Last Updated on April 17, 2020 by
In today’s world of communication, an increasing number of people look for, read, and create reviews about the products, services and companies that they have done business with. That’s not to say that all reviews are created equal in the sense that every review is going to be positive; but they can be absolutely great for any business, no matter the region on industry they’re in.
For some that have not yet quite bought into the benefits of online review management, and the relatively quick impact they can have on their business; good or bad. For that reason, we’re going to highlight 4 reasons why investing in this type of digital marketing is probably always a good idea.
1) Consumers Are Impacted By Online Reviews; Either Positively Or Negatively
Whether you realize this fact or not, the truth is that consumers of the products and services being offered online are more interested in reading and writing reviews more than they ever have. Evidence of this isn’t simply the fact that people really appreciate being heard, but it’s also seen in how companies like Yelp has grown to tremendous heights; so much so that they rank higher in the search engines often times than the businesses and brand’s that have a listing and reviews in their system.
Additionally, companies like Amazon not only rank very well as well, but the reviews that people leave on their website are often times not just read and appreciated by people purchasing on Amazon.com… but even before people purchase an item in the store they might go to Amazon to read online reviews first.
So yes, having an online review management strategy and monitoring in place is extremely important and valuable to business owners.
2) Businesses With Online Reviews, Good Ones, Appear To Be Better Than Their Competitors
Since we’re seeing product and service review rating appear in the search engines, without even clicking a link… not only do those graphic catch the attention of the searcher, but they also give the impression that the SERP listing appears to be more talked about and popular that others with no reviews or ratings. That might not seem like a huge deal, but think about a keyword term that you’d like to rank for but one of your competitors that ranks just below you has their review score in the SERPs, but your website does not. It’s likely that the searcher will click your competitors link instead of yours.
Thinking about that happening just once or twice doesn’t seem like a big deal, but many websites that have one page with reviews ranking in the SERPs often times has many pages and products that appear that way. So if you multiply the number of pages they have ranking on page one with that added attention grabbing feature, a website with none could literally be losing on 100s if not 1,000s of new business opportunities each month.
3) Simply Put… Online Reviews Management Works!
As described above, plenty of case studies have shown that having reviews for your products and services increases the likelihood that a visitor on your website will convert; and obviously more conversions means more business and revenue.
Some of the companies that have the most success with this aspect of digital marketing are those that work with outside vendors to manage their online reviews OR they have personnel on their marketing team that is interested in and paying attention to their online reviews.
4) By Managing Your Online Reviews, You’re Able To Protect & Represent Your Brand By Responding To Reviewers
This might be one of the most overlooked benefits to paying attention to internet reviews that are left online about brand, product, or services. When a business is not overlooking and/or ignoring their reviews online, they’re in a great position to respond to reviews when necessary.
For example, if you owned a restaurant and each week you noticed a loyal customer often walking down the street and telling passerby that you have some of the best food in town. Would you not be interested in making sure that the opinion of that customer does not change by always making sure that their experience at your restaurant was one that was great; even on occasion giving them complementary items and other perks? Any smart restaurant owner would.
One of the beauties of monitoring your online reputation and reviews is that you can express your appreciation for customers in response to what they say about your business. Additionally, when there is a bad or negative review about your business, if you’re paying attention to what’s being said… you can address or correct the matter. Maybe the review is fake or is a complete lie? It would take much more effort to get that bad review removed, than it would to invite the reviewer to contact you directly to get the matter resolved; even if it didn’t happen. Why is that important?
Simply put… it allows anyone who reads that review see that you’re a business that is interested in taking care of their customers; which is something most consumers greatly appreciate.
Do You Understand Why We Feel This Is An Important Part Of Digital Marketing Yet?
We’ve highlighted only 4 reasons we believe and remind people about how important online reviews management can be. Yes it takes time. Yes it can be tedious. Yes it can be frustrating. And for those of you that are thinking about working with a vendor to take care of this aspect of digital marketing for you… Yes it can be “expensive”.
However, a well thought out and implemented internet review management expert will make sure that you get the ROI you need and deserve as a result of giving this form of marketing the priority it deserves. Are you wondering what the next steps are for your business and how you can experience some of the benefits that come from this form of online marketing? Feel free to contact us, and we’ll take a look at what your wants and needs are… followed by sending you in the right direction. Nomvo!