Move over, product reviews.
Product reviews tend to get all the attention. While they’re excellent for increasing on-site conversion and improving customer trust (among many other things), you shouldn’t forget about site reviews.
The New York Times recently wrote an article about why online consumers should look beyond product reviews and also consider site reviews, or reviews about the company’s overall service, when buying on the internet.
The article explains that knowing how a company treats its customers is just as valuable as knowing the quality of a product.
While the value of product reviews is undeniably important, the article does make a good point that reviews on a brand’s customer service are just as important.
Site reviews offer a way for potential customers to research you and receive trusted opinions about your service and brand. Without site reviews, you’re risking that they may turn to your competition.
Whether yours is a local business or eCommerce site, site reviews are important part of both global and local SEO strategies.
Here are just a few reasons why every business should use site reviews.
Site reviews build trust
You know how it goes, a customer is right on the verge of picking up the phone, signing up for a demo, or submitting their email, and a little seed of doubt creeps in.
The slightest hint of doubt can jerk them off their path to purchase and send them away from your site.
You need to make sure you’re doing everything you can to build their trust.
No matter how much time you spend trying to get more traffic, it doesn’t mean anything if people who visit your store don’t trust you enough to buy.
You want to know that without a doubt, potential shoppers researching a purchase will come out convinced that you’re the better brand than your competitor’s.
And how do you do that?
Site reviews.
Look at how Buck Wholesale uses customer testimonials to show how they don’t just have great products, but awesome service.
Chances are, you and your competitors are selling pretty similar products or services.
Branding and marketing can set you apart in some ways, but in the end, it boils down to trust.
Your customers have to trust that you’re the best choice.
You work hard to make your customers happy, so show off your great service with site reviews that serve as testimonials to prove why potential customers should trust you over the competition.
Site Reviews Excel at Re-targeting Potential Shoppers
Picture this – you’ve got a campaign on Facebook advertising your products. You’re doing great at getting people to your site, but then they leave and don’t convert.
If a potential shopper saw an advertisement for a product, came to your site, and then left, it’s likely they just didn’t find what they were looking for and left.
But the interest was there.
In order to build off this interest, use site reviews to increase their trust in your brand. If they see another Facebook ad, this time with a review of your amazing service and quick delivery, they’re statistically more likely to return and convert than if they saw another ad for another one of your products.
Why does this Facebook advertising strategy work? Getting specific is good in the beginning stages when you want to draw customers in, but if you need to re-target them to get them to convert, it’s better to focus on your brand overall than on a single product.
Take a look at the below examples. The first ad reviews specific products, while the second ad reviews the store itself.
In advertising, site reviews can be used to get customers back to your site, not just to a specific product.
Site Reviews Build Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Happy customers love you. Customers who love you tell their friends about you. Their friends shop with you. Your traffic and sales grow.
There you go, word-of-mouth marketing in a nutshell.
Check out brands like Zappos who have made customer satisfaction a top priority. Happy customers spread the word to their friends and family, and this trusted word-of-mouth marketing quickly snowballed to bring Zappos more and more customers.
Site reviews allow you to improve your word-of-mouth marketing, powered by happy customers.
Which leads us to our next tip…
Site Reviews Help You Make Customers Happy
(And Happy Customers = Loyal Customers)
You can install all the coolest tools and try all the trendiest new tactics, but if you aren’t effectively measuring customer satisfaction, you’ll never be able to build up a solid base of loyal customers.
Site reviews allow you to identify pain points with your customers. They can be used as a valuable method for measuring customer satisfaction and learning how to make customers happy.
In this case, it’s really important to pay attention to negative reviews. Use them as a vehicle for feedback and open conversation with your customers. The best thing to do is to respond to your unhappy customers and see how you can make them happy.
You can gain a better understanding of what your customers want and how you can serve them better by getting feedback on their shopping experience.
Site Reviews Are a Valuable Type of UGC
User-generated content like reviews are an amazing way to really understand how your customers feel about your brand, their concerns, and what they love about you.
Additionally, using user-generated content in marketing helps to drive traffic, boost on-site conversions, and seriously improve your social marketing.
But most importantly, UGC gets customers emotionally invested. It encourages them to engage with your brand and build a relationship with you.
UGC allows customers to connect with you, to feel like their feedback is valuable. UGC is the path to personal relationships with your customers, and site reviews are one way to do this.
Conclusion
Site reviews are important to use in conjunction with product reviews as well as on their own. Think of them as your own personal emblem of trust. Show off how much your customers love you to earn new customers and sales.
