Why Customer Reviews are so important in driving sales (!)

If you run a business, you must already have an understanding of just how important customer reviews are. Today, customers can leave reviews on platforms like Yelp, Facebook, and even Google to let others know what they think of your business and affect their purchase decisions.

Why do they matter?

Research has shown that 90% of customers refer to online reviews before making purchase decisions and for 88%, reviews are like personal recommendations. In a world where fake information is easily passed around, 85% of internet users tend to verify the source of a piece of information before sharing it.

Positive reviews help to increase reliability and credibility of a business, helping to boost brand reputation by establishing a sense of legitimacy. 72% of consumers are likely to take some action related to your business only after they read a positive review and 86% of individuals are likely to hesitate when it comes to buying from a business with negative online reviews.

Higher credibility for your business when other customers recommend it can result in more people becoming interested in it and drive local business. Reviews can help to increase engagement of other prospective customers and help in maximizing sales for local business. For example, on Yelp, an increase by 1 star can result in a 5%-9% rise in business revenue.

Location specific reviews also help to improve SEO of your business and show up on Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. Customer reviews signal to search engines that your business is a legitimate one, resulting in a higher search engine ranking. Positive reviews also have the power to raise click through rates by 20%.

If your customers can find you more easily, they have more opportunities to make purchases. This is how reviews can directly help in maximizing sales for local business.

How to set it up?

Registering your business on 3rd party review sites is the 1st step to setting up reviews. These can be platforms like:

· Yelp

· Google Local

· TrustPilot

· Angie’s List

· Foursqaure

You can even register your business on industry specific websites for reviews. Make sure to set up social media platforms for your business and include the links to these platforms on your website. For example, on Facebook you need to set up a business page and choose the “Local Business” category before selecting a niche business area. 1st party reviews are from the business website. Google My Business ratings show up in the knowledge card and are derived from Google reviews. Reviews from Yelp and other 3rd party websites often come in the top 3 search positions.

Spend time understanding the environment of digital reviews. Encourage customers to leave reviews and respond to negative reviews with the objective of resolving problems.

We can help

With our services, hundreds of businesses in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia have boosted their SEO through positive reviews — all for one low monthly price. Come learn more at www.localinfluence.agency