It’s sad when a customer leaves a negative review about your business. What should you do to improve the online reviews? Online reviews its powerful, as they can make or break your business. 

Online reviews play a crucial role in shaping your business reputation and can influence customer decisions. Many companies struggle to manage their online reviews effectively and efficiently. Customer management is essential for gaining good reviews on your products and services.

Are you finding it challenging to boost your ratings in this competitive market? Or are you struggling to understand how to turn a negative review into an opportunity for improvement?

You’ll get an elaborate idea for addressing the issues regarding reviews. We provide helpful tips to improve your online reputation and explore proven strategies so that you can generate more customer reviews. 

By the end of this article, you will have a clear roadmap to improving your online reviews and turning them into a strategic asset that can drive business success.

What is an online review? 

What is an Online Review

Basically, an online review is written feedback that the customer submits about their experience with a business or a product. Reviews are a rating system that is denoted by the stars, numerical scores, and comments that are written.

The main purpose of online reviews is to provide feedback to the business as well as to the customers. Review is considered one of the decision-making tools that helps in delivering the quality and reliability of the product or services before purchasing it.

There are different review websites, like Yelp, Trustpilot, and Tripadvisor, which are dedicated to collecting and displaying customer reviews of a wide range of businesses and services.

The platforms include detailed categories of restaurant reviews or hotel reviews. Certain platforms, such as Google My Business, allow customers to leave reviews directly on business listings.

These reviews are more valued as they appear in search results and maps. Most social Media Platforms also have a feature review and rating system. Customers leave reviews on the business pages or posts, which provides immediate and accessible feedback.

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Why Are Online Reviews Important?

Why are online review important

Online reviews play a vital role in the 21st century. They impact various aspects of a business’s performance and reputation. People shop on the web for almost everything, from mobile phones to dental appointments. 

It’s very rare to make a purchase decision without reading the online reviews. According to the data from 2016, almost 90% of shoppers read at least one review before deciding to visit a business.

If the review is negative, people avoid visiting that business. People trust online reviews as they help them make the right decision as they represent real-life experiences.

Here, we will provide an in-depth look at why online reviews are important:

1. Drive Sales

Social proof refers to the psychological phenomenon where people make judgments and decide according to the actions of others. People who have made some purchases that are similar to buying the same products have more confidence. This leads to an increase in the sales of the company.

Basically, people search for proof from other customers before buying the products or services they are willing to buy. Reviews are one trusted platform other than marketing materials.

2. SEO Benefits 

A search engine like Google uses various factors to help determine its ranking; one important factor is the volume and quality of online reviews.

A business that has positive reviews can rank higher in the local search results, which helps attract organic traffic to its websites. Businesses that are physically located can improve their local SEO by using GMP(Google Business Profile).

Reviews contribute to the local search algorithms as they help provide fresh and relevant content that the search engine uses to increase your business’s popularity and reliability. Focus on keywords related to your store’s products and add more content related to your products on your website.

3. Helps in Building Trust 

The e-commerce market has increased rapidly. There are many brands in each category, and there is a way to verify quality and reliability. It’s quite hard to know who trusts you.

Reviews are considered as those that exist in e-commerce platforms.  Customers reading dozens of reviews that indicate good quality and services help create an online reputation that customers can trust, as most of them buy products from the reviews that are displayed.

4. Influence on Purchasing Decisions 

The customer decision-making process while purchasing products online is complicated. Among many buyers, most shoppers put more time and energy into evaluating the products, reading reviews, and comparing them with one another before making a final decision. 

Reviews are really important, which helps in making decisions and helps the customers to get a better idea regarding the products. Social media is considered an important tool that helps in providing visibility.

5. Online Reviews help in Problem-Solving

All reviews are not positive. Some of them are positive, and some are negative business is considered as perfect. Reviews help in identifying the need for improvement. There are some of the negative reviews which are written by an angry customer.

