The Importance of Good Reviews

On December 7, 2015

There’s no question about it – online reviews are a great tool for any business to establish a viable web presence. Reviews can increase sales, improve rankings, and create more marketing avenues. But the most important thing reviews can do is engage customers and therefore, breed more reviews. The only catch is that not just any review will benefit your company. Only positive, relevant, and authentic reviews will do the trick, and here’s why.

According to BrightLocal’s 2015 Local Consumer Review Survey, each year there are more consumers reading a company’s reviews before doing business with them. Just in 2015, the survey showed that 92% of consumers read online reviews. Naturally, while the amount of consumers reading reviews increases on a yearly basis, the amount of consumers not reading reviews decreases, and it’s doing so pretty quickly. According to the same study, in 2011 29% of consumers did not read reviews, by 2014 the amount went down to 12%, and this year, it’s at 8%.

More important than having a potential customer read an online review, is having quality reviews from which that customer will form an opinion on. According to BrightLocal’s survey, 40% of consumers said that they form an opinion from reading one to three reviews. Additionally, 73% said they need to read one to six reviews before forming an opinion. Based on these numbers, we can deduct that while it’s not important to have thousands of reviews on your company, it is integral to have an overall good business rating.

Recency is also another key factor about online reviews. Since a good amount of consumers seem to only read anywhere from one to six reviews, it is essential for your company to closely monitor the recency of its reviews. Recency comes into play not only because of the visibility of the online reviews, but also because it plays a big role when a potential customer forms an opinion. According to BrightLocal’s survey, 44% of consumers stated they take into consideration a review that has been written within one month, while 69% consider a three month old review still relevant. Only 31% say that reviews that are older than three months are relevant.

Lastly, authenticity is key when gathering online reviews. BrightLocal’s survey shows that 80% of consumers will trust an online review as if it were a personal recommendation as long as the review seems genuine. Authentic online reviews will undoubtedly help your company to engage potential customers. A personal touch will lower consumers’ fears of reading fake reviews, motivate those consumers to do business with your company, and ultimately breed more reviews from your happy customers.

How to Say Thank You to Your Customers

By LinkNow Media

On November 12, 2015

In Blog

A customer base is the oxygen of business. You simply cannot exist without it. As a small business owner, you should not be afraid to say thank you to the life source of your company. Demonstrating your gratitude through actions is a much more impactful way through which you can show that you care about your customers. Here are a few ways to thank your clientele.

Educate your customers and help them obtain new “insider” knowledge of your niche. As an expert in your field, you should make an effort to share your expertise with your most loyal patrons. The more your clients know about your industry, the more they will come to understand the value of the service or product your provide.

Bring attention to your customers in an online setting. Contact and thank customers directly over Twitter, Facebook, or other social media platforms. Display your gratitude for their business by trying to make your message as sincere and personal as possible. Go as a far as featuring them on your business website or wall to make them feel truly valued.

Give back. Channel this appreciation for your most loyal customers into something that will benefit the world. Reach out to a select few of your clients and offer to make a donation on their behalf to whichever cause they would like to support. As always, the most memorable customer appreciation programs are the most creative.

Host a customer party. Invite a group of passionate customers to a fun event such as a boat cruise, picnic, barbecue or anything you can think of! Not only will this solidify the loyalty of your most devoted customers, but it serves as a promotional tool as they will be sure to tell their friends and family about the great time they had at your event.

As we talked about before, customer feedback should not be ignored. There is no better way than showing customers that you value their input than actually implementing their recommendations.

Refer business to your customers. Demonstrate your gratitude by finding opportunities to send business their way.

However you choose to thank your customers, be sure that you are being both thoughtful and sincere!

A Few Neat Ways to Utilize Customer Feedback

By LinkNow Media

On October 23, 2015

In Blog

It wasn’t too long ago when the process of getting customer feedback was burdensome, time-consuming, and often futile. Fortunately for businesses, the world of customer feedback has transformed tremendously in recent years with the advent of social media and smartphones. Today, more than ever, there are far fewer barriers standing between business owners and their patrons. With all this feedback, you may be wondering how to best utilize it. Here is a list featuring a few awesome ways that you can use this feedback to impress your customers and improve your business strategies.

Tweak your product or service based on information you procured directly from your customer base. The adage “the customer is always right,” may be trite, but it rings true here. Any business owner will tell you how difficult it is to get in the mind of a consumer. Therefore, heed the advice of customers that are willing to provide it, both positive and negative. Your customers will be ecstatic that you are taking the initiative, to not only listen, but act upon their suggestions.

Use all the feedback you get from your customers as a tool to motivate and inspire your employees. You can achieve this by placing all this positive feedback on a physical wall in the workplace or simply by sharing digitally with your employees. Doing so, will help show workers that they are having a positive effect on people’s lives. Furthermore, you can create an online page, as we did here, that features all this feedback, demonstrating the value of your service or product to a prospective customer.

If customers do, in fact, take the time to give constructive and useful feedback, you should reward them. In turn, this motivates customers to share their thoughts and provide you with helpful information. The reward can range from giving them an exclusive sneak-peak of an upcoming product, sending them a t-shirt, or writing them a personalized letter.

Lastly, use your imagination. These are just a few helpful tips, but don’t be afraid to try out something completely unique. Most importantly, always value any feedback a customer is willing to provide.

LinkNow Media | Customer Reviews

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Author: LinkNow Media (Page 2 of 2)

The Importance of Good Reviews

How to Say Thank You to Your Customers

A Few Neat Ways to Utilize Customer Feedback

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