Published on April 4th, 2020 | by Sunit Nandi

4 Reasons Why Online Reviews are Essential for Your Brand

A recent study found that consumers believe around 91% of the online reviews a business has. Modern consumers do a lot of research before deciding to use the products/services a business has to offer. Making sure potential customers can find information about the past dealings you have had with other consumers is crucial. If you don’t have online reviews, a consumer may view this as a bad thing or a deal-breaker.

Using a company that can help you get online reviews is imperative when trying to attract attention from online shoppers. The money you invest in acquiring and prominently displaying these reviews on your website will be worth it in the long run. Below are some of the reasons why online reviews are essential for your brand.

Source: Pixabay

1. Reviews Have a Positive Impact on Your Sales

In the past, there has been some discussion on whether or not positive reviews help to improve a business’s bottom line. Recently, the team at Harvard Business School published a study showing that good reviews undoubtedly have a positive impact on a company’s sales. Consumers see businesses that have lots of positive reviews as more trustworthy. This positive view of a business generally results in consumers investing in their services and products.

In fact, this study shows that an increased number of positive reviews on websites like Yelp and Google My Business listings generally leads to a 9% increase in a company’s revenue stream. This is why you can’t afford not to have positive reviews prominently displayed on your business website.

2. Increase Your Online Visibility

As the owner of a business, creating an online presence for your brand is crucial to your long-term success. Businesses that refuse to embrace the power of online marketing and branding are seeing a rapid decline in sales. Rather than allowing your business to fall between the cracks of the Internet, you need to focus on engaging with consumers.

Having lots of positive reviews actually improves your online visibility. Popular search engines like Google use the number of reviews a business has as ranking factors when trying to fill in search engine results for consumers. This means the more positive reviews you have online, the higher your website will rank. A higher rank on a search engine results page can lead to a substantial increase in organic traffic to your website.

Making sure there is lots of unique and engaging content on your website when new visitors arrive is crucial. Prominently displaying positive reviews on your website is also a great way to catch the attention of new visitors and turn them into customers.

3. A Great Way to Connect with Customers

Most business owners look at reviews as a way to show potential customers how well they perform. However, these reviews can also offer you a direct line of communication with existing customers. You need to realize that you won’t always receive positive reviews from customers. Instead of ignoring negative reviews, you need to work on resolving the issues a customer has.

By resolving these issues in a public forum, you can show potential customers you work hard to keep your existing customers happy. The last thing you need to do when confronted with a negative review is to argue with the consumer who left it. This will lead to more damage to your company’s reputation. Being respectful and abiding by the customer is always right philosophy mantra can help you handle this situation correctly.

Source: Pixabay

4. Help Consumers Make the Right Decision

Modern consumers have more options than ever before regarding where they can shop. Your main goal needs to be showing consumers why your business is the right fit for their needs. If you want to give a consumer some motivation to use your products/services, then acquiring and displaying great reviews is imperative. The more information you can provide consumers regarding what your company does and how well you have performed for other customers, the easier it will be to grow your bottom line.

It’s Time to Start Acquiring Reviews

Now that you know how effective positive online reviews can be for expanding your customer base, it is time to get to work. Asking satisfied customers to give you a positive online review is the only way to increase brand awareness and online visibility.

Tags: brand, essential, online, reasons, reviews

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.