How often do you look at reviews or testimonials for products that you’re considering buying? If you’re like the 95% of people that look at reviews before buying a product or service then you probably don’t ever seriously consider the product until you’ve read through all the ratings
Client testimonials and reviews help the buyer out immensely through the buying process and can take someone from need recognition to purchase evaluation to leave their own honest review.
In this listicle-style blog post, we’ll uncover the secrets behind reviews, testimonials, and reputation management and provide actionable steps that you yourself can follow to help you elevate your own brand and unlock its pricing power.
Rating Systems and Why They Are Helpful
Before diving into the value of customer feedback, it’s important to understand the rating system and why its layout matters. Most people are familiar with the 5-star system (or similar formats) often seen on e-commerce websites, booking platforms, and service pages. This simple, visual representation of customer feedback allows potential buyers to gauge the overall satisfaction with a product or service at a glance.
Why The Rating System Matters
The rating system we use today helps create a visual representation of quality and can be graded by the searcher and search engine at a quick glance.
- Simplicity and quick understanding: A rating system condenses multiple reviews into a single metric, allowing visitors to quickly assess whether a product is worth their time.
- Emotional reassurance: Customers tend to gravitate toward products or services with higher ratings because they signify safety and reliability. A highly rated product subconsciously reassures buyers that they are making the right decision.
- Prompts further exploration: A good rating encourages buyers to click through, learn more, and read individual reviews. Conversely, a low rating might prompt the customer to explore why it’s rated poorly, contributing to transparency.
Why do we use a star rating system when reviewing products and services? The star rating system has been helpful to use for reviewing work and other products. We can get an overall idea of the quality of work and craftsmanship that’s put into products and services alike. We trust what others have to say about their purchase and trust that the overall general population knows what they like and also don’t like.
The star rating system came from Michelin Tires back in 1907. They wanted to promote good destinations that would be worth a detour or even an entire journey planned around a single place. From there the rating system was born and the people began to trust the mass opinions of others. Little did Michelin know it at the time but they would revolutionize the way to grade and review everyday products and services from pens to cars.
Equally as important are more detailed experiences from past or current clients. These can highlight some pain points that the client was dealing with before they hired someone else to help alleviate those pains.
Testimonials are valuable to showcase on your website because business or other organizations who are experiencing the same issues can have questions answered just by reading a past client’s experience with that exact problem and the process of getting it solved by your services!
Problems To Be Aware of with Ratings and Testimonials in Today’s Modern Age
Not all reviews are made equal and lots are actually taken down because of the veracity of them and the undetailed responses given. Mass quantities of good 5 star reviews can be bought with certain software and black-hat methods. The reason people lie about their reviews is because they want to build trust quickly and increase sales and revenue. Nowadays these methods are getting ruled out and lots of businesses are creating more rules and regulations that help verify reviews.
01. The Role of Social Proof in the Buying Process
When’s the last time you bought a product or requested a service without first doing some type of research on the company, business, or organization? Did you ask a trusted friend or a reliable source for more information? Did you read through the newest or most recent reviews on that company’s google business profile page? It’s common to be wary and cautious of new people. Humans are a very social and territorial species and we want to be aware of where we’re putting our trust. We hate not being in the know and fear the unknown.
There are 3 things that you should look for when looking at reviews:
- Date Relevance: This is referring to how long ago the review was written. Consumers understand that places of business change over time as well as staff and employees come and go as time goes on and perhaps the customer service has changed. If there was a negative experience in the past, new prospective customers tend to believe that a few bad reviews from a while ago won’t affect their experience. Having a date on the review can help buffer bad reviews.
- Rating: This refers to the rating that was left. Usually it’s based out of 5 stars with 1 being the worst experience and 5 being exceptional!
- Experience: This is where the person leaving a review can leave some context on their situation and leave a story of how they were before their interaction with the company or organization and then how they were afterwards.
“I haven’t experienced such exceptional service in a very long time! The manager was kind and patient while he educated me and answered my questions about the coats I was looking at. Jack & Carrie were also kind and helpful when I needed to make a return. I would definitely recommend shopping here!!!”
