The Importance of Customer Reviews

Chances are if you have had a great experience or a terrible experience, you might have taken to some form of review website to express your opinion. Online review forums have opened up endless possibilities for consumers to have their opinion be heard. You have the chance to review almost anything and everything today. From clothing, to restaurants, stores, car shops, even individual employees at their places of employment. Customer reviews range in thoroughness and truthfulness, but they do hold a powerful effect on the behavior of your audience.

Importance of Reviews

The question is, how big of an impact are they making? Can they make or break someone giving you their business? The number of online consumers who read and trust online reviews is increasing. BrightLocal conducted a survey in 2016 about the importance of online reviews, here are a few important takeaways from the article:

• 84% of people trust online reviews as a personal recommendation
• 7 out of 10 customers will leave a review for a business if they are asked
• 90% of consumers read less than 10 before forming an opinion about a business
• 54% of people will visit the website after reading positive reviews
• 73% of consumers think that reviews older than 3 months are no longer relevant
• 74% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more
• 58% of consumers say that the star rating of a business is important

All of the statistics listed about prove how reviews can truly make an impact on your consumer base and grow your business. Reviews can instill trust in the company and its products/service and help consumers feel more confident that they are making a good investment. Reviews help conquer customer’s fear of the unkown.

Public Relations Opportunity

No one ever likes to get a bad review, but it does happen. Business owners this is your chance to take matters into your own hands and directly reach out to that person to make it better. To make sure you are addressing the bad reviews, it is important to make sure you are actively checking the reviews and making sure none go unnoticed. If you receive a bad review, respond immediately. Look up the customers, what they purchased or anything you can to gain more information on the subject and why it went wrong then explain this to them in the nicest way possible. Go above and beyond to improve that person’s image of your business. Not only can this right the wrong with this person, others will see that you have reached out and attempted to fix the problem as well.

Marketing Opportunity

Online reviews are necessary for any successful company in today’s market. Everyone has an opinion and you want to sure they are projecting positive reviews of your business. Reviews are a great way to get people to head to your website or pick up the phone and give your business a call.