Reviews: Why You Need Them & How to Get More

Still sitting on the fence about including customer reviews on your website? You shouldn’t be!

Maybe you’re worried about bad reviews. But you can’t please all the people all the time, as the old adage goes. And it may surprise you to learn that some unfavourable reviews can actually be good for your business.

If you include bad reviews along with the good, you’re letting people know that the reviews you’re getting are genuine. And when you’re responsive and seen to fix an issue promptly and courteously, you’ll win new converts. According to Narms (The National Association for Retail Marketing Services), 95% of unhappy customers will return if an issue is resolved quickly and efficiently.

Of course, we’ve written about the benefits of adding customer reviews to your website before now. But pictures can be more powerful than words, and a new infographic from bloggers Websitebuilder.org (included below) makes a compelling case for businesses to adopt online reviews.

Use a trusted third party site and you can have star ratings shown with your organic listings. But you now need 150 unique reviews and a composite rating of 3.5 stars or higher to qualify for Sellers Ratings to be shown in your AdWords ads. So what’s the best way to increase the number of reviews you’re getting (apart, that is, from simply selling heaps more good stuff)?

There’s plenty of ways to get more of your customers providing reviews: at least 20 according to an old but still relevant eConsultancy article by Mike Essex (then at UK digital marketing agency Koozai).

Key amongst them is following up after a customer has made a purchase (timing is critical), asking for reviews on your product pages, and making it dead easy to leave a review.

If you already have your own reviews set up, you could be getting better results using an independent third party system. You won’t lose all the great reviews you already have when you convert to a new platform, but you will benefit from greater consumer trust, and increases in clickthrough and conversion rates.

Why should you care?

Who doesn’t want better conversion rates?

Don’t forget, people are going to talk about your brand and your products, regardless. By allowing them to provide online reviews you’re giving them the opportunity to engage with you, and you get some control over the conversation. And along with that, a chance to correct and fix things, to turn an unhappy customer into a delighted one.

If you’re interested in working with a Google-approved independent review site, give us a call for recommendations. We can help qualified sites get a free trial and, should the service prove a good fit, help you get attractive monthly rates.

Click here for more search marketing news.

The latest news about web marketing, SEO, PPC Advertising & Web Analytics. But only the stuff that matters from a New Zealand perspective. Delivered to your inbox each Monday.

If you found this useful, please tell your friends.