Things have changed for businesses. Word of mouth is now (mostly) obsolete in favor of online reviews.
Getting those positive reviews is actually majorly important to marketing your business well. Read on to learn why online reviews are so important and why you should give your customers incentive to post their opinions on the internet.
The Benefits Of Positive Online Reviews
Good online reviews can really make or break your business’ reputation. Here are the major reasons why online reviews are just as important as SEO and other marketing methods.
Reviews will boost your local search ranking
This is definitely a big one. Customer reviews play a huge role in organic search rankings. The more reviews you have, the better your rankings will get.
By increasing your website content in combination with growing reviews on your website and outside review aggregates like Google and Yelp, you’ll be able to climb the ladder of visibility with ease.
Reviews will increase your sales
Think of it this way– Say you have a friend who recommends a restaurant. You look that restaurant up and discover that it has a 1-star rating from over 100 people.
In most cases, we’ll trust the judgment of many over the judgment of one. In this way, people trust online reviews more than they trust friends or just one individual when it comes to investing their money in a business or product. With over 88% of people claiming to use online reviews regularly, this is a make-or-break situation for your business.
If you get the positive reviews and get a lot of them, it is very likely that you will see an increase in sales as well.
Reviews help you improve
Both negative and positive reviews are great ways to figure out your customers.
You can deduct a lot from online reviews– what your customer want, where you’re doing well, where you need work, who your customers are and their demographics, etc.
Reviews can offer advertising opportunities
Online reviews are absolutely worth trying to get for the marketing alone. And you don’t really have to do much!
If you’re a new business that’s having trouble getting customers to review your services or products online, try offering an incentive.
On your website, offer free coupons, codes, or other small benefits in exchange for an honest online review. If you are an online business, include a note before your customers check out so they can get that discount code before checking out.
It’s a small price to pay for an amazing marketing opportunity.
Customers will spend more money on a business with good reviews
It’s true! New customers are much more likely (31% to be exact) to spend more money on a business with extremely good reviews.
So while you’re waiting for your SEO project to finish up, invest in this alternative marketing opportunity by providing excellent service, offering an incentive for reviews, thanking your customers, and sharing their reviews on social media. What do you have to lose?
How was our guide to getting good online reviews and why they matter? Tell us what you think about getting good online reviews in the comments below.
