3 Major Reasons Why You Need Online Reviews
Do you really-really need online reviews? Are they thaaaaaat important?
Let’s skip right to the punch line here, and say… Yes! Yes! OK, enough. You get it.
Online reviews are an integral part of customers’ online research journey on businesses. And, the more positively you are reviewed online, the better off your business will be.
Now, let us tell you the 3 major reasons why you actually need online reviews. Lot’s of it!
Online Reviews Serve as a Valuable Source of Feedback
Continuously receiving feedback from your customers is very vital for your business’s success. How else would you know whether you are doing great or not, if not from your customers? See?
Those online reviews, be it negative or positive, can benefit your business in terms of understanding what’s working and what’s not, in order to improve your business’s operations more strategically.
So, instead of sitting there and biting your lips out of nervousness after receiving a negative review, try looking at it from the positive angle. Now that you know what dissatisfies your customers, you can work to improve it and provide a better experience for them all. In the end, happy customers mean more money for you. So…
And, if you have received those positive reviews, it means you are doing a great job. Keep it up!
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Online Reviews Bring More Sales – Higher Revenue
When customers are trying to decide whether to buy from you or not, they always check those online reviews first. That’s right!
According to a 2017 survey by BrightLocal, 97% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses and a whopping 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Impressed, huh?
Online reviews are trusted by customers. Ultimately, the more positive online reviews you have, the more sales will be guaranteed. And, just so you know, a one-star increase in online rating can lead to almost 9% increase in revenue.
Always encourage your customers to leave a review after having an experience with your brand. But, don’t forget to monitor those reviews, because there can also be baaaad ones.
While bad reviews give you a chance to improve your product/service based on your customer’s real needs and wants (as we have discussed already), they still lessen your chances of attracting potential customers to buy from you. In fact, 49% of consumers won’t consider purchasing from you if you don’t have at least a four-star online rating. Aha!
So, you better reflect on those bad reviews and make the unhappy customers happy again, asking them to rereview your business, now with a positive note.
Online Reviews Benefit SEO
Logically, when your potential customers read all the positive reviews about your products/services, they will make sure to check out your website to see what all the fuzz is about. How does that benefit you in terms of SEO?
Lots of traffic! You guessed it.
Having a vast amount of traffic coming to your website indicates Google about your authority, leading to increased organic search engine rankings.
Moreover, enticing your readers to click on your website link by having positive online reviews can increase click-through-rates by as much as 153%.
The more reviews you have (of course, positive ones!) both on your website and on third-party directories and review sites, such as Yelp and TripAdvisor, the higher will be your chances to rank high in SERPs.
So, no matter your business operates locally or internationally, online reviews will ensure your trustful presence across the WWW.
Do you see it now? Online reviews matter significantly!
You want it or not, people are and will be talking about your business. Some may be angry at you, throwing words right at you that are as offensive as possible. Some may be very happy with you, expressing their gratitude for your existence. And, others may nuturally just share their experiences with you, just to help their peers make more informed decisions.
Whatever those reviews say, wherever and whenever they say, you should always keep track of them and even encourage more flow. Because… you need online reviews, just as much your customers do!