If you see multiple negative reviews with similar complaints, you might face a problem that is worth addressing. Addressing the negative comments usually changes customers’ mindsets about purchasing products.

Tips to Improve Your Online Reputation?

If you have a poor online reputation, you can improve it in various ways. By increasing the quantity and quality of online reviews, you can significantly improve the reputation of your business. Here are some of the tips on how you can encourage more customers to share their feedback.

I.Be Mindful of the Customer Experience

If you wish for a good review then you must make sure that your customers have a good experience regarding your products. Happy customers will ultimately reflect your brand. Don’t worry, negative reviews also offer solutions so that you can improve your business.

Begin by looking at the recent feedback that you have received. Address the most common concepts, find the areas that are needed for improvement, and deliver products or services that amaze your customers.

II. Monitor the Reviews

Most people look at the average star ratings while considering either buying a product or service. That’s why you need to maintain your ratings.

It might be quite frustrating as your ratings keep fluctuating, but you must notice a pattern. If you don’t have enough time to go through each and every review yourself, there are certain tools and reports that you can use within the review platforms.

This solution alerts customers when they mention certain keywords or provide a low rating. This allows you to solve a problem before it becomes prevalent. 

III. Follow up on the Negative Reviews

Nobody likes getting the negative reviews, but you need to face the negative reviews. Someone out of many people will always be unhappy with your products.

It might be due to the person’s pickiness or something that is out of your control. You need to address the negative feedback.

You must have thought to leave a review and try to ignore it. You must be professional while addressing the reviews and shouldn’t blame your customers.

Be sorry for their bad experience, offer a way to resolve it, and provide suggestions that they might contact you offline to bring the issues out of the public eye.

IV. Personalize your Responses to Customer Reviews

Most businesses set up an automated response system for every review that they get, whether it’s good or bad. The study shows that customers are more responsive to personalized surveys.

No one wants to get the same automated responses that everyone has; there must be something new rather than others. Rather than providing the same response to everyone personalized the responses that are based on the feedback which you receive.

This practice helps boost credibility and make your customers engage with your brands. This will also let the search engine see you in a better light as you are engaging with your customers regularly.

Identify the best way to get more reviews. Ask your customers to write reviews, as many of them forget to. Make sure to educate your customers on how to leave reviews.

They might not have an idea of which website to use for reviews. This helps you be recognized on online platforms.

V. Take the feedback of the customer seriously.

It’s essential to read and reply to a review. You cannot actively listen to it, but you can address the customers’ queries. It’s easy to be defensive when you see a bad review, but what if they are extremely wrong?

Keep this in mind and try to make them happy. Be cool, and try looking only at honest feedback. If the complaint keeps on arising, then you need to do something to improve the customer journey.

Take this seriously as this problem needs to be fixed if it arises in the future.

How to Drive More Customer Reviews?

If you’re looking at how you can boost your number of reviews, there are basically a few methods on how you can use it:

1. Simplify the Review Process

Make it easy for the customers to provide a review. Complex processes can prevent customers from providing feedback. You can use feasible ways, like you can offer direct links to review pages in emails, on receipts, or in a mobile app. 

You can use QR codes on the receipts or on the business cards, which leads to reviewing your pages directly. You can place a QR on your reception desk. This leads to collecting more reviews from customers, and you can figure out the issues and solve them smoothly.

2. Claim and Update your Google Business Profile 

If your online profile is stronger, you can attract more buyers. There isn’t any better way rather than start to update your Google Business Profile(formerly Google My Business).

This is important cause most of the clients search for various services on Google before landing on your page.

It’s time-consuming, so be sure to add all the relevant information for your business, like your phone number, address, products or services, and pricing.

Google basically focuses on transparent and consistent business, so if Google sees the recently updated information, it can drive clients to your business.

3. Send Customer Surveys 

Surveys can be a great way to collect customer feedback. They basically focus on social media customer service.

After the purchase process, you can normally send an email asking the customers to rate factors such as ease of navigation, checkout process, shipping speed, and the quality of the products.

