With the world shifting online, almost everyone of us has shopped from e-commerce stores at least once in our lifetime and are quite familiar with the nuances of online shopping. So, which is the most important factor that influences your purchasing decision? Although factors such as product images, description and price matter a lot, customer testimonials play an important role in determining if you will end up purchasing the product or not.

Don’t believe what we are saying? A survey by BrightLocal titled ‘Local consumer review survey 2018’ reveals the following statistics:

• Customers read an average of 10 reviews before they can trust a local business
• 40% of customers only trust reviews that are two weeks old
• 91% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
  
  

The statistics clearly reveal how powerful testimonials are and good customer testimonials can actually help drive your sales. Let’s find out how. But first let’s understand a basic thing:

Why do you need customer reviews?

Customer reviews or testimonials give buyers the platform to express their opinion after having made a purchase online on your website. They can rate your products and services which can be useful for other buyers who are looking to purchase the same product. The following are the reasons why you need customer reviews:

1. Customer reviews help increase your visibility

According to Google, product pages with reviews benefit by having a 17% increase in Click-through-rate (CTR). This means that good customer testimonials can boost your visibility by pulling your website out first in the search results. Good testimonials also help make your website more meaningful and trustworthy.

2. Customer reviews help you understand your customers better

When buyers share their opinions via reviews, you can get a better insight into what your customers want. This is also a great way to show them that their opinions and satisfaction matters to you.

Also read: Get inside the mind of your customers: 6 advantages of customer satisfaction survey

3. Customer reviews help boost brand awareness

As an online business, your brand image is very important and customer testimonials play a significant role in shaping it. People trust what they read online and good reviews help build the brand awareness and trust among customers.

4. Customer reviews can significantly boost your sales

As mentioned above, customer reviews increase the traffic to your website, thereby increasing sales. Products and services with positive ratings help win the trust of customers better.

Now that you understand why is it so important to include customer reviews in your website, let’s look at how you can utilise the power of testimonials to boost sales.

According to Google, product pages with reviews benefit by having a 17% increase in Click-through-rate (CTR). This means that good customer testimonials can boost your visibility by pulling your website out first in the search results.

Post customer reviews on your home page

Having even a few reviews on your home page can immediately spark interest among your potential buyers. Pick up reviews with five and four start ratings and feature them on your home page. When customers see good reviews on the landing page itself, they can trust the website to give them a great shopping experience. This way you can also ensure that you are creating a strong sales funnel.

Use social media channels to share customer testimonials

With social media dominating our lives, a great idea is to leverage it to share customer testimonials. Authentic brands are quickly gaining more trust by posting their customer testimonials on social media like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Instagram.

Also read: 8 steps to create a survey customers will want to take

Use other advertising medium to post reviews

Use marketing communication mediums like newsletters, banners and newspaper ads to spread awareness about your website and get customers to know you better. For example, if you are sending newsletters to your prospect’s inbox, you can share some customer reviews along. This will give them the confidence to have faith in your products and purchase from you in the future.

Put up your customer reviews on Google

The most common way a person looks for a product online is by typing their requirements on the search engine. Hence, updating you reviews on Google is a great way to direct potential buyers to your website. If you are using Google Adwords, you can easily display your star rankings by integrating reviews in your campaigns.

Managing negative reviews

As important it is to post good reviews on your website, managing bad reviews and taking the necessary action to correct them is also very important. It may sound funny but bad reviews are equally important for your website. People trust the authenticity of a website if they see mixed reviews. It’s a normal human tendency!

Having bad reviews is hence not the problem but how you manage bad reviews shows your capability in outshining as a brand name. Here are some tips to help you manage bad customer reviews:

• Respond in timely manner and offer quick solutions: If you have received a bad review, it is wise to immediately respond to it with a solution or a promise to make your products better. Especially if it is due a mistake from your end, it is wise to offer a free exchange, full money return or discount coupons for example, to ease the heat. A well-handled review can turn around the situation and can in fact help improve customer relations.
• Acknowledge the comments/reviews: Thank your customers for their comments. Even if it is a bad review! This shows that you care about your customers and their sentiments and will do anything to make the experience better for them.
  
  

Online companies can greatly benefit from online reviews if managed well. Invest in creating a great reservoir of reviews and watch your sales grow!

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