Customer reviews are an essential component of every business. Consumers rely on these reviews as social proof to understand how the product or service has worked for others. In this blog, we’ll be discussing the benefits of online reviews, how to collect online reviews and the top 4 online review sites for B2C businesses.
The Benefits of Using Online Review Sites
Online reviews have a significant impact on buying decisions. In fact, 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Online reviews help build trust in your business and create a stronger online presence.
Most online review sites don’t cost anything for your business to claim a page or listing. In a way, this means free advertising to increase your audience reach. Not only that, but those new leads could turn into customers.
Online reviews also allow your business to understand how your customers feel about your products or services. If there are negative reviews, your business has the opportunity to respond to those reviews and make things right. Your response shows you care about your customers and might be enough to turn a negative review into a positive outcome.
It’s essential to have a healthy balance between negative and positive online reviews. Only 28% of consumers are likely to leave a review after having a positive experience with a brand. Therefore, you need to have a strategy to actively request online reviews from those happy customers.
How to Collect Online Reviews
Before you dive into asking for online reviews, you want to double-check the rules and guidelines for each online review site you plan to use. Some are more strict than others when asking for online reviews.
With that aside, there are multiple ways to ask your customers for online reviews. The most common options are using email, asking in-person, or through social media. Let’s take a closer look at each of these.
Email is still one of the most common forms of communication between a business and its customers. Therefore, it makes sense to request online reviews from your customers via email. These emails can be automated to save your business time and collect valuable social proof.
In-Person
If your business connects with customers face-to-face frequently, asking in-person is a great option! We recommend having a link to the review sites or instructions on how to leave a review on a business card.
Social Media
Social media has become the main channel for communicating with customers. Customers will tag businesses in posts expressing positive experiences with brands. Take advantage of these posts and send the customer a private message asking them for an online review.
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Top 4 Online Review Sites for B2C Brands
We now understand the benefits of online reviews and how to get them. Customer reviews can and should be shared on your business website, but you should also be using online review sites. Below are the top four online review sites for business to consumer brands.
Google remains to be the top review site for B2C brands. The search engine results page (SERPs) offers information about a business and its star ratings without any additional clicks. This means consumers are often reading reviews directly from the search results.
At first glance, consumers will see your star rating, reviews, and pictures from previous customers. They can quickly locate your business, jump to online ordering or your website, see business hours, phone number, and more from Google Maps results.
In order for your business to respond to comments and show up in local search results, you need to first set up or claim your business on Google. This is because Google reviews are submitted through the Google Maps tool. All guidelines and policies for Google reviews fall under the Maps User Contributed Content Policy.
Yelp
Yelp is a popular online review site for customers to leave honest reviews about local businesses. Setting up a profile is easy and free for businesses and consumers alike. While Yelp was initially established as a restaurant online review site, but quickly evolved to include businesses from all industries.
Yelp’s search features are vast for an online review site. Consumers can easily narrow down results for what they need. Not sure what you’re looking for? Yelp also offers search sections for “Best Business in Town,” “Hot & New Businesses,” “Recent Activity,” and more.
Businesses can claim their business listing on Yelp. This allows businesses to update their information, respond to reviews and messages, and add photos to showcase their business. If you haven’t claimed your business listing yet, we recommend doing it!
Of all the online review sites, Yelp has the strictest policies and rules. They emphasize the importance of genuine reviews and investigate each flagged review. Additionally, they have an algorithm in place to automatically detect suspicious reviews.
Facebook is the largest social network with over 2.7 billion active monthly users. The site offers many opportunities and benefits for businesses through their Facebook Business Pages.
Customers can interact with the Facebook Business Page by using the “check-in” feature, message to ask questions, find business hours, and leave a review. Businesses should take advantage of these features and interact with their customers’ comments on posts and reviews.
Facebook has shifted its focus to recommendations rather than star reviews. Customers answer with a “yes” or “no” to the question of “Do you recommend (business name)?” The customer can add context to their recommendation with tags, photos, and text. Furthermore, customers don’t have to make another account as they can simply use their personal Facebook profile to leave a recommendation.
The Better Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a non-profit membership organization that caters to B2C and B2B businesses. The BBB’s vision is to provide an “ethical marketplace where buyers and sellers trust each other.” They achieve this vision through:
- Business ratings based on reliability and performance
- Facilitating the resolution of consumer complaints
- Consumer education
- Providing best practices for businesses
Through the BBB, consumers can learn more about a business, its performance, and its trustworthiness. Businesses receive a letter-grade rating between A-F. BBB determines this letter-grade through a formula that calculates 17 varying factors from objective information and business behavior.
The BBB has accredited over 400,000 North American businesses. This means customers can buy from those businesses in confidence, knowing they operate with honesty and integrity. To become accredited, businesses must adhere to the vision of the BBB, meet requirements to remain accredited, and pay a membership fee.
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Summary
These online review sites are excellent options to have your business seen by prospective customers. Your business must take the proper action to establish profiles on these sites so you can provide accurate business information and respond to reviews. Keep in mind, there are many other sites available, like Angi or TripAdvisor, that cater more to specific industries. It’s worthwhile to look into those sites if it fits your industry.
Boast is the only Proof-Based Marketing platform.
Join 8,000+ organizations embracing Proof-Based Marketing to build trust, improve customer relationships, and increase sales. Start collecting feedback and sharing praise in minutes.
Boast is the only Proof-Based Marketing platform.
Join 8,000+ organizations embracing Proof-Based Marketing to build trust, improve customer relationships, and increase sales. Start collecting feedback and sharing praise in minutes.
Boast is the only Proof-Based Marketing platform.
Join 8,000+ organizations embracing Proof-Based Marketing to build trust, improve customer relationships, and increase sales. Start collecting feedback and sharing praise in minutes.
Boast is the only Proof-Based Marketing platform.
Join 8,000+ organizations embracing Proof-Based Marketing to build trust, improve customer relationships, and increase sales. Start collecting feedback and sharing praise in minutes.
Boast is the only Proof-Based Marketing platform.
Join 8,000+ organizations embracing Proof-Based Marketing to build trust, improve customer relationships, and increase sales. Start collecting feedback and sharing praise in minutes.
Boast is the only Proof-Based Marketing platform.
Join 8,000+ organizations embracing Proof-Based Marketing to build trust, improve customer relationships, and increase sales. Start collecting feedback and sharing praise in minutes.
Boast is the only Proof-Based Marketing platform.
Join 8,000+ organizations embracing Proof-Based Marketing to build trust, improve customer relationships, and increase sales. Start collecting feedback and sharing praise in minutes.
Boast is the only Proof-Based Marketing platform.
Join 8,000+ organizations embracing Proof-Based Marketing to build trust, improve customer relationships, and increase sales. Start collecting feedback and sharing praise in minutes.
Boast is the only Proof-Based Marketing platform.
Join 8,000+ organizations embracing Proof-Based Marketing to build trust, improve customer relationships, and increase sales. Start collecting feedback and sharing praise in minutes.
Posted in: Social Proof