As they say, modern consumers are smarter than in the past. Before buying something, they look at customer ratings and reviews. Brands and businesses can tap into such reality to leverage their products and services. They can use customer reviews to create user-generated content and influence other people’s buying decisions. A digital marketing speaker Hong Kong reported that 97% of online shoppers read ratings and reviews before making a purchase. Around 81% of online sales happened among brands with product ratings and reviews. This is because customer reviews serve as invaluable social proof to others. It serves as people’s reference that the product or service looks and works as the brand tells. Below, let’s have a look at the power of customer reviews.

WHAT ARE CUSTOMER RATINGS AND REVIEWS?

Customer ratings are the measure of a customer’s satisfaction over a brand, product, or service. They are commonly measured through a net promoter score (NPS). It measures the loyalty of customers over a brand. Using a single question, NPS scores range from -100 to +100. Most brands desire a higher NPS score. Alternatively, a brand’s churn rate also shows a customer satisfaction rating. Churn rate is the number of customers leaving a brand or company without providing feedback. It is safe to assume that these customers leave because they are unsatisfied. The most common customer rating used today is star ratings. It measures an online brand reputation through the use of stars. Typically, a 5-star rating means that a brand has satisfactorily made a customer happy. Lower stars may indicate some negative issues among brands.

Customer reviews are evaluations of a product or service from a previous buyer. It relates a buyer’s experience with his or her purchase and with the company where he or she bought it. There are several ways how brands and businesses can gather customer reviews. They can collect feedback and surveys via emails. Live chat transcripts can offer a lot of direct and indirect feedback from customers. Brands and businesses can also use them to check if the customer is also satisfied with the business as a whole. Messaging services like Messenger chats, SMS, or WhatsApp chats are free alternatives to collecting customer reviews. A social media agency Hong Kong highlights the importance of customer reviews on social media platforms. Since brands and businesses do 80% of their marketing via social media, they have an immediate channel that could make or break them. Social media customer reviews are unique because they focus more on the brand’s messaging. As a feedback collection tool, social media has algorithms that quantitatively measure customer satisfaction.

Today, customer testimonial videos are a rising trend according to a video marketing agency Hong Kong. It is an ideal way to convince customers to patronize a brand without being too pushy. Testimonial videos evoke emotional connections. The viewers feel as if they are in the reviewer’s shoes. This greatly influences them into their buying decisions. Sharing a customer’s story in his or her own words through video testimonials also lifts a brand’s authenticity.

HOW CAN BRANDS LEVERAGE THE POWER OF CUSTOMER REVIEWS?

To attract customers and maintain positive ties with loyal followers, brands should leverage the power of customer reviews. Here are some tips on how to do it.

Consistently Engage in Customer Interactions

For every business, the key to success is to consistently engage in customer interactions. Continuous communication allows relationships to grow and build loyalty. The same goes for customer reviews. Keeping yourself informed about the customer’s perception of a brand is very important. It can help with the correction of mistakes and improvement of products and services.

Constant engagement in social media can help brands answer audience queries and resolve customer issues quickly. They can turn complaints into milestones. Quora is a great channel to answer questions about products and services in detail. Threads of a Quora query can highlight the benefits of a product or a service. Other similar forums are Google Alerts, IFTTT, and Mention, etc. It is also important to make it a natural habit to ask for customer reviews. Put a call to action (CTA) on every after-sales email and message. This can turn happy customers into brand ambassadors. At the same time, it can also be an opportunity to assist customer complaints to make them satisfied.

Highlight Great Reviews

Many customers are very eager to share their experiences with products and services. This is an opportunity for brands to tap into the power of customer reviews to build a good online reputation. Once you see a great review that shares a customer’s knowledge about your product or service, turn it into a case study. Take a few quotes from the review to highlight the product’s unique features and benefits. Expand it into a blog showing how the product solves the customer pain point. Another way to highlight a great review is to invite a customer to guest in a live broadcast and relate his or her first-hand experience about your product or service. This option is now a trend called customer video testimonials.

Post Customer Reviews in Public

Another way to leverage the power of customer reviews is to post customer reviews in public. Brands can do this by offering customers different channels and platforms to leave their reviews. Social media is, no doubt, the number one review platform among online brands. By creating a separate tab for customer reviews on a social media page, brands can promote transparency to build a positive image. Another alternative is creating a customer review section on a business website or eCommerce store. Such a section can make it easier for people to read ratings and reviews which they commonly search before making a purchase. Brands can also partner with online review platforms. These third-party services can serve as advertisers for positive customer reviews on brands.

Share Reviews on Social Media

Customer reviews can online drive business if they become visible to a huge number of online users. Share your reviews on social media. Around 55% of the world’s population are social media users. Sharing customer reviews can generate more exposure from the followers of your social media pages. They can also be a means of a campaign to boost brand awareness and revenues.  

Reference: https://trendemon.com/blog/how-to-leverage-customer-reviews-to-drive-new-business/