Online reviews have become a part of everyday purchase decisions and social media interaction. Still, business owners and companies have a hard time with reviews. The potential pitfalls and not too obvious numbers of returns make it hard to see the benefits. Although the paybacks, with the right reviews at hand, can make all the difference in the company’s marketing and brand efforts. Here are just a few examples of how online reviews can support your team:

Why Online Reviews Are Beneficial

1. Making the customer’s voice heard
   When we involve our customers by asking for their opinion we show them our interest and how much we value their opinion. That makes them feel more connected to our business and, put simply, connection encourages sales and brand advocacy.
2. Learning from our customers
   Reviews offer a great learning experience. From what our customers say or don’t say, we can find room for improvement, keep doing things that have shown success and find opportunities that come up through what our customers value. Thus, we can change our goals and strategy accordingly to gain more positive traction.
3. Learning more about our competitor
   The learning opportunities from reviews are numerous, but next to learning from our customers, the second most interesting aspect is learning more about our competitors. From the online reviews, we see on our competitors’ site we also get a good understanding of what has proven successful for them or what our potential customers are searching for and not getting. This giving us the advantage to use for our own product or service. After all, we are all doing our competitor analysis, right?
4. Support marketing efforts
   Through reviews, we are able to extract valuable information to learn from for our marketing. Reading and analyzing the review gives a better understanding of the keywords our customers use to describe a service or product. If a system of words develops, this can help in branding and marketing more efficiently. In addition, keywords used in reviews can help visibility on social media and in search engines, thus increasing potential leads.
5. Increasing sales
   Research has shown that reviews escalate sales of the reviewed product rapidly. The percentage most likely depends on many factors, but it has been proven that having positive reviews can boost sales significantly. After all, don’t we all look at those star ratings when deciding on our purchase?

So, knowing about all the benefits of online reviews, are you still willing to sacrifice these opportunities?

Author: Magdalena Schürmann

Her passion for organization and solving problems benefits Magdalena’s work as a consultant and in coaching private clients as well as small businesses in diverse areas connected to work life – from job changes to social media marketing. In her business, ArbeitsLeben Magdalena often helps clients to reduce stress and gain more balance through organization and personal and professional coaching. Her goal is to educate, to encourage, and to empower her clients.

You can connect with Magdalena through her social media channels:
Twitter: @MagdalenaSchrma
LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/magdalenaschuermann
Facebook: ArbeitsLeben