Introduction
In today’s digital age, the reputation of a brand is heavily influenced by its online presence.
According to TrustPulse, over 99.9% of customers read reviews when they shop online, while 60% of consumers believe the number of reviews a business has is crucial when deciding whether to use its services.
These numbers prove that online reviews are more relevant than ever before and that businesses should pay more attention to how they receive and manage online reviews.
In the following article, you’ll learn more about the importance of online reviews, how they impact your online brand reputation and how you can better handle reputation management.
Online reviews: definition and main platforms
Online customer reviews are feedback provided by customers about their experience with a business. The content of the reviews can be about the product or service offered by the business or about the customer experience with said business. Online reviews also include ratings, measured based on a scale from 1 to 5 stars.
Online reviews are shared publicly on the internet, whether on the business website or on a specialized review platform.
The most popular online review platforms are:
- Google Reviews: these reviews appear in Google search results and on Google Maps. When users look up a business on the search engine, Google reviews are usually the first ones that they’re going to see.
- Yelp: this platform hosts reviews for service-based businesses, most of them being local businesses from the hospitality industry.
- Trustpilot: this website allows users to write reviews for a wide range of businesses, from e-commerce to services.
- Amazon: the most powerful platform for product reviews, influencing purchasing decisions on the world’s largest online marketplace.
- TripAdvisor: used in the travel and hospitality industry. On this platform, users can share their thoughts on hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions.
Why online reviews are important for your brand reputation
Online reviews play a critical role in your online brand reputation.
If you want to have an impeccable online presence, you should make sure that you have as many authentic (and positive, if possible) customer reviews as you can get on multiple platforms.
However, keep in mind that receiving all these reviews won’t have any real impact if you don’t choose a review management software to monitor your online reviews.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s go back to our main topic for today.
Here are 4 aspects you should consider when it comes to the importance of online reviews for your brand reputation.
- First impressions of potential customers
More often than not, online reviews are the first point of contact between a business and a potential customer.
People who are interested in your business, but haven’t made up their mind yet will want to gather as much information as possible about the quality of your offerings and your customer service.
In this situation, it’s detrimental to make sure that you don’t only have qualitative online reviews, but a decent quantity as well.
If you don’t understand why the numbers of the customer reviews matters, think about the following scenario: if you had to choose between a business with a 4.9 rating from 5 reviews or a business with a 4.7 ratings from 150 reviews, which one would you buy from?
- Trust and credibility
Online reviews are incredibly significant when it comes to the way your business is perceived.
As research tells us that 49% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family, we recognize that getting positive online reviews can almost be viewed as a marketing strategy.
Positive feedback from other customers serves as a testament to the quality of products or services, reassuring potential clients of the reliability of your business.
But even if you ever get a 1-star review, you should know that you don’t have to panic as long as you have a good strategy for managing the situation and responding to negative feedback.
- Feedback for improvement
Talking about negative reviews, you have to acknowledge that they have a positive side as well, because they provide invaluable insights into the customer sentiment.
While they might be unpleasant to receive, 1-star reviews can give you necessary pieces of information that you can use to better both your offerings and your customer service.
By using a review management service like FeedCheck, you can filter and see all the negative online reviews your business has with a simple click of a button.
After you identify potential customer complaints, you can efficiently address areas needing enhancement, ultimately improving customer satisfaction.
- Competitive advantage
Any entrepreneur or marketing specialist knows that competitor analysis is an integral part of any effective business strategy.
But did you know that it applies to online reviews as well?
Monitoring competitor reviews can give you a strategic advantage, as it allows you to identify market trends and customer preferences, uncover strengths and weaknesses of other businesses in your industry and, overall, gain competitive intelligence.
If you’ve never monitored competitor reviews before, we suggest you try a reputation management tool, such as FeedCheck.
FeedCheck offers an accessible feature that allows you to gather online reviews from your competitors by simply copying and pasting a link.
The best part? You can compare their reviews to yours and see what advantages and disadvantages you have over your competitors.
How to manage online reviews
When you start getting hundreds or even thousands of reviews, managing them manually is not an option anymore.
But a reputation management tool can streamline the process of collecting and managing online reviews.
These tools typically include features like automated review requests, review monitoring, and analytics to track your brand’s reputation over time. They enable you to respond to reviews promptly, demonstrating to customers that you value their feedback.
An excellent review management software will provide capabilities such as review monitoring, review collection, support for unlimited users, review filtering by various criteria, and the ability to generate custom reports.
Wait.
Is it possible that I just described FeedCheck, a review management software that does all the things listed above (and more!) and gives you a personalized demo to see if review monitoring is the right fit for your business?
Maybe I did.
But you should check it out and convince yourself.
Conclusions
As technology is evolving, online reviews become more and more relevant for your brand reputation.
They serve as the modern-day word of mouth, influencing potential customers’ first impressions, building trust and credibility, and providing invaluable customer insights.
To make the most of your online customer reviews, use a review management service that fits your business needs and that allows you to monitor, manage and analyze the customer feedback you receive online.
Contact FeedCheck today and get a personalized demo, based on your business needs and objectives.