Online consumers frequently turn to online customer reviews before making a purchase. For any business that exists in the digital space, online reviews are crucial for maintaining a positive reputation and winning business. Customers enjoy being heard, and that includes feedback on reviews. Online reviews can reveal many things about your online store, so these primary points outline the benefits that make customer reviews vital to your e-commerce store.
Increase Sales
Reading positive reviews from other consumers who made similar purchases will help other consumers feel confident in their purchase from your store. In essence, people want evidence from other shoppers that an item or service is worthwhile, not just biased brand promotion. This demonstrates that social proof is a powerful force because people make decisions based on the actions of others.
Boost Brand Awareness
Ideally, you want your brand to exist in as many places as possible on the Internet so customers can acknowledge who you are and what you do. Reviews spread across a few websites can complete the heavy lifting for you, increasing your presence organically. For instance, strong reviews on Google or Yelp! Can ensure your brand comes up at the top of the search engine list when customers seek companies in your industry.
There are countless brands in every category, but without a way to verify reliability and quality, knowing who is trustworthy is confusing. So, reading many reviews that indicate excellent quality and services helps build an online reputation that customers can trust. In fact, consumers are more likely to trust and purchase from a business with reviews than from a business with no reviews.
Seek Keywords for Your Brand Products and Services
You may have keywords in mind for your online company, but that doesn’t signify the words you associate with your brand are the same ones your customers would use. By reading several reviews, you can find the words and phrases most commonly used by your clients. This will help you fine-tune the keywords you use in your SEO campaigns.
Most importantly, showing off your positive reviews is powerful. Allow your reviews to do the talking for you instead of making claims that your services or products are great. By featuring customer reviews on marketing content or on your page, you can ensure that your positive reputation is widespread.
Enable Problem-Solving
Not all customer reviews will be positive, and that’s okay. No company is perfect, and reviews can help you determine improvement points. Some negative reviews may have been written by an angry customer or misinterpreted. However, if many different reviews praise your items but disparage your long checkout process, it might be time to invest in a smoother purchase process.
Understanding why you need customer reviews will help optimize your customer experience to create a positive online footprint. Fortunately, working with an accomplished e-commerce web design company like Adventure Web Interactive will help maximize your brand awareness, sales volumes, and your business bottom line.
Craig Kahl is the President and CEO of Adventure Web Interactive. AWI has been recognized as Baltimore’s Top Web Design Firm by The Daily Record and named one of Silicon Review Magazine’s Top 50 Most Admired Companies in the country. Before founding Adventure Web Interactive in 1997, he was VP of Operations for Campus Concepts, Inc., and the youngest division head in history for Pitney Bowes at age 24. He has a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems from the University of Maryland and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from Loyola University. Craig is a member of the International CEO Club and Rolling Road Golf Club and loves spending time outdoors with his wife and son.
