Online Reviews Can Do a Lot for Your Business
Businesses spend a lot of time spreading the word about their services and products. They make videos, websites, brochures, commercials, and radio ads trying to get more customers to support the business. While those are all necessary assets to have for your business, another powerful asset to have on your side is your customers. That’s right, your customer’s word in the form of reviews is a necessity nowadays.
Some business owners are still not convinced, however, and it’s a valid concern. Why do you need online reviews? What makes them so effective compared to traditional advertising methods? We’re here to tell you exactly why online reviews are extremely important to your business.
It’s the New Word-of-Mouth Advertising
In today’s digital world, most people spend significant amounts of time on their phones, computers, and tablets. While some people think that means people are communicating less, its actually just that they are communicating differently. Texts, social media posts, and online reviews are ways people are now sharing their experiences instead of doing so in person.
This online communication moves traditional word-of-mouth advertising onto the online world. Having your business listed online and asking for reviews from your customers allows other potential customers to engage in that powerful word-of-mouth advertising. Your potential customers get to read about your services and products from people just like them, which goes a lot further than your word as the business owner.
Reassures Customers and Increases Trust
As online reviews are trusted practically as much as personal recommendations, it’s important to have them for your business. In fact, 97 percent of consumers check online reviews before purchasing and 60 percent of consumers purchase a product or service from a local store within 24 hours after reading reviews. Online customer reviews allow you to build trust with your current and potential customers.
When customers can express their opinions about your service or product, they feel you are listening to them and care about their experience. In addition, potential customers feel you are being transparent in your business and that the experience others had will be what they can expect. Your customers are essentially selling your service or products for you by voicing their positive experiences so others are comfortable buying from you.
Customer Reviews Affect Search
Another reason your business should collect online reviews is that they can affect search. When you have positive reviews on your Google listing, more people are likely to click and buy from your site. The more people who buy from your site, the better your conversion rates will be. In other words, Google will see that you are providing more goods and services people want and will boost your ranking on the Google results page so customers find you more easily. The reviews people leave on Google can also help increase your ranking as they include certain words that people search for when looking for your product or service.
In addition, Google takes into account that you are providing your customers with good services or products. Knowing you already provide good service to your current customers by having a good review score, Google knows you will likely provide that same experience to future customers as well and will give you an extra little search boost.
While Google doesn’t define how much of a search boost good reviews give, every little bit counts when it comes to your company’s success and getting ahead of the competition.
Online reviews are important for any business to have to for the advertising perks, customer trust increase, and search boost. With so many reasons to get customer reviews and the ease of which you can get them with Kydos! there’s no reason to build your reviews today.