When was the last time you tried a new restaurant or bought an item off Amazon without checking the customer reviews? If you can honestly say “never” then you’re a new standard of brave, dear friend.
However, for the rest of us, we check customer reviews for just about everything. Looking for a new restaurant for date night? Or the best nail salon in your area? What about that new kitchen gadget you’re eyeing up, does it really work as it says? We turn to online customer reviews for the honest answers to our burning questions!
On average, 92% of consumers regularly read online reviews before committing, and 84% trust those reviews as much as they would a personal recommendation from a friend.
What we’re saying is, as a business, YOU NEED TO START COLLECTING ONLINE REVIEWS! Your customers (and business) are depending on it.
Why Are Customer Reviews Important?
This may seem like a straightforward question, but online reviews carry a lot of value that most businesses aren’t totally privy too. Sure, it’s nice to know you have 5 stars, but what else do those reviews do for your business?
SEO
Did you know Google plays favorites? It’s true! Google Analytics places sites with more, positive ratings higher on their search engine results page (SERP). This means the more positive reviews your current customers leave, the easier it will be for new, potential customers to find you in an online search.
For more on how Google review help businesses, check out our latest case study!
Social Proof
In a world where social media is incredibly influential, building your credibility online matters. Consumers turn to review sites and social media pages to gain a better understanding of a business. Having an online community across all channels supporting you will help drive purchases.
Builds Trust
Your brand can build powerful trust with consumers through positive customer reviews. Not only do reviews prove to other consumers that you, in fact, have existing customers, but for smaller or start-up brands, this is a huge factor. It communicates legitimacy. Offer 24/7 support, if not feasible, consider outsourcing live chat service.
Aids in Decision Making
The hardest part of the customer journey is pulling that trigger and making a final decision. There are so many factors that go into making a final buying decision. When potential customers have access to reviews, they can see first hand from previous customers that there is value in your product or service. They can see if what they pay for is what they get, how accurate online descriptions are, and whether or not previous customers were ultimately satisfied with their decision to buy.
Gives Your Customers a Voice
Empowered customers, empower customers.
When you give your customers a chance to review your business, you give them a voice and a chance to be heard. You’ve given them a bit of power they sometimes feel they lose when making a purchase. Let this voice help attract new customers.
Positive vs Negative Customer Reviews
While positive reviews are great and help your organic SEO immensely, sometimes the negative reviews can shine a brighter light on the values of your business.
Consumers want to know the businesses they choose to buy from are morally just and have the same values they do. But consumers also want to do business with humans, and what’s more human than admitting when you’ve made a mistake?
When a customer leaves a positive review, responding with something like “Wow, thanks so much for the kind words! We appreciate you doing business with us. We hope to see you again soon!” is a perfect way to acknowledge and thank your customers.
Negative reviews take a little more tact and humility.
6 Tips For Responding to Negative Customer Reviews
Respond Quickly
Though you’re probably not hovering by your computer 24/7, it’s still important to have some kind of alert system or routine for checking reviews. Customers want to know they’re being heard. The quicker you can respond to a negative comment (and positive, thank your customers quickly, too!), the less likely it is that a potential customer will see that unanswered negative review. You want to defuse the situation and make amends in a timely manner. Try to aim for a response time within 24-48 hours.
Apologize Up Front
Whether you agree with their review or not, apologize! They’re feeling slighted in some way so the best way to arrive at a solution is to start with an apology. Something along the lines of “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding” or “I’m sorry that was your experience with us” is a good start to an apology without throwing blame on either party. It’s important to remember some customers will never be satisfied, no matter how many apologies or solutions you offer. That’s fine. Apologizing regardless shows potential customers that your efforts are still in favor of the customer’s satisfaction.
Address the Issue and Offer a Solution
Again, not all issues are going to have a solution, but try to offer something. Acknowledge the customer’s complaint as they’ve written it to show you understand what they’ve said and try to offer the best solution without sounding defensive or dismissive. Show empathy towards the reviewer and try to sympathize with them. We’ve all been on the receiving end of poor customer service and we know how frustrating it can be as a customer.
Provide a Public Response Before Going Private
Publicly apologize and offer a solution so others can see your efforts to provide better customer service. Once the customer agrees to work with you, ask them to message you privately to discuss details or private information regarding the matter. Keeping some of the conversations public not only shows other customers you care but public confrontation has a way of encouraging people to act a bit more respectfully than if it was through private email.
Know When to Stop Responding
Like we said, not every customer is going to accept an apology. They might ignore you, or worse, they might continue to argue. Know when to stop responding. Once you’ve offered an apology and a solution if they aren’t accepting the olive branch you’re trying to offer, it’s time to back off. You tried, and that’s what counts.
Earning Positive Customer Reviews
So how can you earn more positive reviews?
Well, the easy answer is to just always provide exceptional customer service. But we’re realists and we know sometimes things happen. We’re humans. We make mistakes.
There are a few tactics you can try to help encourage your customers to leave positive reviews online.
Meet Your Customers Where They Are
Asking your customers to “go online and use this code to fill out your survey” is likely not going to happen. That’s adding extra steps to their already busy day. Sending them an email with a live link is much more useful and they’re more likely to leave their review. Better yet, catch them while they’re still in your store! Digital survey kiosks like Big Mouth Survey encourage customers to leave their reviews in real-time. This gives you a special advantage of addressing their review almost instantly.
Allow for Different Review Spaces
Your customers are going to have different preferences on where they like to read and leave reviews. Maybe they don’t use social media, or maybe they only use social media! Creating the appropriate profiles for your business offers customers the option to read reviews and leave reviews on the platforms they’re most familiar with.
Offer Incentives
Your customer’s time is valuable to them, so asking them to spend more time with your brand to leave a review might take a little convincing. Incentives are great because who doesn’t love something that’s practically free? Incentives can be as simple as a free coffee, 5% off their next purchase, or something bigger like a gift card or cash!
Wait for the Right Time
Like most important questions, timing is everything. Asking a customer to leave a review at the wrong time might result in a slightly biased negative review. Perfect times to ask for a review might be
- After they reorder or re-purchase from you
- If they tag your brand positively on social media
- If they keep revisiting your website
- If they refer you to new potential customers
- While they’re in your store
In 2019, 82% of consumers reported reading reviews before doing business with a company. Among those consumers, 97% report reading business’ responses to those reviews. In short, reviews matter to your business and how your business responds to reviews matters to your customers.
