How to use customer reviews to drive better business results

In years gone by, businesses relied on past experiences and internal data to assess consumer behaviour. 

Today, with more people sharing their experiences online, businesses are able to gain this information reliably, instantly and easily, understanding what consumers are thinking and saying in real time through their online reviews. 

Everyone knows that reviews are helpful in providing your business with feedback on your products and services, but they’re actually much more useful than this. They’re also a powerful marketing engine in their own right. 

Customer reviews are a way to build trust in your brand and help us to turn that brand trust into measurable ROI through increased web traffic, sales, revenue and eventually long-term loyalty. 

Three ways to turn your customer reviews into better business results today

1. Build brand trust (and drive sales) by collecting and responding to reviews

   For a business to truly succeed, it needs to build trust and establish authentic credibility. And reviews are one of the most valuable ways to achieve this.

   Reviews provide consumers with the opportunity to voice their thoughts and share their experiences with a brand, product or service, in turn providing unbiased insights to potential new customers. And by having these reviews publicly available conveys to potential customers that you’re safe to do business with.

   The good news for those looking to implement (or refresh) their consumer behaviour marketing strategy, is that review systems are readily available, with some simply plugging into existing communication and e-commerce platforms. This provides businesses the time-saving opportunity to ask for reviews with automated post-purchase emails, ensuring you have a scalable ‘set and forget’ reviews strategy. 

   Once the reviews start coming in, make sure you respond in a timely manner. Best practice is to respond to all reviews, from the five-star ones to the one-star ones. If you can’t respond to all reviews, you should prioritise lower stars as potential customers are assessing how quickly you will respond and address the concern. All honest and constructive feedback is considered good in our books, and all extremely useful in driving trust. 

   In fact, recent research highlighted that 65% of Australian and New Zealand consumers like to see a mix of positive and negative reviews as it encourages them to make an online purchase.

2. Attract new customers through a dynamic and easy to find review system

   Consumers will look to obtain feedback from their trusted networks (usually family or friends), but they are going to also seek this advice from a broader network online.

   In which case, publicly sharing your customer reviews and highlighting them is extremely important. Your reviews provide insight to who you are, what your products and services are, how you engage and how you operate. They help to convert the trust and credibility you’ve established into measurable ROI. 

   If you’re on social media, share your reviews. If you have an eDM campaign, add reviews relevant to the subject. If you have a website, publish the reviews on your homepage. This can assist in providing longer time spent on your website, and more content through a trusted source will provide greater business visibility through improved search rankings. 

3. Gain new insights and use them to empower your business

   Consumers have an overwhelming amount of choice online and competitors are only a click away.

   Listening and gathering insights via customer reviews could give your business the edge it needs. Listening to your customers empowers you to learn, enter dialogue and build a connection. 

   The conversations you can have via reviews will allow you to understand what your consumers are thinking. What they like most about your business, and what they least like about it. These insights will allow you to continually improve and evolve in line with your market’s needs. 

   These customer insights can also be valuable for future marketing campaigns. They can help you to get your messaging, product and service right. They can also help you find where you stand against your competitors and if there’s a gap in their performance for you to capitalise on, whether ensuring you excel in this area or creating a whole new product or service to meet a customer need.

   So, tap into the goldmine of fresh consumer insights within your reviews. Discover what your customers want and deliver it, so you can build loyalty, get even more customer feedback, and continue using that feedback to attract new customers.

The key takeaway

Reviews are important and should play a key role in your marketing strategy. Regardless of the size of your business or the industry you operate in, whether online or offline, reviews, both positive or negative, are important. They’re a vital tool to boost your businesses performance and can put you on the front foot to success.