Are you leveraging search engine optimization and social media marketing to grow your online audience? If so, then you may already have a significant advantage over the competition. You can further widen the gap by generating customer reviews. There’s no question that online reviews play an important role in influencing the purchasing decisions of potential customers. If you’re still not convinced, then these facts should encourage you to get started.
1) 80% of online consumers look for product information every week.
Consumers these days have become tech-savvy. To ensure that they wouldn’t put their money to waste, they spend a great deal of time researching the products they’re interested in. You should know that 8 out of 10 consumers research everything they possibly can before spending money. During this research phase, you’d want them to find positive reviews about your business. And if you don’t have any, then you can bet that prospective customers will head over to your competitors instead.
2) 90% of buyers value online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
Many marketers say that word-of-mouth is still the best way to market your business. There’s no arguing this fact, but it’s interesting to learn that 9 out of 10 consumers treat customer reviews the same way as personal recommendations. Essentially, these product reviews are seen as real experiences coming straight from the mouths of other people who have used the product.
3) 70% of consumers like to see both good and bad reviews.
On the surface, this might not make any sense. But if you think about it, it can be suspicious when people see nothing but 5-star reviews about your business. Consumers tend to trust reviews more when they see negative feedback from other people. This explains why you need to use multiple review websites, as doing so increases the chances of getting real reviews from your customers. Aside from Google reviews, try to get Yelp reviews as well because many people directly visit this website to find customer testimonials.
4) More people feel inclined to share a bad experience than a good one.
Receiving a bad service elicits strong emotions from customers, which is why they tend to share their negative experiences. This is something that could have a huge impact on your business. Remember that in the digital era, the golden rule of making your customers happy still applies. By providing the highest quality of service to your customers, you’ll reduce the chances of getting bad reviews.
5) Product descriptions are nothing compared to consumer reviews.
If you’re spending an awful lot of time making your product descriptions as compelling as can be, you might want to devote more time into generating more consumer reviews. Studies show that consumers trust online reviews twelve times more than product descriptions. Sure, these descriptions tell potential customers what they can expect from your products, but they still want to know about the actual experiences of real people to make sure they will get their money’s worth.
