January is a great time to think about how you can promote your business for the coming year! You might think that ‘reviews’ is just a fancy way of saying ‘word of mouth’ and you’d be absolutely right, except that they have the ability to be seen by so many more people at once, and they can be a great tool to use within advertising and social media content.
Here we discuss some review portals available to you (or that you should be aware of) and how important they are to stay on top of (and get your business flaunted about as it should be!).
FACEBOOK RECOMMENDS
Whether you’re on Facebook or not, chances are someone can recommend you. We’d suggest making your recommendations public on your own business Facebook page. This gives you ownership over the reviews, allows you to see the good things but also the bad things people might be saying about your service or product. If it’s bad, you have the opportunity to respond publicly with an apology and a chance to rectify the situation. That way, if someone sees the bad review, but can also see you’ve fixed it, you’ve already turned it into another positive experience.
GOOGLE REVIEWS
Again users can leave a comment about a business whether you manage a Google business page or not and Google reviews have been in growth for some time. It’s usually one of the first things somebody sees when they search for your business too, so definitely something to be conscious of. You can also respond to them publicly just like with Facebook.
TRIP ADVISOR
One for the bars, restaurants and hotels to bear in mind. Take ownership of your page and use it as a way to promote your business. You might find that a customer has already created a page for your business based on your map location so it’s time to be aware and get stuck in. Trip Advisor can be a great way for you to highlight some good reviews too – you can earn badges for the more positive reviews you receive as well as adding Trip Advisor links and logos to your website to show your future guests the lovely things being said about you.
BUT WHY IS ALL OF THIS IMPORTANT?
40% of customers make their decision to buy something online by perusing one to three product reviews. Lots of online retailers invest in this area by providing detailed online review structures for customers to complete once they’ve bought something.
Amazon was one of the first online stores to share reviews since 1995 and it remains one of their key selling tools and helps buyers make informed choices about a product.
The advantages of customer reviews help to fit in with our daily lives. Often there is a shortage of time to research something, why put yourself through the confusion if you can read one or two reviews and make a quick buying decision?
If you’re bold enough like Amazon to display reviews or testimonials directly on your website, then it provides visitors with some confidence when browsing that they’re making the right decision if they can see high praise for your work or shiny gold stars against a product.
And with that, take a look at our portfolio where you can see some of our own testimonials.
