6 Benefits of Online Reviews for Businesses

In this video, Ashley from the WebFX Internet Marketing team will discuss the benefits of online reviews for your company.

Transcript:

Hey guys! Follow along with me as I try to buy a new microwave. This one looks great. I think this is the one I’m getting.

Let me just glance at the reviews here, and then — oh. Oh, goodness. Uh, this review says the microwave blew up this person’s kitchen? And this one says it actually makes the food colder? Uh, yeah, never mind. Not getting this one.

As you can see, reviews can have a pretty big impact — not just for customers, but also for businesses, including your company. Obviously, negative reviews can discourage people from buying — especially if you make explosive microwaves. But by handling those negative reviews the right way, and also earning positive reviews, you can turn them into a huge help to your company.

How exactly can they benefit you, though? Well, that’s just the question we’re here to answer. In this video, we’re going to walk through six benefits of online reviews.

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1. Reviews can spread brand awareness

What is brand awareness? Basically, it’s where people who are unfamiliar with your company hear about you and become familiar with you. Your business stays top of mind with people because they continue to see you online and engage with you.

Reviews can help introduce lots of new people to your company. Let’s say you offer financial consulting services, and a company is reading through reviews of different financial consultants. Maybe they didn’t even know about you before, but while reading through the reviews, they find one that talks about how great your company is. They then head to your website to learn more.

Even if that company doesn’t convert right away, they now know who you are and might consider working with you, and it’s all because they found that review.

Plus, with an analytics tool, you can measure the traffic you get from different review sites and potentially track how many conversions you get. I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here. Let’s move on to benefit number two.

2. Reviews can increase your site traffic

Another way getting reviews helps your business is that it can increase traffic to your website. As I mentioned a minute ago, if people read a bunch of good reviews about you on third-party platforms (not owned by you), they may take interest in your company. And if they do that, there’s a good chance they’ll head over to your website.

That’s obviously good news for you because it means you now have the chance to communicate even more of your company’s value and turn those site visitors into leads and customers.

3. Reviews improve your trustworthiness

One of the most important online review benefits is that reviews make your business seem more trustworthy to potential customers. You can talk up yourself in your own marketing all you want, but at the end of the day, your customers’ opinions will always be more valuable.

Think of it like this — if your friend Sam starts talking about how great he is at cooking potatoes, you’re probably going to take what he says with a grain of salt — no pun intended. But if your other friend Rosie agrees with him and tells you, “Hey, you have to try Sam’s cooking,” you’re way more likely to believe it.

Same deal with your company. Users are way more likely to believe your marketing if they can see that your customers are complimenting you on the quality of your products or services.

4. Reviews show you ways to improve

We’ve mostly focused on positive reviews so far, but the truth is, there may be times when you earn some negative reviews. That’s okay, it happens to everyone, even massive corporations. And the good news is, negative reviews can be helpful in some ways, too. One of those ways is that they can help you see where to improve.

For instance, you might notice that your reviewers keep having one particular issue with one particular product. That makes it really obvious what the problem is, so it’s easy for you to figure out what you can do to improve your products. Once you make that improvement, your customers will likely be way happier and you’ll probably drive more sales.

Plus, when you offer helpful feedback to negative reviewers and help resolve the issues they have, it will show that you care about your customers. That will help people to view you even more positively.

5. Reviews help you learn what customers want

To drive more customers, you have to market to them. And if you want your marketing to be effective, you have to know who your audience is and what they want.

Well, reviews can help you learn that information. By reading reviews, you can see what it is your customers value most.

Let’s say you offer cleaning services. Maybe you read a positive review where someone says, “My favorite part of these cleaning services is that they hit obscure spots that other companies miss.” Or, maybe you read a negative review where someone says, “I wish these services were easier to schedule.”

In both of those cases, you can identify a particular feature that users value — either one that your product already has, or one that you can consider adding down the road.

Whatever the case may be, these reviews let you see what it is that users hope to get from your products  or services. That allows you to reframe your marketing to appeal to those wants and needs, making your campaigns more effective. It also ties back to my previous point: reviews show you ways to improve.

6. Reviews help you earn more sales

Finally, reviews are great for helping you close more sales. They help distinguish you from your competitors when someone is in the final decision-making stage. They also make people trust your business more. Between both of those things, plus what we’ve talked about throughout this video, way more people end up buying from you.

How to earn online reviews

So there you have it — that’s how customer reviews can benefit you. But you might still be asking, “How can I earn those reviews to start with?”

The answer is, there are a few different methods, but the best one is to just ask for reviews. When someone buys from you, you can send them a follow-up email asking them to drop by your website or your Google Business Profile and leave a review. Other options include:

• Including a post-purchase survey in your online store using a free online survey tool
• Posting on social media and encouraging people to leave reviews
• Asking for reviews in-person after people make a purchase

One thing you most definitely shouldn’t do is attempt to buy reviews. Since those reviews will be paid for rather than earned, not only will they be dishonest, but they’ll also hurt your sales if word ever gets out that you bought them. Your customers won’t trust you anymore. So, don’t do that.

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Well, that does it for this video. If you want to learn more about reviews and many other digital marketing topics, just subscribe to our YouTube channel, or to our email newsletter, Revenue Weekly.

Thanks so much for watching, and I’ll see ya in the next video!