The Undeniable Sales Power Of Online Ratings And Reviews

Online ratings and reviews have become major purchasing factors for today’s digital consumers. There are ratings and reviews for just about everything, from books to marketing services. You have most likely left a review after purchasing a product online or using a service, and you probably checked ratings and reviews on products prior to purchase. This makes them extremely powerful.

Here are a few important statistics surrounding ratings and reviews:

  • 90 percent of consumers will read reviews before visiting a business
  • 88 percent of people trust online reviews and ratings as much as personal recommendations
  • 72 percent of consumers will only complete a transaction after reading a review
  • 86 percent of people will not buy from a business with negative ratings

Online ratings and reviews put the power back into the hands of the consumer. However, they have a lot of sales benefits for businesses too. For instance, more positive reviews equals more consumer confidence to buy. Let’s take a deeper look at a few more advantages.

Increase Your Search Engine Visibility

A high percentage of consumers begin the online shopping experience via Google search. That makes showcasing your ratings and reviews below your SEO title tag in SERPs essential. This is even more important for businesses with stellar ratings on Google My Business. For help, you should hire SEO services for your business.

Here’s how they impact your Google search results:

  • Seller ratings are showcased in a 5-star format, which can increase CTR from search engine results pages
  • Star ratings are shown in rich snippets
  • Products are listed on Google search engines when using AdWords for products and services
  • Ratings increasing CTR can signal to Google you’re page is important and rank it higher

Better Ratings Can Boost Sales Exponentially

This is a pretty self-explanatory sales benefit when it comes to ratings and reviews. Since nearly 90 percent of people trust ratings online as much as recommendations from friends, family, and coworkers, they can produce a lot of sales power for businesses.

For instance, a competitor could have the same or better product as your business, but their customer support and shipping options are poor. This could result in them having a 3-star rating and negative reviews.

On the other hand, you may excel in customer support and shipping, thus resulting in a 5-star rating. A good example of this is the welcome wagon review page. This gives your business the competitive edge and an opportunity to net more sales.

Significantly Decrease The Number Of Returns

Returns and reverse logistics, especially from online retail sales, has become a pain in the side for businesses large and small. That’s a lot of profit left on the table. Reviews, however, can turn returns policy and management on its head. How? The information left by your customers can help new customers to your business make better decisions on products, services, and more. This is pretty valuable.

The better purchasing decisions your customers make, the less likely they will return the product they bought from you. This equates to less returns management needed on your part. Not too bad, allowing you to cut costs and keep money needed to handle with returns made.

Bring Customers Into Your Store

The shopping experience in today’s digital age will most likely begin online. People will want to do their due diligence prior to buying something, and when they have time at work, or late in the evening at home, they will begin the online research.

Now this doesn’t necessarily mean that a customer will buy your products online. In fact, after researching your business, products and/or services, as well as your online reputation management, they may be inclined to come to visit you in-store to make a purchase. This is good, because it can cut down on shipping costs and the potential for an item to be returned.

Make Better Products Down the Road

Ratings and reviews are not simply all about sales in the immediate sense. They also serve up product ideation and manufacturing benefits, helping you make better complementary products with features your target audience craves.

For instance, let’s say you produce and sell headphones for runners. Now after your first line of headphones comes out, you begin seeing themes in the reviews being left by customers, like the headphones are not loud enough and slip off the ears when running. This information is valuable, because you can use it to make a better headphone for next year’s line, thus increasing sales.

How Good Are Your Ratings And Reviews?

The above benefits of ratings and reviews are only a few important ones. To ensure you are maximizing your business’ success, you need to focus on how your customers are perceiving you and your products to ensure 100 percent satisfaction. Because having good reviews can make a big difference in your bottom line.

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