If you run a business and haven’t caught on that online reviews are important to your customers, and therefore to you, you need to make a quick u-turn.
According to a Nielsen Report, “Global Trust in Advertising and Brand Messages” published in 2012, 92% of consumers around the world say they trust word-of-mouth or recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising, an increase of 18% since 2007. And a 2018 report by BrightLocal found that 91% of 18-34-year-olds trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
As companies continue to encourage reviews and even reward consumers to leave reviews, consumers are now even more apt to contribute reviews.
TrustYou, in its recent blog about “The Psychology of Online Reviews” pointed out another interesting statistic from research by social commerce company Reevoo: 68% of consumers trust reviews more when they see both good and bad scores, while 30% suspect censorship or faked reviews when they don’t see anything negative at all.
In light of this growing importance of online reviews, TrustYou suggested that businesses need to acknowledge the importance and impact of online reviews and start making one’s online reputation of utmost priority.
It also urged businesses to be alert to the importance of responding to reviews. The Local Consumer Review Survey in 2018 by BrightLocal found out that 89% of consumers read local businesses’ responses to reviews and nearly all (96%) of 18-34 year olds read review responses.
“Customer interactions are often a spectator sport today, and every reply to a customer is nothing but an opportunity to demonstrate your values in a way that will nudge members of the audience to buy from you,” said Jay Baer, founder of Convince & Convert. Customer service is the new marketing, he added.
TrustYou shared its best practices for replying to positive and negative reviews. “Keep in mind that even negative feedback can be a blessing in disguise, when leveraged right.”
Featured image credit: Getty Images
