Before we understand how customer reviews can help with lead generation, we need to understand first if your prospects are reading it in the first place. You also need to learn how negative reviews can affect your purchasing decision. Understand that customer reviews are the user-generated and personal opinions of the consumers. You may have acquired the handyman’s service in the past with poor feedbacks but felt very satisfied with his service.
What Are Online Customer Reviews?
Customer reviews and recommendations are the standard methods to generate a generally positive image of your brand. Providing quality service to receive reviews or asking your loyal customers to leave a testimonial is significant for your business. Study shows that 92% of your potential customers will read reviews before purchasing your offerings. Some people may think that reviews can be biased and should not be taken that seriously. However, it would be best not to undermine the power behind this user-generated content, especially on Lead Generation.
Is It Worth the Whole Effort?
Regardless of whether the customers are reading and listening to their reviews, having a healthy collection of positive reviews can affect how the customers perceive your company or product. Unfortunately, most companies will neglect this, thinking that the ROI will not be enough. However, customer reviews can help your business in several ways:
- Several Positive Reviews Can Mitigate the Effect of Negative Reviews- You cannot please everyone. There will be a time when you will encounter unsatisfied customers who will leave you a terrible review. You should never feel worried about this. As long as you have a healthy collection of positive reviews and respond appropriately to the negative feedback, you should manage the possible harm that it could cause.
- Improving your Conversion Rate- Aside from helping with your lead generation, customer reviews for your business will also help in your conversion rate. Having a large volume of positive reviews increases the probability that a customer will complete their purchase.
Why are Online Customer Reviews Essential for Your Lead Generation Campaign?
Around 51% of the consumers in the US will rely first on user-generated content such as customer reviews and recommendations over any other type of information. To advance your lead generation campaign, it is vital to implement this in your marketing strategy. Since we always need more leads, here are some reasons to convince you that reviews are imperative to increase your sales leads.
Improve Your Brand Trust
It will be challenging to convince the customer to provide the information you need based only on your promises. They know that a company will be doing everything to please them. Know that the customers have different options available when choosing the company they prefer. You need to give them a reason why they should choose you. Customers want to know that they will be getting their money’s worth. How do you do this? You can’t, but your customers can. They can help you by leaving positive online customer reviews and testimonials about your business.
Increase Your SERP with Customer Reviews
Some people may think that SEO is all about coding and developing content. However, based on the changes implemented on Google’s algorithm, your SERP can now be affected by user-generated content like customer reviews for your business. Companies receiving more reviews means that they are keeping their audience engaged, which also affects your SEO. Moreover, Google will translate the reviews as fresh content and will recrawl them. If you appear prominently on the critical search result, your organic traffic will increase. Your potential customers will find you; thus, increasing your sales leads.
Unique Branding
If your business belongs in a heavily saturated industry, you want to stand out and differentiate yourself from the other companies. Think about it this way, if you are hiring a business consultant, one has a collection of reviews online, and the other does not, who are you most likely to choose? You may select the one with reviews since it is a sign of their professionalism and expertise in the industry. He also has a higher trust rating. With online customer reviews, you are setting your business apart from your rivals.
It Promotes Quality Content
Google and other search engine sites love content. Having a page solely reserved for customer reviews and recommendations could be additional content for Google to crawl. Therefore, you can guarantee that you will have a high ranking. Remember to avoid encouraging reviews from Anonymous users since Google announced last 2017 that they are removing this from their algorithm. The more reviews that you will receive, the longer the content will be. Your clients may add critical keywords in their testimonials to will help you place on search engine results.
Creates a Human Element
We’ve mentioned all the technical benefits of customer reviews for lead generation. Apart from that, responding to reviews will make your customers and prospects think you care for them. You pay attention to their disappointments and are willing to address them. You are also grateful for their trust. It will convince other customers that you are the perfect choice for them. It also increases your customer retention rate.
How to Use Your Online Customer Reviews to Generate Leads?
