Think customer reviews don’t really matter? Think again.
A staggering 95% of people read reviews before making a purchase and 79% place as much stock in online reviews as they do personal recommendations from their friends and family.
Businesses with at least 10 up-to-date reviews earn 52% more revenue than average. If you have more than 25 reviews, that percentage goes up to 108%.
Customer reviews instill trust in people who have never dealt with your business before. No one wants to throw good money after a bad product or service, so they want to see proof that others have had a positive experience before they take the leap.
In short, online reviews drive revenue — and you need as many of them as you can get.
Which Review Sites Matter Most?
If you were looking for a product or service, where would you turn?
If you said Google, congratulations – you’re in the solid majority. Google reviews not only carry more weight than others, but they also actually determine where your business is shown in the local search results. The more recent positive reviews you have, the higher you’ll climb.
Facebook is probably the next best place to focus on, especially if it’s already a big part of your marketing efforts. Given that a lot of your customers are already hanging out there, it makes sense to actively solicit reviews from them.
Amazon, Yelp, TripAdvisor (for the travel and restaurant industries), Angi (formerly Angie’s List), the BBB, and Yellowpages are also places you should check out.
Make sure you’ve claimed your business on as many review sites as possible and set up notifications for new reviews so that you can respond to them appropriately. Also, while you can’t control which platforms your customers post reviews on, you can guide them toward the ones you prefer.
And this should go without saying, but make sure there’s a place on your website where customers can post their reviews directly!
How to Solicit Customer Reviews
Knowing where your customer reviews should be posted is one thing. Actually getting your customers to post a review is another.
Left to their own devices, the average person will generally only post a review if they’re very, very happy or very, very disappointed. And those numbers aren’t even sort of balanced — while 47% will post about a good experience, 95% will post about a bad one.
It’s clear that you’ll need to coax the majority of your customers to review your business. But how?
- Ask them. Most people are happy to do something to help your business succeed, especially if they know how important it is.
- Send a follow-up email. “Thank you so much for your recent purchase. If there’s anything else you need, don’t hesitate to reach out! Would you mind reviewing your experience with our company? It’ll only take a moment of your time.”
- Make it easy. Humans don’t like doing hard things, so make leaving a review super simple for them. Put a feedback box on your site, send them a link to the review platform of your choice, or allow them to rate their experience during the checkout process.
- Bribe them. We’ve all been to a fast-food restaurant where we get a code for a free order of fries with our next purchase if we go to their website and review our visit. They do it because it works — and it can work for you, too!
Reviews Make the World Go ‘Round
You can (and should!) tell anyone who will listen just how fantastic your business really is. But hearing it from another customer (even a complete stranger) will always be more convincing. Reviews provide great word-of-mouth marketing that you don’t need to pay a dime for!
Do you need help getting your customers to sing your praises? Mischa Communications can show you the way. Let’s get started.