Jane DoeA Week Ago
This is a great example of what to be looking for in a positive review. After reading this, I would definitely look here at this store first and strongly consider buying a coat from them because I know that I’ll be taken care of and listened to.
02. How Reviews Influence the Buyer Journey
Stories are powerful tools that connect with people on an emotional level. The testimonial is not so much different. It’s simply a quick story about how there was a problem and how you fixed it. Consumers are drawn to other people’s shopping experiences and buying decisions. Everyone is trying to relate to each other and we so badly want to fit in and know if other people are experiencing the same things as us. Humans long for connection and testimonials play a vital part in that decision making process.
- Problem: Weave a captivating narrative around your problem and pain points.
- Experience with service: Make a point to enact more emotion and what life was like after using your organization to help resolve the issue.
- Solution: Highlight the solution to the problem and how it made the client feel after.
- Review: Leave an opinion and refer others to check out the services and products being offered.
03. Building Credibility and Trust with Testimonials
The best thing to be in today’s society is credible and a trusted source of information. The absolute best way to do this is by getting more testimonials. Showcasing your client’s positive experiences with you and your business is a surefire way to build any potential client’s confidence in your organization.
Having a few of your favorite client’s positive testimonials on your home page can help immensely with building that confidence early on in the prospect’s buyer’s journey.
““I’ve never had a better experience than I did with Big Red Jelly. They were recommended to me when I started my own esthetic business and needed help with everything else!””
Natalie JardineSpa Owner
04. How Testimonials and Reviews Help SEO
SEO is what drives people to your business and helps new people find you and your services. Having reviews on your website and your google business page help others find you under keywords that might be used in your reviews. These are great opportunities to increase rank for keywords and optimize your digital presence online. Although you cannot choose what your customers will say, you can always respond to their reviews and can be strategic in your choice of keywords that you want to focus on and optimize towards. For more information on responding to customer reviews and how to handle negative reviews, keep reading down below to the next section.
- Keyword Research: Doing keyword research can be simpler than you think. The first thing is to choose a few words that are relevant to your services/products and industry. Then make a list of keywords that you’d like to be found under. There’s also plenty of websites you can use that can give you good keyword suggestions such as:
- Optimize: Place your newfound keywords into relevant places in your website testimonials and customer reviews.
- Implement: Add your responses and optimized keywords to your client reviews.
05. Handling Negative Reviews
As amazing as it would be to get 100% positive feedback and reviews, It’s not very likely. But, you can still make the most out of negative reviews and take advantage of the opportunity to optimize your profile with relevant keywords for your business and industry. The best way to address negative feedback is by following this process:
- Address the situation: Reach out and respond to the negative review and address the customer by their name and personalize it towards them.
- Relay the situation and their concern back to them: Repeat the situation from your understanding and help them realize your genuine concern on their problem and that you’re working on finding a solution for the issue.
- Leave a way for them to respond to you in a private manner: Give them a company email where you can solve their issue separate from a public forum. This way they feel the comfort of knowing that someone is listening and working on their situation and you can take any possible further negative actions away from the public eye and lower the risk of anything else negative being said on your reviews page.
06. Actionable Steps to Collect Reviews and Testimonials
The best way to get more reviews is by building out an email or text message template that you can send out to all your recent customers. Leave them with a nice brief message and a way back to your review page. Make it as easy as possible for them so that it doesn’t come off as a hassle to them. A simple outline to follow looks like this:
- Greetings and message: Reach out to your customers and let them know why you’re reaching back out and what it would mean to you and your business to receive some feedback from them.
- Leave a link or QR code back to your review page: It’s simple to leave a link back to your website and review page. Try to make it as simple as possible for them to get their so they can leave you a nice review!
- Thanks!: Make sure to always show your appreciation and express gratitude for their services and choice in using your business
Conclusion: An Optimized Profile
Gaining people’s trust is an ongoing journey, not a one-time event. It requires attention, consistency, and a deep understanding for your audience. By following these steps and implementing your authority and credibility into every aspect of your business, you can create a powerful and trusted company that resonates with consumers!
Get in touch with our team at Big Red Jelly to learn more about orchestrating and stimulating great reviews from your clients!