Online reviews have become a crucial way to verify the value and quality of the company’s service or product. It serves as an endorsement from a third party that most consumers trust. Nowadays, it has also become necessary for your lead generation efforts. We will tell you how you can take advantage of it to advance your marketing strategy.
Encouraging Your Customers to Leave Reviews
To start, you need to increase the number of your customer reviews and recommendations. However, most of the time, customers will only leave them when disappointed with your service. It could be an issue since the study shows that customers who are reading reviews before purchasing will value your star rating, the comments, the volume of the reviews, and the authenticity of the reviews. You will need to accumulate several feedbacks before you can gain the trust of your target market. Consumers will never feel empowered if your reviews will not provide them with enough information. According to the report of BrightLocal, a company will need to have at least ten authentic reviews before a customer considers doing business with them. Understand that while quantity is essential, you should also pay attention to the quality. It should contain enough information to give them something to expect.
Verifying Customer Reviews
Reviews have become essential in helping people reach an intelligent purchasing decision. Unfortunately, most marketers and business managers will overlook this fact. Based on the statistics released by Washington Post, 61% of the customer reviews found on the electronic category of Amazon are fake. Consumers can now quickly identify if the reviews are fake. There are also auditing services that can help determine the authenticity of the testimonial. Having fake reviews will be detrimental to your consumer trust.
Address Negative Reviews
Readers will also pay attention to your ratings. Some listing sites will use a 5-star rating; others will have ten stars. This metric translates to how satisfying the customer experience is. Therefore, it will be a problem for you if you receive a one-star rating from your customer. Based on the research, negative reviews can discourage 40% of your customers from considering your company; that percentage is a massive number. If you try to improve this, it will be beneficial for your business. Every increase in your star rating will enhance your revenue by about 5%-9%. Moreover, 31% of your prospects will be willing to invest more money in a company with generally positive online customer reviews.
Requesting Customer Reviews
Most consumers will be willing to leave a review about your company if you ask them properly. The best time to do this is shortly after completing the sale transaction. With this, the details about their experience will still be fresh. Those who have been impressed with your level of service will likely leave you a favorable and thorough review. A comprehensive customer review for your business offers different benefits. Most of your prospects will trust the veracity of the information provided on a detailed review.
You could also offer small incentives to your audience who will leave you a review. Some companies are successful in accomplishing this without sacrificing the authenticity of the reviews. For instance, some online shopping sites will reward you with points after leaving reviews. Once you accumulate enough points, you can then exchange them for discount cards or vouchers.
Respond to Their Concerns
Responding appropriately to all types of customer reviews will reward you in multiple ways. It will not only improve customer experience but can also increase the authority and professionalism of your business. Unfortunately, not a lot of companies will take advantage of this. Only 51% of the companies will respond to negative reviews. It is imperative to respond publicly to negative reviews before moving your conversation on private. Positive reviews also warrant a response. Replying to them will make the customers feel that they are valued and that you appreciate their loyalty. Responding to all kinds of reviews will improve your SEO and online authority. It will make it easier for you to advance your lead generation campaign by then.
Featuring the Top Feedback
Another powerful way to accumulate leads through customer reviews and recommendations is by featuring the top reviews of the month. Consumers who see reviews from an unaffiliated listing site to the company website will have a 58% likelihood of investing in their product or service. They will possibly spend more time on a website that highlights reviews. Therefore, there is also a higher probability that they will click and navigate other parts of your website, including your CTA button. It is crucial to make the reviews accessible to your audience, especially those going through your sales funnel. The best way to showcase these reviews is through your website.
Online Customer Reviews to Increase Conversion Rate
Having a steady source of high-quality leads is necessary to ensure that your business will remain profitable and competitive. Customer reviews provide an unbiased and objective recommendation of the services and product, which can help in your lead generation campaign. To ensure that you can take advantage of its benefits, it is imperative to use them optimally. Start by asking the customers who have been impressed with your service to leave you a review. Once you have a good number of reviews, start interacting with them. 92% of the customers will read the review before purchasing your product. Make sure that your company is using the reviews well to generate interest and capture sales leads.
