In everything that we do in our lives, if we care enough about it, we have to look at our performance after the fact, put out our hand for a big pat on the back or use that same hand to give ourselves a much needed facepalm. However, it can oftentimes be difficult to gauge which of these two gestures you deserve for the quality of the job that has been completed. In most cases, a second opinion is needed to determine which you will receive. Developing a business, the cruciality of this remains and furthermore is emphasized, since we all have that innate desire to do the best we can, especially when our livelihood is at the mercy of good response to our work. Customer reviews are a powerful tool for our businesses to give us the feedback that we need and to have the means by which anyone could leave comments is a great and simple way to have the perspectives of others strengthen your business. Positive criticism, negative remarks, or any other thoughts that customers have to express to us are all beneficial to the ever-improving nature of our company. Let us check out how this is.
Positive Reviews! Sweet! Heck Yeah! We all love seeing that we are doing a good job at our work, so we’ll take any of these that come our way. This is the apparently present effect that customer reviews have on a business, and furthermore, a business owner. It also relays to businesses that they have a strong suit, namely if a trend becomes evident with certain aspects of that business’s approach. These reviews are great for the sake of devising a sense of slogan-ism, where positive feedback can become talking points or branded attributes of that business. More tailored yet could be your business’s reviews once you implement other media by which your reviews can be measured, such as social media shares and views, or Yelp and Tripadvisor mentions, where you can sustain more comparable hits to competition or standings such as being rated, and then have any of these mediums filtered into the feed of your website for centralized viewing. Overall, positive reviews make for a great way to see what you are doing correctly and keep doing that!
In relation to the positive things to positive things that people have to say about your business, there are ways that these positive remarks could benefit them too. One thing that customers love above anything else is to know that the companies they do business with are listening to what they have to say. It makes people feel important, rightfully so. With that being said, when customers express any positive thoughts about your business, encourage them to relay those thoughts onto your website, in a place where comments can be displayed for anyone to see! After all, 90% of consumers looking into purchase a good or service will read online reviews before they check out a business, and furthermore 88% of consumers hold online customer reviews to the same regard as personal recommendations in terms of trustworthiness (Rave Retailer). What this essentially points to is that the vast majority of people will only consider buying from a business if that business has reviews from which they can be reassured that they can be comfortable doing business with said business. In short, find a way that customers can review you publicly and implement it!
So now that we’ve covered the good, let’s talk about the ever-looming notion of negative customer reviews. It should be known that these are more easily triggered, meaning people are more inclined to leave a negative piece of criticism after a poor experience than a good remark after a positive experience. Customers that with bad experiences are upwards of 52% more likely to share those publicly online than people with good experiences (Marketing Charts). What’s even more difficult of a pill to swallow is that 86% of people in the same study that produced the previous statistic stated that their buying decision would be influenced by negative reviews (Marketing Charts). This all might seem daunting or frightening, however it is to be seen as a blessing in disguise.
To only receive positive reviews can pose an issue for people researching a business, as they may feel that a company is staging strictly positive reviews, and to see the occasional constructive criticism can let a potential buyer know that you are in fact human. What is more, to have a platform through which you can receive these critiques means you have a system of filing the thoughts of customers. Having this means that when you do get notice of something that was less than satisfactory, you can see it and ensure to improve upon it. Studies show that upwards of 92% of people agree to the assertion, “negative feedback, if delivered appropriately, is effective at improving performance” (Linkedin). Also, in a similar way that folks with positive reviews like to know that they are heard, the same goes for those with negative reviews especially. To have public comments means your response to those comments are seen as well, and if an apology for poor service or an assurance of better service upon a next visit is written in return, this is seen by anyone reading the review and acts as a reference of your character as a business owner, turning a negative remark into a positive address of that, acting as a billboard in the same fashion as an initially positive review.
Ultimately, the goal of these review is to improve your business, and to make sure that your overall rating continues to increase to the best average rating you can achieve. This happens through a trickle effect that begins with accepting customer reviews into your business website. Through the emphasis on what has warranted ‘excellent’ customer reviews, and address and correction of what has been deemed ‘fair’ or ‘poor’, a business will progress in the ways of heightened customer satisfaction. It can be seen in the same light as employee performance evaluations, with the customer as the evaluator. Being evaluated and getting feedback from an outside perspective is shown to better performance. In managers or people of positions of employee oversight, a 12.5% increase in productivity is seen amongst those receiving regular feedback regarding the strength of their suits, and an 8.9% increase in profitability upon review of performance (Linkedin). To be critiqued is to be given the recognition that there is something upon which to improve and then making the step to improve. Without this information, there is no way to know that there is room to improve, and thus, no measures are made to improve.
As the trickle of being reviewed continues, it manifests itself in way that truly pushes your business to a whole other level By virtue of having your work judged publicly, and positively that is as you continue to improve, your business will grow not only in personal supporters, but in overall worth. Not only are you going to get more sales when you have better reviews, but the value of your goods or services has the grounds to increase due to the high praise. When a business sports overarching “excellent” reviews in comparison to businesses with no reviews or weaker reviews, they are likely to spend upwards of 31% extra on a product, given their reassurance that they can trust it based on ratings of approval and satisfaction (Rave Retailer). As you receive greater reviews, people build trust in your product and are more willing to do business with you at a higher price value for your good or service, bringing perpetuating a cycle of more satisfaction, more revenue, and overall growth and success for your business.
Customer reviews obviously do a lot with regards to our business’s success. After all, the objective of doing business should be the active pursuit of fulfilling the needs of people within your market and providing the highest level of satisfaction imaginable. Giving people a voice on your company’s most trafficked platform, that being your website, allows them to feel valued, make you receive the acknowledgment they feel you deserve, or give you ideas of what to improve, all of which both highlights customer satisfaction and furthers it. Taking these perspectives and responding to them in words and in actions will improve customer reception of your work and will improve your reviews in the end, and make your worth ever increasing to your now loyal and trustworthy clientele. For more information on the impact of customer reviews or how to incorporate this tool into your business’s website, contact Rave Retailer to learn more!