Getting Smart with: Online Customer Reviews
Everyone knows that reviews are of value to a business, but many business owners still wonder why they should devote time to online reviews.
Statistics show that 92% of consumers read online reviews, and star rating is a top factor used by people to form an opinion of a business and affect their decision of whether to make a purchase.
They help a business to gain local organic search rankings and create branding. Brands invite their customers to leave feedback, which can also lead to exposure and driving traffic when the brand gets mentions and comments.
Why are Online Reviews Important?
- Increase Local Search Rankings. This will add unique content to your site, which is relevant will help you to rank higher by search engines. As well as this, microformats of reviews on your site will result as ‘rich answers’ on search engines, putting you above the standard on search results pages.
- Increase Sales. People trust reviews, and even consider them a large part when contemplating buying from a company. With customers leaving online reviews, you have an increased chance of generating new leads.
- Improve Off-Site SEO. This is a great way to increase your off-site SEO, as it can otherwise be quite difficult. Google take into consideration third party directories when ranking your site, such as Yelp and TripAdvisor.
- Helps Understand the Customer and Make Improvements. Online reviews are a place where customers can voice their opinion and feelings on your products and services, which in turn helps you to gain an understanding of what they like and dislike. In turn, this helps you to make improvements to further better your services – and pleasing your customers.
Overall, online reviews are just as vital to your business as any other marketing campaign, as they help online visibility and brand awareness with customers, and not forgetting the importance of reviews on SEO and ranking – resulting in more leads and sales. TrustPilot are a huge player in the online reviews market, and can be beneficial to even the smallest of businesses. Google have recently changed their Ratings features for Rankings, making them easier for small businesses to have on their Search Results.
