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Will You Make Consumers' "Nice" List This Holiday Season?

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It’s the holiday season and business is booming. No matter the industry, this time of year keeps everyone busy, especially businesses offering goods and services. One way to ensure that your business captures a fair share of the market demand is to review your online reputation and make moves toward improving public opinion.

According to a study conducted by BrightLocal, the “2016 Local Consumer Review Survey”, 9/10 consumers determine whether they can trust a business after reading 10 or fewer online reviews. The purpose of this survey was to explore…

…how consumers read and use online reviews.  The information contained in this survey helps businesses and digital marketing agencies qualify the value of online reviews and how reviews impact consumers’ opinions and actions when searching for local businesses. The findings of this survey are specifically concerned with reviews for local business services and not general product reviews.

Below you will find a list of eye opening statistics exposed by the results of this survey. 

  • 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation
  • 7 out of 10 consumers will leave a review for a business if they're asked to
  • 90% of consumers read less than 10 reviews before forming an opinion about a business
  • 54% of people will visit the website after reading positive reviews
  • 73% of consumers think that reviews older than 3 months are no longer relevant
  • 74% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more
  • 58% of consumers say that the star rating of a business is most important

You may be thinking, “So, what does this mean for me? What should I do to boost my ratings?”

If you pay close attention to the second bullet in the list you will see that 7 out of 10 consumers will leave a review for a business if they are asked to. Simply asking happy customers to leave your business a review is the first step toward boosting your online reputation.

Provide your consumers with a simple way to rate their experience. Whether that involves asking the customer to rate their experience during the checkout process, or making a point to follow up after the transaction occurs through an email request, be sure you make it clear what you would like your customer to do. Take it a step further and get creative by offering deals or incentives to customers who leave a review. The possibilities are endless.

While many will look to reviews on offsite platforms (Google My Business, Yelp, etc.) when making purchasing decisions, it's also incredibly advantageous to incorporate reviews onto your website, especially if you run an eCommerce website. For online shoppers, product specific reviews can be the determining factor when it comes to completing the checkout process.

Global Reach's own, SiteViz Commerce, comes fully equipped with the ability to collect and display reviews for each product you offer. After customers receive their shipment, SiteViz Commerce is smart enough to automatically generate and send out an email review request for the specific product purchased. Website administrators can then moderate and decide whether to display the review on the live website. Anyone with eCommerce can activate and utilize this feature, so if you are interested in learning more about it, please reach out to support@globalreach.com.

As a final note, it’s important to tread carefully when collecting consumer opinion. You do not want to upset your consumers or make them feel obligated to rate their experience. Make sure they know you value their business and understand that you are only asking for these reviews in an effort to improve service quality and spread the word about your business.

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