builds Trust
Building a brand is equally important as driving sales. Your brand can build trust by having a steady stream of positive reviews. Many online shoppers are hesitant to buy from a business below a four-star ranking. Interestingly only 11% of all consumers look for a business with a perfect 5-star rating. Why? Consumers like to see diversity when shopping online. They want to know that the company they are purchasing from is reliable and trustworthy.
No one wants to feel like they got scammed. Reviews will show your clients that you are a credible business that they can put their trust in.
2) Increases Sales
A study found that having a one-star improvement on popular review site Yelp boosts anywhere between 5-9% of sales. This shows just how important it is to develop a healthy stream of positive online reviews.
Each small improvement can lead to massive results. For example, a study in 2016 found that having online reviews led to an average of 18% increased sales conversions. Another study by Berkeley found that just a half-star improvement made a restaurant 30-49% more likely to be booked during peak hours.
3) Increases Marketing Efforts
Let your consumers do the marketing for you! Positive online reviews are a great way to showcase to potential future customers the benefits of doing business with you that a simple marketing campaign can not. Think of them as a micro marketing campaign. They can work to generate new business for years after they are posted.
4) Generate New Reviews From Past Reviews
When a business already has a steady stream of online reviews, it encourages new clients to leave you a new review for others to see. Therefore, it is important to generate a healthy stream of reviews to showcase to your clients that they can trust your brand no matter the time they do business with you.
5) Reviews Let You Directly Communicate With Your Clients
Consumers now expect businesses to respond to both good and bad comments left online more than just posting a review. The good news is that these reviews give you an open form to reinforce positively, share information, and tell them about promotions. On the flip side, they can allow you to depend on your business against any negative options. Trust us; people look at the comments companies write back (especially negative ones)!
Connecting with your customers through reviews is a great way to show that your business is a real person and not just a machine. Creating a space where consumers can feel as though they have an open forum to express their options is important to building trust.
6) Build Your Reputation
Creating a good reputation isn’t done overnight. As Warren Buffet put it, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” Zendesk found that over 95% of customers are more likely to share a bad experience over a positive one with their peers. This is why it is so critical that you respond right away and address any adverse situations.
Building a solid brand reputation leads to customers naturally wanting to refer your business. However, to accomplish this, you need the help of your loyal customers.
7) Improves SEO
Now more than ever, reviews are becoming an interval part of building your SEO profile. It is no secret that large search engines such as Google are more likely to show businesses with a four or more star ranking than ones with lower star rankings. Likewise, they tend to show their consumers businesses that are ranked higher than ones that are not.
One study found that the fifth most significant factor in determining a business ranking position on Google was its online reviews. Therefore, a business that consistently gets many high star rankings is likely to get more consideration from the popular search engine. Building a collection of positive reviews can boost your social appearance and overall authority.
8) Identifies Top SEO Keywords For Your Product or Service
As part of your SEO efforts, you probably have a few top keywords in mind for your business. However, that does not mean those words and long-tail keywords are ones that your customers would associate with your brand. By reading online reviews, you can tap into words and phrases your customers commonly use to describe your product or service. Then, you can use these keywords used by your customers to better fine-tune your SEO campaigns accordingly.
9) Highlight Your Top Clients & Influencers
Showing them off can be a powerful brand message when you have positive reviews. Instead of claiming that your brand is great, let your customers do the talking for you. Featuring these top reviews on your website, social media, or other platforms can be a great way to showcase how well your business is doing. This can be a great way to ensure that your positive reputation is boosted in the community.
10) Increases Overall Engagement
Reviews allow businesses and customers to build a one-to-one relationship with one another. By establishing that emotional connection with your consumer, you are 23% more likely to increase your revenues than a non-engaged customer.
Customers who feel engaged with a brand are 29% more likely to spend money per shopping trip than those who are not. Having strong after-sale customer service is equally as important to establish trust and build long-term loyalty with those who value your brand the most.
About PeerDive:
Peer Dive is a popular online directory created exclusively for businesses to leave and view reviews on individuals before offering their products and or services. Peer Dive was created to help local businesses and their communities make the most informed decision on who they want to do business with.