If the customers provide good feedback, you can display it on your site. In the comment section, you can quickly add the collection of reviews from the surveys to show off.

4. Offer Small Perks for reviews. 

You can’t pay for the positive customer reviews. The one and only condition is that it should be only for providing good reviews. You can encourage the customers to provide feedback based on their experience.

You can provide a coupon, a voucher, or a discount on the next order. This encourages the customers to buy more from your platform.

5. Maximize Your Impact on Social Media

A good way to draw reviews on your page is by making a good presence on social media. Identify the platforms where most of the customers spend time.

The popular platforms are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. You can set a strategy that involves alternating between informative posts and seeding customer reviews between them.

This helps in providing value to your audience and can show off social media proof by telling others that your business can be trusted. You never know when someone’s feedback can influence the buying behavior of another. Make sure you post and comment time and again if its possible.

6. Make Your website mobile-friendly

Nowadays, people prefer mobile phones rather than laptops and PCs. They are quick and easy to access, and individuals often scroll through their phones to pass the time while commuting or while on breaks.

This is considered one of the unbreakable rules that you must keep in mind while you’re sending the review request.

So, while you send an email, make sure the link easily converts to mobile platforms. People want to provide a review, but if they keep on being continuously Zoom in and out, this might change your minds.

7. Ask for a review at the right time  

You need to find out the wrong and right time to ask for the reviews of the customers. The interesting part is you need to ask for the reviews when the memory of the customers is fresh in their minds. This can be done by email. SMS or any other contact channel according to the preferences of the customers.

Final Words 

As we’ve explored throughout this guide, online reviews are more than just comments left by customers. They are considered a crucial element of your business’s online presence and reputation.

You can manage your online reviews by actively managing and improving them. By building trust with potential customers and improving your search engine visibility, you can gain more valuable insights into how your business is perceived.

Implement the strategies outlined in this article, beginning today, to see the real impact on your business’s online reputation.

FAQs

What is the best online review site?

The best online sites depend on your business type. Google Reviews is widely used and trusted, Yelp is for local businesses, and Trustpilot is best for e-commerce and service-based businesses.

How do I write an online review?

For writing an effective online review, you need to provide honest feedback, kindly mention details about your experience, and rate the service or the product fairly. Always be constructive whether the review is positive or negative.

How important are online reviews?

Online reviews are important as they impact a business’s reputation, help customers purchase products or services, and affect search engine rankings. They’re also important for VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol ) services like Dialaxy.

Can we trust online reviews?

Not all online reviews can be trusted; some are genuine and can be trusted, while some are biased or fake. It’s essential to identify the patterns in the reviews section and kindly check for multiple sources to balance the reviews.

How do I collect online reviews?

The best way to collect reviews online is by asking the customer directly after they purchase the products by using the automated review request tools or providing incentives through discounts and loyalty programs. Collecting online reviews is essential as it helps you to sell your products and services.

Can I trust Google reviews?

Google reviews can be trusted, but the reviews must be filtered accordingly, categorize the fake and real reviews by reading the range of reviews you can categorize it.If each and every customer has the same concern then you need to address it and solve it accordingly.

Can Google detect fake reviews?

Google uses algorithms and manual review processes for detecting and removing fake reviews, but some of them might be missed while evaluating. If there are any suspicious reviews, you can send them to Google for investigation.

Will Google remove fake reviews?

Yes, Google can remove reviews that violate the policies; this includes fake and misleading reviews. Businesses can report those reviews that are fake to Google and Google will solve your problem accordingly.

Prasanta Raut

Prasanta, founder and CEO of Dialaxy, is redefining SaaS with creativity and dedication. Focused on simplifying sales and support, he drives innovation to deliver exceptional value and shape a new era of business excellence.

Prasanta, founder and CEO of Dialaxy, is redefining SaaS with creativity and dedication. Focused on simplifying sales and support, he drives innovation to deliver exceptional value and shape a new era of business excellence.