The Power of Online Reviews!

Online reviews have become an integral part of the user journey towards purchasing your products or services. They are a great way to get your brand name known in a positive light on social media and by uploading regular reviews to your site, it will help boost your SEO so more customers will view your site.

As more businesses hop online when showcasing their company, competition has become fierce. Therefore, online reviews have become even more important, as they can influence a customer to purchase your merchandise or service over a competitor.

This sounds great in theory but what are the facts?

You might be wondering that although the benefits sound promising, where is the evidence that they actually work?

Well, it has been reported that 68% of users say positive reviews make them trust a local business more and with 92% of consumers reading online reviews, many of us can relate to this.

44% of consumers say a review must be written within one month to be relevant, which makes it so important to keep adding new reviews. By updating your customer reviews on your website, it will also help your SEO. The fresh content uploaded to your site shows Google that your website is still relevant, giving search engines new content to crawl resulting in your site being continuously indexed, which will improve your search rankings.

So how do you get reviews?

 

Firstly (sorry to state the obvious) you need to ask your customers/clients if they would write a review for you. There are many ways of doing this;

  • When confirming a deal with a client, mention that you’d love feedback on the work you have done.
  • After a transaction has been completed, remind the customer that you’d like a review. For example, a slip within your shipment package.
  • Directing customer’s attention in your business area that you have reviews on sites like Yelp or Google.
  • Showcase the reviews you have on social media and on your website, which will show people how great your company is and it will encourage customers to write them for you; 2 birds, 1 stone.

Reviews with AdWords

Another option is getting Seller Ratings set up on your AdWords campaign. It is an automated extension that gathers reviews from Google and independent review websites to give you an overall rating that sits underneath your ad. You don’t get charged for the rating to appear on your ad but you will get charged for clicks as usual.

However, only certain ads are able to qualify for the seller ratings (such as having at least 30 unique reviews and a minimum 3.5 rating) and you will need to check that your campaign and domains are set up correctly.

Seller Ratings are well worth the setup. They give your ad a larger online presence and you can monitor the number of impressions and clicks that your ad receives, so you can see whether having the rating is beneficial or not.

Here is an example of Clarks using Seller Ratings:

For more information about Google’s Seller Ratings, please contact us!

Do’s and Don’ts of what to do when you get a bad review

Sooner or later you will get a bad review but how you deal with these reviews is really important.

Don’t ignore them. Your silence will only make the reviewer more upset and other users want to see that your business cares and respects for its customers.

Don’t respond in anger. No need to add fuel to the flame, which will only happen if you reply to the reviewer when you are upset. Best to remember that they just had a bad experience and they just want their problem resolved.

Do apologise. You messed up but it’s ok! Show your customers that you care about them and that you are sorry for any inconvenience that you have caused.

And remember…

Bad reviews can have a positive effect on your business. This is an important one. If you respond politely by apologising and giving the customer a refund, for example, purchase intent will increase by 116%! Not only this but 95% of consumers suspect censorship or faked reviews when they don’t see bad scores – so be genuine and honest to your customers.

What to do when you get a good review

Still acknowledge the customer. Just because it’s a good review doesn’t mean you should ignore it. If a customer compliments your good service in person you wouldn’t just ignore them and the same goes with online reviews. Engage in conversation with your customers, especially over social media, as this will show you care about your users and it will convey that there is a human behind the computer screen!

A Quick Thank You

We would like to thank our clients for the positive feedback we have received, which rewarded Front Page Advantage with an RAR (Recommended Agency Register) award! If you would like to get your website on RAR, see their website: http://www.recommendedagencies.com/

If you would like help on your SEO or your AdWords campaigns we can help!