It's 2020, and most companies don't need convincing about the importance of customer reviews.
We can safely say Reviews are a Big Deal!
Your customers browse different review sites before making their purchase decision, and it helps create a perception about your brand, product or service.
There're two critical reasons why reviews matter so much:
Impact on Your Company's Online Reputation
Ignoring online reviews and social mentions is equal to neglecting what people think about your company. One negative review can ruin the entire online reputation.
Make sure to monitor what people are posting about your organization regularly. This way, you can plan different steps to mitigate the degree of damage caused.
Encourage and shape conversations about your company on the web. As you develop one-to-one-communication with your customers, think of it as a relationship building exercise.
Welcome Valuable Feedback
Negative comments can make you feel awful, but reviews provide you with constructive direct feedback. It's a way to gauge your company's popularity and how your product/services are performing within your audience base.
Keep in mind that there's always room for improvement, and your organization can learn a lot from the reviews.
Before potential customers can even make it to your website, you should aim to engage with your audience. Help them learn more about your company. And, make sure they get a useful load of information about your product/service, no matter where they're conducting online research.
Below we've listed out some of the significant third-party sites that people use to learn more about a business or a product:
1. Google
Google search engine is the primary research tool for the most extensive user base. You can call it as king of web traffic. On average, 3.5 billion searches are conducted on this platform every day.
As more and more consumers conduct multiple searches, businesses compete for the top SERP results. We recommend companies aim for Google's snack pack if they want to be found easily, especially if they're local businesses striving to perform better in a local search.
Encourage your user base to leave reviews for your business on Google. Giving reviews is quite simple on this search engine, which can prompt users to provide reviews more frequently. Start gathering reviews by setting up your account on Google My Business, and monitor what people are saying about your business.
2. Amazon
We can call Amazon the powerhouse of the web. Amazon is the primary website to review e-commerce products. In fact, Amazon has been training its customers to leave a review for a long time now, and we should thank them for teaching a mass of customers this online consumer etiquette.
If your company does any amount of e-commerce, Amazon provides excellent information. You may feel that it is more targeted and fitting for Amazon marketplace partners, but even monitoring your competitor's reviews can give you valuable feedback on how people think about specific products.
If your company partners with Amazon, make sure to ask for reviews. These can help you find out how your product is doing and how the service aspect of transactions is being handled.
3. Facebook
Who doesn't use Facebook? It's a social networking platform where users can create profiles, upload photos, videos and send messages. Plus, it's also the place where people can follow different companies and brands and leave reviews based on their experience.
Consumers are increasingly interacting with the brands on Facebook. The reviews are seen, shared by many potential customers, and positive reviews are promoted by businesses to reach a wider audience.
With social media, you can have both — big wins and big mistakes. There will be different people talking about your business, whether you're aware of it or not. Hence, you should increasingly monitor your social mentions.
Since users are already using their Facebook account, the process of leaving reviews is relatively friction-less in comparison to other review websites where you need to create unique logins and log into the site every time. So, make sure to engage with your happy customers on Facebook and ask for their reviews.
4. Yelp
Yelp is a name synonymous with business reviews. It's a website and mobile app where users can publish reviews for local businesses. The platform organizes regular social events for Yelpers and provides useful data for different companies, helping consumers match with the correct product/service as per their requirements.
Plus, if you're a small business, Yelp can train you on how to respond to business reviews more effectively. As the largest outlet for customer reviews, it teaches why you should care about what customers are saying about you online.
Most customers scan the Yelp customer review page before they deal with small businesses. Consumers who review companies are widely known as "Yelpers," and they help others in the community to make a better purchasing decision.
Make sure your local business keeps an eye on negative reviews on Yelp and constantly monitor feedback.
5. Better Business Bureau
As search results get manipulated, people make every possible effort to find reliable firms. BBB, which has a business rating review system, educates and assists people in finding a trusted business for their requirements.
It protects consumers from fraudulent businesses or scammers. The platform includes company profiles, with a short bio and history of complaints made about the business, including ratings on the A-F scale.
6. Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports is a non-profit organization, which works as an independent product-testing organization. It runs unbiased tests to rate and recommend products to consumers. The organization accepts no advertising and pay for all products they test, giving it legitimate status.
While you cannot expect much here, it's an excellent way to promote your product, if there's a good report for it. Otherwise too, it gives you an excellent lesson in content creation. For every product, there's a comprehensive review criterion, a product overview, buying guide and social sharing buttons. It's quite extensive and beneficial for your customers.
7. Clutch
Clutch is another independent online directory that collects objective feedback from the clients of the registered company. The company says it performs in-depth interviews with clients and customers about the quality of their interactions with a Clutch-registered organization. Based on aggregate data, Clutch issues ranking for the firms.
Related: Flawless Inbound Named a Top B2B Company (Advertising and Marketing) by Clutch
It allows the clients to find which company is best for them quickly. Getting reviews on Clutch helps you to increase your prominence and brand awareness while also list out your biggest skills. In short, it's a perfect platform to communicate your strength to potential customers.
Business reviews are here to stay, and these review sites can strengthen your business' online reputation if you adequately manage a conversation with your customers. Whether good or bad, learn to respond to your customers.
If you need help building your online reputation, we can definitely provide the right support and consultation. Let's exchange some ideas with you, get in touch!