People Trust Others More Than They Could Ever Trust A Brand!
There is no doubt that online customer reviews are essential whether you sell a product or offer a service in this digital age. Testimonials and product reviews can be some of your most excellent sales tools. It can affect how new users perceive your business.
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In simple words, you can say that customer reviews work as the digital version of word-of-mouth marketing. As per studies, 70 to 80% of people trust reviews as much as personal recommendations. And also, 74% say positive reviews make them trust a business more.
Why Are Customer Reviews So Important?
Your business can not have an effective online presence if it doesn’t have any customer reviews. No matter whether it is an online store or an offline shop, customer reviews are integral to any business marketing plan. These reviews work as social proof for building trust in your shop. On average, reviews produce an 18% uplift in sales.
In terms of SEO potential, customer reviews can help your shop and products gain more visibility. Yes, it’s true! When customers add reviews to your site, Google considers it fresh content from your website. Google’s web crawlers will scan websites for relevant information to decide where it should rank in its search engine results pages (SERPs). Moreover, the more reviews you have, the higher you will rank in Google and other search engines.
Let’s Unfold Tangible Strategies to Get More Customer Reviews:
The first thing is first! You have to complete your profiles on popular review sites. Review sites are those websites on which reviews can be posted about people, businesses, products, or services. Some of them are:
- Foursquare
- Merchant Circle
- Angie’s List
- Yelp
- Google+ Local
- Yahoo!
These platforms help you to create customer relationships and make them leave reviews of your product, brand, and services.
Here Are A Few Ideas:
Ask, and You Shall Receive:
Sounds weird but effective! According to a survey of 2019, 8 out of 10 customers will leave a review for a business if they’re asked to. This is the super promise way to stay connected with your customers, as long as you’re proactive. All you have to do just focus on is these three things:
- Ask customers directly.
- Make leaving a review foolproof.
- Act quickly before customers forget.
Personal Touch:
In terms of personal touch, why not send a personal email asking for a review? Asking for the customer’s email address and phone number at the time of purchase is a big step toward landing a review from them. With their emails, send a friendly follow-up after a week and ask them to write a genuine review about their experience with your business.
Respond To Every Review — Even Negative Ones:
Whether you are busy or not doesn’t matter; if someone takes the time to review your business, you have to respond. Here, respond doesn’t mean robotic “THANK YOU.” Your response should ideally be personalized and uniquely worded. Once you respond full of your attention to both positive and negative reviews, this will motivate people that you genuinely care about the sentiment of your consumers. Moreover, it also uplifts new customers to take a moment to share their own experiences.
Offer Incentives:
Generally, most customers will leave a review without an incentive, but an incentive can motivate them to act quickly. In terms of incentive, you can offer coupons, discounts, or a freebie, but you cannot make it conditional on a positive review.
Optimize Your Review Forms for Mobile:
These days, it’s very challenging for all to spare a minute for additional work like writing reviews. But if someone takes the time to review your business, it is your duty to make it simple for them. If it’s complicated or it takes too long, they may give up. You want to make it as easy as possible for your customers to give you reviews. You can simply help them find your business on Google, Facebook, or Yelp. Apart, even better, send them a direct link to your profile with one click to leave a review.
Don’t Forget Social Media:
You can also use different social media platforms to get more reviews. Employing the power of the tweet, caption, and status update is a simple tactic to mobilize your customers and recall them to share their opinions on your products or services. This technique empowers customers to share fun stories in the form of reviews while boosting the social media engagement of your brand.
Promote The Reviews You Already Have:
Another effortless way to get more customer reviews is to promote reviews at the front of your home page. They serve as user-generated content. This will uplift others to post reviews.
Utilize a Tool Like ReviewBiz:
While it’s a passive approach, it’s easy. It’s free and a great way to make it easy for website visitors to leave a review on popular websites.
Include a Call-to-Action:
If you already include paper invoices or other marketing materials in your shipment, you can create and include a call-to-action with QR Code. Placing a CTA next to them that encourages users explicitly to “Leave us a Review” can be highly effective. When the customer uses the QR code, they’re taken to the form and submit a review.
Final Thoughts:
A steady stream of good-quality reviews is essential for your reputation, ranking, and ultimately even your revenue. They act as one of the best forms of social proof for your business. Getting more reviews can take a little effort, but it’s an investment that will pay off. Hire the best SEO services to help acquire them. Customer reviews are not only good for your online reputation, but it’s also helpful for improving your local search performance. Holding the first step is the hardest part, but it becomes much easier once you have done that. So, what are you waiting for? Look at our tangible strategies and give them a try today!