why online reviews are so powerful

The Power of Online Reviews: Building a Good Online Reputation.

It’s important as a business to build a great online reputation. Since more people are shopping online, both negative and positive reviews can have a direct influence on their purchasing decisions. Monitoring your brand image online should be apart of your regular routine because a customer’s opinions could be either hurting or helping your business.

How can online reviews help your business’ reputation?

• 1. It offers insights into a customer’s experience with your business. By using the feedback will help you address any concerns, but also capitalise on what people do appreciate about your company.
• 2. If you have a great number of positive reviews from a large customer base it can strengthen your brand’s perception and add creditability. Prospects will see that people actually took the time to write a positive review, showing satisfaction with your business and prospects will find this very helpful.
• 3. Besides social media sites, it offers exposure to your business online to other review websites, like TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Google Reviews.

Why are online reviews so powerful?

People love to see social proof about a company or product. It used to be that many would only read online reviews when they were about to purchase something higher in price. But that’s not necessarily the case anymore. People are pre-shopping for almost anything now, and want to make sure they’re getting their money’s worth.

Online reviews are so powerful because they can influence purchasing decisions. Potential customers will do their research about your company, likely online, and what customers learn about your reputation can be the deciding factor. Many people change their mind when reading negative reviews, while a positive review can close the sale.

How to respond to reviews?

It’s a good idea to respond to both negative and positive reviews. Doing so can help establish your reputation. If it’s a positive review a simple thank you shows them that you appreciate their opinion.

But how should you handle negative reviews?

Don’t panic because no business is perfect. Negative reviews are bound to happen. No matter how far you go to please someone, there’s always going to be someone who isn’t satisfied.

When responding to a negative review, try to respond promptly and if possible, privately. This will prevent any negative back and forth conversation from happening publicly. If not, post a follow-up comment.

In either case it’s important to stay calm and be positive. It wouldn’t help your reputation if you come off as too defensive or insecure. Make your comment short and professional by telling your side of the story. Always be sure to thank them for the review and publicly address to resolve the problem. If it seems like everything has been cleared up, ask them if they will remove the negative review.

Online reviews are powerful, and can have a direct influence on your reputation. To maintain a positive reputation, monitor your online presence and make it part of your regular routine to check and respond to both negative and positive reviews. Otherwise you could lose potential customers.