Photo Credit: Unsplash
The internet is diverse in many ways, one particular way is helping form connections. With the internet, people can connect despite location differences, so businesses can connect with customers and other businesses.
Businesses thrive on customer information about their experience with their products and services. Customers can share information about their experience by giving feedback through reviews. Reviews are so critical that they could easily influence the business in the long run.
Here are some specific ways in which reviews have an impact on businesses.
Increased Credibility
Customers are more inclined to interact with a trustworthy business due to their personal experience or information from second-hand sources like word of mouth or reviews. Reviews go a long way to divulge information about a company’s performance and the strengths and weaknesses of their products whilst offering product recommendations based on the reviewer’s experience. For example, this Plus500 review goes on to disclose information basic information such as the history of the business, as well as providing a breakdown of all the relevant areas with a score for each. This allows consumers to compare different sites and find the one most suited to them based on what they are looking for.
A business that is seen to have positive reviews would appeal to potential customers, whereas, a negative review can directly impact a business by affecting the customer’s trust in the capacity of the business, resulting in low visibility of the business and its services.
Improved Visibility
For a business to be successful, it needs to be seen. Customers interested in specific services will likely use search engines like Google to get information about businesses that offer those services. Aside from having information about their services, businesses rely on reviews to enhance their search engine optimisation (SEO).
If favourable, Mention states that the reviews help them rank higher on search engines. This also helps establish a sense of expertise; when customers feel that the services offered by a business are regarded as top-notch, it inspires reliability, which can lead to more positive reviews.
Competitive Advantage
Any business aims to be successful despite its rivals, especially in a saturated market environment. The reputation of a business usually precedes them, and Terakeet notes that a good reputation equals trustworthiness. Positive reviews are a critical part of a business’s success, and they need to be managed appropriately to ensure that they work in favour of the company and not against it.
Negative reviews are okay as they help to reveal weak areas that need to be worked on to improve customer experience. However, they need to be constantly monitored to keep them from escalating. Negative reviews, when left uncontrolled, can damage a business’s reputation, leading to revenue loss, which could be irreparable over time.
Reviews are powerful because of how easily they can influence businesses, but businesses need to focus on improving their services as this will help to boost their positive reviews while minimising their negative ones.
Businesses should also bear in mind that feedback from customers is essential. If most of the feedback is bad, customer satisfaction would likely be low, affecting existing customers and repelling potential ones. Positive reviews help with customer retention and make customer conversion easier.
