What You'll Learn:
How Ratings & Reviews...
- Increase sales from comparison shopping
- Benefit Search Engine Optimization
- Build consumer confidence
The Benefits of Online Ratings and Reviews
Word of mouth is one of the oldest and most effective forms of marketing, and its influence is on the rise as traditional marketing becomes more expensive and less effective. In the past, word of mouth was limited to person-to-person communication. Today, the viral nature of the internet allows conversations to quickly spread around the world and influence millions of people. This fact, coupled with a growing distrust for traditional advertising, has made online ratings and reviews one of the most powerful factors influencing purchasing decisions.
There are two types of ratings and reviews that business owners should be aware of; product reviews and company experience reviews. Product reviews are typically non-solicited, on-site reviews that can be found directly on the business website. Consumers read and compare product reviews when trying to decide which type of product to buy. These reviews usually focus on product quality, price, and value, and are essential for increasing consumer confidence.
Company experience reviews are often solicited reviews that appear on third party sites, such as ResellerRatings.com, Epinions.com, and RateItAll.com. These reviews can occur directly after the order is placed or after the customer has received the product. Company experience reviews are “big-picture” and can include information on the merchant’s shipping, checkout process, return policy, etc. Merchants should focus on obtaining these reviews, since they improve website relevance and can boost visibility and search engine ranking.
Both product and company experience reviews are beneficial to merchants and customers alike. They help businesses establish credibility, improve their search engine visibility, and can increase online sales. They give customers a voice and help develop consumer confidence and trust that is lacking in the e-commerce marketplace. The following benefits make ratings and reviews essential to online e-commerce success:
How Ratings and Reviews Benefit Businesses
It is essential for businesses to encourage reviews because more and more customers rely on the opinions and experiences of others when making their purchasing decisions. Ratings and reviews have the power to reach a larger audience and be more influential (and less expensive) than conventional marketing methods. Ratings and reviews can help your business:
- Increase Sales - They provide customers with the information that they need to feel confident in making an online purchase, and in doing so raise your conversion rate.
- Establish Credibility - Having objective customers with no ulterior motive speak highly of your products through ratings and reviews can do more to boost your credibility that almost any traditional marketing campaign.
- Understand Your Customers - One of the wonderful benefits of ratings and reviews is that your customers are telling you everything you want to know— how they feel about your brand, what they like and dislike about your products, and how you can improve their overall shopping experience.
- Monitor and Improve Customer Service - Online reviews are a great way to discover the strengths and weakness of your customer service department. They also provide you with an opportunity to address any issues in a way that reflects positively on your company.
- Increase Traffic to Your Website - Ratings and reviews provide new and unique content that is packed with quality keywords, which will help your products rank higher and draw more traffic to your site.
- Increase Customer Loyalty - Once customers take the time to sit down and write a review, it is likely that they will feel a stronger sense of loyalty to your brand.
How Ratings and Reviews Benefit SEO
Ratings and reviews are as important to e-commerce as links are to SEO. They figure prominently into search engine algorithms and can improve your ranking in comparison shopping engines. Ratings and reviews can help your business:
- Improve Rankings - Ratings and reviews help give search engine spiders what they are looking for, which is a large volume of unique content that is updated regularly and has relevant keywords.
- Use Better Keywords - Customers writing reviews are likely to use the same type of keywords they used to search for the product in the first place. Also, reviews are typically full of keywords that will help increase your relevancy in search results and comparison shopping engines.
- Provide Unique Content - Ratings and Reviews provide the unique content that you need to differentiate yourself to the search engines and comparison shopping engines.
- Ensure Fresh Content - Regularly updated websites with fresh content are rewarded with higher rankings. Ratings and reviews are by far the easiest and most cost-effective way of producing continuously new content.
- Increase Content Volume - Ratings and reviews add to your website content and give you an outlet to provide more relevant information to your key audiences.
How Ratings and Reviews Benefit Consumers
It is important to remember that ratings and reviews exist to benefit the customer and help them make informed purchasing decisions. Ratings and reviews can help consumers:
- Increase Confidence - When consumers buy products online, they must rely on the reviews of their peers to build their confidence and guide their purchasing decisions.
- Conduct Thorough Research - Ratings and reviews give shoppers access to a huge amount of information they want and trust from an objective third party that can help them make informed purchasing decisions.
- Use Their Voice - Ratings and reviews give consumers a channel through which they can immediately share their opinion about a product or company in a significant and meaningful way.
- Engage in the Online Community - Once someone takes the time to write a review, they are likely to come back to see what others have written and to check if anyone has responded to their post, forming a cycle of customer engagement.
In Conclusion
The internet revolution has taken word of mouth marketing to the next level. Consumers now have the ability to share their experiences and opinions with their peers, in a way that is extremely influential and powerful. Online ratings and reviews give customers a voice, increase consumer confidence, enhance product visibility, and can dramatically increase sales. When it comes down to it, online ratings and reviews provide incredible value and benefits that businesses cannot afford to ignore.
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