Users value online ratings and comments when deciding on the best company, store, or restaurant. Therefore, the reviews that customers left after their experiences with each company should be considered important.
Up to 9 out of 10 users care about the reviews or comments that appear on each company's website. Before contacting them, they evaluate these opinions and then enter the decision-making phase. This is especially true for local businesses.
According to research from BrightLocal, 85% of internet users read reviews before making a purchase and 65% read an average of 6 reviews before making a purchase. The importance of reviews is greater than we think, as they are often at the root of a company's good reputation.
What are ratings?
The ratings are opinions or comments that users leave on the Google website. If you search for the company name, you will see the details of the company on the right and some reviews below it. The main function of reviews is to increase the visibility, trust and credibility of the business when they are positive and genuine. As a result, Internet users and future customers looking for the services offered by the company will be more convinced.
Therefore, reviews become a key factor in the user's decision-making process as they can make the decision for the user whether or not to buy the product or service.
An example of how a potential customer perceives our credibility is the number of stars that previous customers have given in their reviews and that appear in the search results. Five or more positive reviews on the Google My Business page is of the utmost importance for your business or online store.
How do I get reviews for my business?
- Encouraging satisfied customers to post and give their opinion about the company.
- Place the shoptimizer marketing tool close to your customers. With the help of this, customers can give positive feedback in the shortest possible time by linking directly to their Google rating page.
- Use social media to ask your followers what they think of your business.
- Don't force or pressure, but encourage and motivate.
You can encourage users to leave a positive review about your business by doing the following:
- Offer a discount for the next purchase.
- With a link to the evaluation page via the shoptimizer on site.
- Via an email with a link on the website a few days after purchase.
- Soliciting relevant customers to try some products or services in exchange for an opinion or comment.
How should you respond to negative reviews?
This step is practically the most important, because you must remember that everyone has different opinions, and if one of them is negative, you should not get nervous, angry or react negatively. You should try to understand what happened and how to solve the problem, because even negative opinions, if they are sincere, will help improve your business and generate more opinions. Here are 6 tips on how to respond:
- Respond as soon as possible.
- Always with professionalism and intelligence.
- And of course polite.
- In a nutshell. Being concise and precise is a positive because it shows you know what you're talking about.
- Always try to ask what the problem was and try to find a solution.
- Also, one should try to transform negative opinions by apologizing to them and suggesting a possible solution.
Why is it important to leave positive reviews?
There is no doubt that anything positive is good for business. The fact that they give a good rating for your product or service is satisfying in the first place, but if we add that this is made public, it becomes a plus as it is beneficial for the company and for the customers is because it helps them choose the best option for their search.
We must assume that the review reflects the customer's opinion of their experience with our company. This allows us to analyze the shortcomings and merits of our activity, which means that mistakes can be corrected and we can continue to improve day by day.
Reviews are a fundamental part of business, even if we might think that they don't contribute anything, it's quite the opposite, we can't ignore them, because they are a source of information that should at least be considered and answered. Reviews are about your business and how people resonated with what you wanted to show.
If we get bad reviews, first of all, disbelieve your company, what you are about to say about it. If someone didn't have a good experience, they will show that too, and this problem needs to be solved for future experiences. We have to show that the company is reputable and credible so that we can put ourselves in the minds of our target group so that they trust us with their purchase.
