Few things are more powerful than collecting positive social media reviews on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. However, if you’re just sitting back and admiring these reviews, you’re missing out on the chance to create value.
Reviews play a significant role in the buying process for customers. This much has been proven over and over again. According to one study, 90 percent of respondents say positive reviews influence buying decisions, while 86 percent believe negative online reviews influence the decision of whether or not to buy a particular product or service.
A more recent study from ReviewTrackers, a customer feedback software company, also provides some interesting takeaways on the role and utility of reviews. According to its research, 50 percent of consumers actively seek out online reviews when looking for a product online, compared with just 34 percent who look for discounts. This shows that, at least for a large percentage of customers, reviews are more valuable than discounts.
Other interesting takeaways from the ReviewTrackers study include:
- 70 percent of online shoppers read reviews at the beginning and during the research phase. (Just 4 percent read reviews after they’ve already made an initial selection.)
- 63 percent of customers trust businesses that have overall ratings of four or 4.5 stars out of five.
- 63 percent of online consumers feel that online reviews are “important” or “very important” when choosing local businesses.
Clearly, there’s tremendous value packed inside reviews. Social media reviews are especially valuable, as they tend to get more direct exposure and (in the case of Facebook) can even elevate a brand’s visibility on the respective platform.
But merely having a strategy for collecting reviews isn’t enough. Once you get social media reviews, you need to extract as much value from them as you possibly can. Here are some tangible ways you can do this:
Put them on your website
Local service businesses really rely on reviews to improve their visibility and trust with customers. Take a dentist’s office, for example. People are often nervous to go to the dentist because they aren’t sure what to expect. As a result, one of the biggest challenges dentists have is building trust and humanizing their services in a manner that makes customers feel at ease. Integrating social media reviews into a website can facilitate positive associations.
You can see a great example on this website from Definition Dental of Beaverton, Ore. Notice how, in the middle of the homepage, it places emblems that show positive reviews from sites like Google and Facebook. This is a small touch, but it’s strategically placed above the call to action to make that sure visitors take notice.
