How Do Consumer Reviews Work as Content?

What is the value of a customer review?

According to Nielsen, word-of-mouth recommendations and business reviews are the most trusted forms of advertising among consumers. People are more likely to believe the recommendations that they receive from friends or family than they are the ones they receive directly from brands.

Online consumer reviews and recommendations might not be as personal as recommendations from loved ones, but they do offer third-party validation for the brand. They allow prospects to hear from past customers and gain greater insight into the reliability of the brand’s claims and the degree of authority that brand holds within the field. As many as 90 percent of customers are influenced by online reviews when preparing to make a purchase.

It is also important to remember that business reviews are featured prominently on the business display for Google Local. Cultivating positive consumer reviews on Google+ can help make your businesses seem more reputable when people search for local businesses in your industry.

Score Positive Consumer Reviews Today!

Consumer reviews are vital to online success - brightedge

How do product reviews work?

As people look for solutions to their problems, they come across a wide variety brands and companies. Before most people make a purchase, they want to see what other people had to say about the brand. They want to consider others’ opinions in order to make an informed choice. Review sites make it possible for customers to get third party opinions on the offerings of different companies. Cultivating multiple positive reviews can help you keep customers moving through your pipeline.

How do I encourage people to leave good reviews?

Although consumer reviews help to validate your brand and entice prospects to learn more, it can sometimes be a challenge to get people to leave these important reviews for your company. Review sites and prospects are highly sensitive to brands falsifying reviews. However, there are a few ways that you can encourage people to leave you product reviews:

  • Make it convenient for them. People are more likely to do something if it does not require a lot of effort on their part. Including links on your page to major review sites or forms for leaving a review in your post-purchase email, for example, can be very helpful.
  • Let people know that you value their opinion and appreciate reviews. When you complete a transaction with a customer, let them know that you love hearing back from customers and do appreciate it when people take the time to leave a review.
  • Provide outstanding customer service. When you demonstrate that your primary concern is their satisfaction, it helps to build an strong bond between your brand and the customer. Including links to review sites and asking to hear their opinion will be more successful when the customers feel as though they have a strong relationship with you. Further you can send an automated request for review email to people who give you a high NPS or Net Promoter Score.

Consumer reviews are valuable forms of content that help to demonstrate how well you served your past customers and what your prospects can reasonably expect. By leveraging this form of communication, you can tap into the power of third party recommendations and increase your brand reach and reputation.