Rapid digitisation has brought drastic changes in how customers and businesses interact with each other. Today customers tend to provide feedback or a review on the products they buy or services they avail.
According to research by BrightLocal (2022), three out of four customers said they left an online review for a business. Online reviews have become instrumental in digital marketing and are crucial for a business’s growth, popularity and success. These are equally essential for prospective customers as well.
The following sections highlight the necessity of online reviews in today’s scenario.
What is the Importance of Online Reviews for Customers?
Reviews posted by customers can help others get an idea about the product and service. Consumers usually tend to believe the reviews posted by previous customers rather than what the brand says. This allows them to learn about how credible a business is and make informed decisions.
These are the reasons why feedbacks and reviews are crucial for future customers:
Helps in Getting Social Proof of Business
No matter how much a brand promotes its services and products, a future customer will rely on reviews before availing them. Reviews and feedback help customers to get social proof of the business they are opting for. This will allow them to have confidence in the business and its offerings.
Aids in Purchasing Decision
People today are increasingly using online platforms to make purchases. However, they tend to read the reviews and check the ratings before making any decision. This helps them to get an idea of how the experience has been with a specific brand for previous customers. It also allows them to assess the genuineness of the brands and whether it is worth it to avail of their products.
Online reviews are further crucial when one is making a big-ticket purchase.
Why are Online Reviews Important for Businesses?
Reviews and feedback from existing customers are important for building the reputation of your brand. It enables businesses to develop a strong relationship with their customer base that leads to better customer engagement, more sales and higher revenue generation.
These are the reasons why customer feedbacks are necessary for every business:
Helps to Increase Online Presence
A decent online presence is necessary for a brand’s success today. Your brand needs to get noticed, and there should be enough customer engagement to bring in more traffic and leads. Online reviews and feedback can help to kickstart a conversation about a business and its offerings. This can create a much-needed buzz for your brand (particularly if it’s an emerging one).
Reviews Help to Attract More Clients
Positive customer feedback can influence a potential client to avail of your service or buy your products. Almost all consumers today look for reviews before they buy something, book a ticket, or eat somewhere.
If your brand has substantial feedback from satisfied and happy clients, it can encourage many others to choose you.
Allows in Improving Business Offerings
Feedbacks aren’t always positive. Businesses also receive negative reviews from genuine customers. Brands can assess such feedback to find if there are any gaps in their services. They can tweak digital marketing strategies and work on improving the quality of their offerings. This can help in further making the business trustworthy and draw in more customers.
Improves SERP Ranking
Online reviews play a vital role in enhancing the search engine result page ranking. A higher rank ensures more visibility and traffic. Search engine giants like Google factor in online reviews while ranking sites. A brand with online reviews has a higher chance of securing top SERP ranking.
This is due to the fact that online reviews help to boost your business site’s E-A-T (expertise, authority and trustworthiness). Higher E-A-T signals Google that your brand has a higher reputation.
So, more reviews will drive up business site ranking and bring in more traffic and leads.
Parting Thought
There are multiple platforms where customers today provide online reviews to businesses. These mostly include Google My Business, Facebook, Yelp and others. While positive reviews can catapult a business’s growth and profit, negative ones shouldn’t be ignored, as they can impact brand reputation.
To stay competitive, brands need to take online reviews seriously and encourage their customers to provide reviews.
