Reviews Are Important For Your Business: Here’s Why

Hey there, small business owner or entrepreneur! No doubt you already know that reviews are important. But are you giving them the attention that they deserve and proactively gathering them?

If not, this article demonstrates why it’s critical that you prioritize generating positive reviews.

Why you should make reviews your priority

According to Statista, at least 70% of consumers read reviews before making a purchase.

If you do not proactively collect reviews, you are risking the chance that only dissatisfied customers leave reviews.

That means bad news for your business. It is difficult to get new customers if they only see negative reviews from previous customers.

In fact, 92% of potential customers are put off purchasing from a brand because of bad reviews.

When you start asking for reviews from customers, you will increase your chances of getting positive reviews. You might even receive endorsements from happy customers.

Besides, reviews have many benefits that might even surprise you.

1. Reviews make purchase decisions easier

Do you know that anxious feeling, when you don’t know if you should trust a company?

This feeling is alleviated when you see that others have trusted the company before.

It’s much easier to make the buying decision, when other people tell you they have had a good experience.

Sometimes reviews might even shed some light on how a product or service works. It can help the customers to decide whether this product or service is for them.

2. Reviews are more trusted than advertisements

You can say whatever you want, the customers won’t believe you.

Every company makes the same claims about their superiority. Consumers can’t really trust what the companies say, but they can trust other people who are like them.

Reviews are digital word-of-mouth that is equivalent to personal recommendations.

3. Reviews improve your search engine results

You might be surprised, but reviews do indeed help you reach higher rankings in Google.

According to research, positive feedback might account for 15% of SEO credits.

When you add customer feedback to your own website, the keywords that naturally appear in reviews positively affect your SEO.

Better SEO results naturally lead to more visibility, and possibly to more new customers.

4. Reviews are valuable customer feedback

Your customers dictate your success, which is why their opinions matter.

Customer feedback is important because they are the honest opinions of your customers. You should take them seriously and learn from the negative feedback you receive.

Only that way you can improve your business and earn loyal customers.

Take your time to respond to negative feedback: it has surprising effects. 

It prevents churn and might even make the unhappy customer happy again. Additionally, it shows your audience that you truly care about their feedback.

5. All things considered: reviews get you more business!

Let’s sum it up. When you collect and showcase reviews:

1. You are more visible to new customers.
2. You seem trustworthy.
3. You learn from your customers.
4. You show that you care about your customers.
5. You prove your brand’s worth.

All of this leads to better business, more customers, and increased sales.

How to get reviews

Now that you know why reviews are important, next step is, how do you get them in practice?

1. Find reviews on review websites

The most important websites to find feedback of your business are Google, Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Facebook.

You might already have feedback from your customers in these channels.

It is possible to use these reviews on your own website, too. Just use a review software tool to import them to your own site.

2. See what people say on social media

Social media comments about your products and services are reviews, too. Even though it might not be the first thing that comes to your mind!

Comments on social media help you measure the customer sentiment and brand awareness, too.

In case people talk about you on the socials, don’t hesitate to join the conversation!

3. Collect them via an online form

If you don’t collect feedback yet, it is time to start asking for them.

Research shows that 71% of satisfied customers will provide feedback if there is an easy way to do so.

Set up a simple online form or use a review software to collect feedback from your customers. 

Distribute the forms via email or place a QR code to your office. This way, your clients have an easy way to fill in the online form.

If your business requires you to meet clients, make your request face to face.

4. Ask people to leave a review on your website

You could also simply ask people to leave feedback on an external website. Provide a link to your Google or Facebook page, and ask them to write a comment.

After that, you can import the feedback to your own website by using different tools.

An effective review request includes some of the following characteristics:

• It is or at least seems personal and friendly in tone
• It highlights how helpful feedback would be for other customers
• Makes clear that leaving a review only takes a moment

By following these tips, you increase your chances of getting more positive customer feedback.

Final steps

Hopefully by now you know all the reasons why reviews are important.

This article also introduced ways to get more reviews from your customers. After that, you need to make use of them smartly.

You can use customer satisfaction surveys on your website, add them to social media, or use them in ads.

When you want to use customer feedback in marketing, you need to have permission from the customer to do so.

Because of that, picking random comments from social media is not the most ethical way to do things.

It’s best to make sure that the customer is aware that their review is public and can be used.

By collecting reviews yourself, you ensure that everything is going smoothly.

* Featured image source