How Businesses Can Thrive in a Review-Based Economy

Now, more than ever, customer reviews influence the purchasing decisions of potential customers, and the past marketing standards of companies directly telling consumers what to think have been completely shattered. We are now living in what can be considered a “review-based economy,” where customer reviews can either make or break any business. After reading this blog, you will be aware of key strategies that effectively leverage consumer reviews to drive sales.

Understanding the Prevalence of Review Platforms

In the past decade, several review platforms have emerged that allow consumers to voice their opinions regarding products and services across various industries. The first step for business owners (especially true for Direct-to-Consumer businesses) to thrive from their reviews is to know the main channel that their customers are using to voice praises and complaints. For example, e-commerce businesses will likely find that their main source of reviews come from Amazon, eBay, or any site that they use to sell products. Businesses in the food service industry will find that their reviews are mainly from Yelp and Google Business. Reviews for plumbers, contractors, electricians and other specialists can all be found on Angi, formerly known as Angie’s List. Researching which outlets generate the majority of your business’ reviews will allow you to take the first step towards effectively utilizing customer reviews.

Knowing Influence and Impact of Testimonials

Products and services can impact customers in highly emotional ways, which can drive consumers to share their experience with a product or service that benefitted their lives. Finding customers that have had these experiences with your products, and who would like to share their experience, will allow your business to show potential customers the experience that your product or service will guarantee. Video testimonials allow much deeper messages to be conveyed rather than written reviews and can be prominently displayed on any business’ website. Utilizing the formatting and communicative advantages of testimonials will allow any business owner to establish credibility among potential customers, while also creating future potential testimonials and reviews.

The Necessity of Interacting with Reviewers

Customer reviews are not only meant for potential customers, they are also a way for customers to reach out to the business owner or an employee and voice their compliments or complaints. Business owners can maintain a higher average score across all review sites by doing their best to interact with as many customers as possible. If a business owner makes amends with a negative reviewer, potential customers will see that the business they are potentially purchasing from actually cares about its customers and their well-being.

In this review-based economy, it is crucial that business owners take customer reviews and testimonials into consideration when thinking of ways to grow and improve their business. The influence of reviews and testimonials is only getting stronger and will have an even bigger impact in the coming years. Business owners will be successful if they have a thorough understanding of each review platform, properly leverage customer testimonials, and interact with their reviewers on a regular basis. 

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