How Positive and Negative Reviews Affect Business Revenue
A big part of local reputation management is reviews and ratings. A single negative review can cause your business to suffer revenue loss. The popularity of online reviews in different e-commerce sectors has grown significantly over the past decade. Since many businesses have swapped from the traditional method of selling goods to online selling, online reviews have transformed the way business is conducted.
Online reviews are publicly generated thoughts about the products and services that businesses offer. Let’s get to know how online reviews have become an integral part of a business and how they affect your revenue.
- Online review statistics
- The importance of online reviews
- Impact of positive reviews
- Impact of negative reviews
- How to respond positively to negative reviews
- How to get more customer reviews and ratings
Online review statistics
Many customers want to see reviews before deciding to buy anything. That’s why reviews are becoming an integral part of the decision-making process and have proven to be great sales drivers.
Whether your reviews are positive or negative has a direct impact on:
- The popularity of your product
- Product awareness
- Conversion rates
- Profit
63% of customers purchase from an online shop that has customer reviews. 71% of users agree that reading customer reviews could make them more comfortable purchasing the service or product. Nowadays, social media platforms are also playing a significant role by allowing businesses to build trust with their clients, and increase sales and revenue.
The importance of online reviews
The fundamental purpose of customer reviews is to improve customer satisfaction, conversions, and increase sales. Regularly updated customer reviews attract more people to your website. For e-commerce platforms, online customer reviews are an important part of their shopping process. If there is a satisfactory rating on a particular product, then there will be a better chance at increasing traffic to the page and a high click-through rate on search engine results pages.
Here’s a brief overview of the impact of both positive and negative reviews.
Impact of positive reviews
Having various positive reviews on your platform increases the likelihood of convincing customers to pay more money for your services/products. In fact, customers’ trust will upsurge for your brand with positive reviews.
Positive reviews with 5-star ratings help to compel potential clients to contact you as they feel more confident about your business. The more customers you satisfy, the more people will be interested in buying your products/services.
Positive reviews also help to facilitate customer engagement. Reviews from satisfied customers will provide valuable insights into understanding what customers love about your products/services. This helps to take a closer look at which part of your business to develop and focus, and can help with product development as you realize which features are working and which are not.
Most consumers react more strongly to information that is visible online. Online shoppers often research a lot before making a purchasing decision. Thus, positive reviews help in building trust with customers.
Impact of negative reviews
Negative reviews can be a damaging factor to the prestige, credibility, and trustworthiness of your business. Many customers hesitate to buy from businesses with no reviews or with many negative reviews. 86% of customers hesitate to purchase from companies with negative reviews. A single negative review can drive away 22% of customers and three negative reviews can drive away a whopping 59%. So, any negative e-commerce product reviews can adversely affect your business and cause a dip in your revenue.
Negative reviews have serious impressions on diminishing the brand value of products. Every time a negative review pops up on Google searches, you have the potential to lose customers.
Now, nobody likes a bad review about their products. However, to get absolutely zero negative reviews is often difficult, if not impossible. Even many legitimate businesses can’t satisfy all their customers all the time. So complete absence of negative reviews will also raise a red flag on your product.
Additionally, legitimate negative reviews can also help your business by shedding light on certain aspects of your business or features of your product that are not working. By reading negative reviews and spending some time to understand the issues at play, you can gain a better understanding of areas you can improve.
How to respond positively to negative reviews
Many product owners feel bad when they find negative product reviews on their website. To respond to such a situation is quite crucial. Don’t put your customers in a resistive state. Instead, analyze and compose yourself and then respond in a way that’s considerate and helpful for them.
Respond only to legitimate concerns. If you believe a particular review is false, or a competitor has published it, contact the site owner and ask them to remove it.
Try to learn the core of the issue. You can communicate with the reviewer and message them privately to figure out more details of their problem. Then, address the concern and explain to them what you’ve done to resolve it. It is good for your reputation as many readers can see how quickly you responded to the feedback.
The key here is to remain calm. Responding aggressively to a negative review can destroy your brand’s value and reputation in a minute. So, be polite and professional while replying to any comments made online.
You have a chance to turn negative reviews around. Be genuine and resolve promptly in a way that will allow you to connect to your customers. It will show that you care about their needs.
How to get more customer reviews and ratings
As a business owner, entrepreneur, or a marketer, you should always brainstorm ideas to incorporate customer reviews throughout your web pages to make a difference. Here are a few ways to showcase your positive reviews on your website.
- Link to positive reviews on your home page
- Include case studies on your product pages
- Showcase testimonials on landing pages
- Include white papers and webinars on your website
It helps to have a plan in place to get more reviews. Here are a few strategies.
Send an email to your customers after they purchase from your e-commerce store. You can offer some incentives for each review the customer provides, for example, a discount on the next purchase, gift card, or a freebie.
Provide a review form for customers to fill out. You can also include a list of questions on your review form like “What else would you like to have in this product?” or “Would you recommend this product to anyone?” These questions help customers to get some ideas on what to focus on. Just one review from your client can increase your conversion rate up to 10%.
You can send confirmation emails, thank you emails, or follow up emails once you receive reviews from customers. If you exceed customer’s expectations, they will automatically contribute positive reviews about your product.
Merge all your customer reviews to your marketing communication channels like banner ads or newsletters. You can also highlight your average score to increase your click rate.
Google reviews and ratings posted online will help you increase your visibility and put your competitors behind. You can also add a review tab on your Facebook page to get a brand value. Make the most of your followers by giving them the opportunity to share their reviews. This will help you to maximize engagement and sales.
Final thoughts
Many companies can benefit from online reviews. Keeping your customers at the heart of your marketing strategy is vital in this customer-centric era. The opinions found on ratings and review sites help businesses to attract customers, increase conversion rates, encourage their brand, and take an extra leap to grow productivity and sales.
Online reviews FAQs
Why are positive online reviews important?
Positive reviews help to facilitate customer engagement. Reviews from satisfied customers will provide valuable insights into understanding what customers love about your products/services. This helps to take a closer look at which part of your business to develop and focus, and can help with product development as you realize which features are working and which are not.
How do negative reviews impact business?
Negative reviews can seriously impact your business. Every time a negative review pops up on Google searches, you have the potential to lose customers. 86% of customers hesitate to purchase from companies with negative reviews. Negative reviews ultimately cost you web traffic and revenue.
How do I respond to negative reviews?
Remain calm when replying to negative reviews. What you say in your response has the ability to change the person’s mind about your business. Always address their concern and work to resolve the issue, which may mean taking the conversation to email or private messages.
How can I get more customer reviews and ratings?
Link to positive reviews on your home page. Include case studies on your product pages. Showcase testimonials on landing pages. Include white papers and webinars on your website.
Tags: Business Reputation Repair, Online Reputation Management Services, Reputation Marketing, Review Management.
