Customer Reviews Are Critical for Marketing Success

Customer reviews online might be impacting online marketing campaign outcomes more than anybody ever imagined. Online customer reviews, or a lack thereof, may disrupt a customer’s journey to a checkout page, or in-store purchase, according to one recent survey of American consumers.

Well-designed online marketing campaigns lead customers to a welcoming website with expressive photographs, an abundance of detail about services and products, as well as competitive pricing. If you have those items, you are doing pretty much everything right. However, do you not have any customer reviews on your site? No reviews on Yelp, Google, Facebook or any review websites? For a massive percentage of potential customers, this means No Sale! Ninety-two percent of shoppers online are hesitant to finish buying a product or service if there aren’t any service or product reviews, according to a customer review survey.

Be Real

Shoppers online are becoming increasingly Internet savvy and they aren’t easily fooled with fake reviews. A few review websites, such as Yelp, filter out questionable reviews. Also, Amazon has cracked down on inauthentic, misleading and false customer reviews.

According to a survey, 31 percent say that a mixture of negative and positive reviews makes them think that the reviews are useful and relevant. In other words, if potential customers even have an inkling that reviews were created by employees, the business owner, friends, family, or are merely “made up,” they’ll ignore them.

Reviews which appear to be phony are as good as not having any reviews, whatsoever. And no reviews — that also is a problem.

What will Happen If There Aren’t any Reviews?

Research has discovered that reviews are critical in assisting individuals with purchasing decisions. Specifically, the above customer review survey asked consumers, ‘How would you feel if there weren’t any available customer reviews?’

• 8 percent say they do not care about reviews.
• 2 percent say they will not purchase from you. Flat out will not purchase.
• 23 percent will have a hard time making a purchasing decision.
• 32 percent say they will hold off on making a purchasing decision and perform more studies somewhere other than upon your site. Perhaps they will return. Probably not.
• 35 percent of shoppers online say they are less likely to purchase if there aren’t any available reviews.

Companies need reviews. And the more the better! Great reviews do not simply happen—you must ask for them.

Negative Reviews: What about them?

Negative reviews do hurt. Thirty-five percent of survey respondents state that a single negative review is enough to make them determine not to conduct business with an organization. The review’s content, of course, matters. Ninety-four percent state they read written reviews and it probably is fair to presume that they’ll discount the ones which are hyperbolic or vague. The plausible reviews that contain details about a reviewer’s poor experience with your company require your instant attention.

According to industry expert on customer experience, Blake Morgan, ‘If you attempt to publicly fix a customer’s problem, other people are watching, as well as applauding you for your helpful attitude.’

For more information on reputation monitoring contact Soaring Away at (910) 471-5030.