Why Online Review Monitoring Matters
How customers perceive you and what they say about your business do matter. To this extent, online reviews have a lot of heft and can either make or break a business. Imagine searching for businesses that offer the same products and services. What could possibly act as the tiebreaker? Consumers are more likely to turn to online reviews to determine which establishment they should pick.
97% of consumers read online reviews prior to visiting a business while 90% of buyers turn to reading reviews prior to making a purchase. Three out of four buyers claim that they trust online reviews like they do personal recommendations.
Having a few reviews is also better than having none at all. Even if you only have five reviews, the likelihood of your product being purchased rises to 270% compared to having no reviews.
These numbers indicate that reviews can impact not just your revenue, but also the growth or decline of your customer base. Online review monitoring enables you to be more proactive with your online reviews, thus improving how you engage with your customers.
The Importance of Online Review Monitoring
Online reviews make your business more visible online.
Online review monitoring pertains to a business taking control of what is being said about their brand. It involves monitoring and analyzing customer reviews across top business review sites, as well as responding to these reviews. Generating or collecting reviews is also part of this process.
In today’s increasingly connected marketplace, review sites make it possible for more consumers to talk about your business. Reviews also allow consumers to learn more about your business, thus emphasizing the value of online review management.
Consumers’ buying decisions are largely influenced by customer reviews.
Positive reviews, on the one hand, act like a magnet for potential consumers, with 72% of people saying that they trust a business more if they have positive reviews. Another 72% will take action only after they’ve read a positive review.
On the other hand, negative reviews can put off as much as 82% of consumers. This, in turn, can seriously affect your revenue, with a single negative review causing a business to lose an estimated 30 customers.
While negative reviews can happen to anyone, it can be used as an opportunity to let consumers have a positive experience. How you respond to reviews, whether good or bad, can also affect how consumers perceive your business.
When you’re visible online, customer reviews aren’t the only thing you need to consider. 97% of consumers do read your responses to reviews, with 46% of them always reading responses, a significant increase compared to the 29% in 2018. Businesses that respond to negative reviews are more likely to be visited by up to 45% of consumers.
Optimizing Online Reviews
Customer reviews do matter, and you can maximize these reviews to grow your business.
Reviews911 is an online review tracking service that equips business owners with the right tools to monitor and collect more customer reviews. This easy-to-use online review monitoring platform helps businesses generate, monitor, and respond to customer reviews accordingly.
Engage your customers and watch your business grow. Get in touch with a Reviews911 representative today.