The term ‘Social Proof,’ which refers to a psychological phenomenon where people tend to assume the actions of others for reflecting correct behavior in a given situation, has become a quite prominent and prevalent concept in almost every other field of business and commerce today. Without any second thoughts, this concept is directly related to the success story of every brand and determines how business owners target the potential customer base. To understand this more clearly, put yourself in your customer’s shoes and decide whether you would pick a product that is marketed or promoted attractively or invest in something that your friend or relative recommended? The answer is quite straightforward, which is why recommendations and reviews play a significant role in building and maintaining the reputation of brands and even Digital Marketing agencies. Nowadays, social media is indeed the most powerful marketing tool available, which enables businesses and brands to win their target market, if used properly. Consequently, even a single negative review can discourage your already existing customers and further eliminate the chances of enticing new ones.
The Value of Customer Recommendations and Reviews
According to various reports and surveys conducted by experts, around 90% of the people across the globe go through the reviews before even considering buying a product or availing a service. It is a matter of fact that yes – positive reviews hold immense potential in retaining customers and generating sales. Furthermore, they also enhance a brand’s reputation and establish a loyal relationship between a company and its clients. Therefore, it has become imperative for Digital Marketers and business owners to take into account the customer reviews and understand the client experience for making it even better. They should also put in sincere efforts to respond to such replies effectively, precisely, and try to learn and improve on their shortcomings. Customer reviews are also vital in determining the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ranks for a business and its brand. As search engines always reward websites that value customer experience, carrying positive reviews shall lead towards the path of higher rankings.
Maintaining Brand Reputation via Reviews
Maintaining reputation via reviews is all about not hiding from the negative ones, and being honest all the time. Most of the websites nowadays tend to delete all the negative comments and showcase only the positive ones. However, it is crucial to know that it shall affect your SEO Strategy negatively as search engine algorithms can easily detect the websites that display only positive reviews, and ranks them accordingly. Besides, near-to-perfect reviews will also make a customer skeptic about a business and its products. Therefore, there is a need to have the right blend of good and bad reviews.
Remaining Loyal and Honest
Many business websites and e-commerce platforms quite often indulge in the practice of writing fake reviews for their brands, products, and services. These reviews are written by their in-house experts to create a positive impression on the users and buyers. However, the users are well aware of such practices and can spot fake reviews instantly. Even if a single user or customer raises his concerns against fake and fabricated reviews, it can bring the whole place down. The users shall begin to mistrust the brand and would never invest in its products or services any further. Therefore, you must remain loyal and honest at all times as by putting up fake reviews, you are just contradicting the whole point of letting your customers understand your business and its products better.
Handling Issues and Complaints
As quality speaks for itself and if all aspects of your business website are looking good, you will start getting positive reviews; however, bad reviews are imminent as we can make mistakes at some time or the other. In such unfortunate circumstances, staying quiet or overlooking the matter doesn’t help solve the issue, so following up a response becomes necessary. Put in efforts to understand the customer’s complaint and address it promptly to find a solution. Besides, a simple apology and the assurance of more care in the future can prove to be beneficial as well. Moreover, every business or brand should be careful while responding to negative reviews to safeguard their reputation in the marketplace. They should make sure that their Content Marketing and development teams are on the top of their game while dealing with such negative reviews.
Using Different Channels
Reviews on your business website or platform will only address the people who visit it. To target your potential customers, your business or brand needs to use a plethora of different spaces or channels. Posting reviews only on your website is not sufficient. The need of the hour is to register your brand on different channels and networks, including Facebook, Google Maps, Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc. for making people have a general idea and impression of your business.