Customer reviews can make or break your online reputation and having quality reviews can help your business stand out against your competitors on review websites like Google, Yelp and Facebook. Almost everyone reads reviews and adding your customer reviews to your website reassures customers that your products or services are of high quality leading to an increase in conversion rates.
A presentation at Brighton SEO revealed some interesting statistics:
- 90% of consumers read reviews before visiting a business
- 31% of customers are likely to spend 31% more on a business with excellent reviews
- Reviews can boost your results by using fresh user-generated content
- 72% of consumers will take action only after reading a positive review
It is estimated that review signals account for 9.8% of the total ranking factors, which means that they cannot be ignored during SEO, especially if a brand can benefit from their use. Google takes into consideration the rating of sites, favouring those having the highest ratings. It’s your social proof and authority that reviews can boost, which means that it’s not just about adding reviews to your site, you should also focus on how to improve them.
A study by the Spiegel Research Center also found that displaying reviews can increase conversion by a massive 270%!
Interestingly, you don’t need that many positive reviews to see an increase in conversion; just a small increase of 1 – 8 new reviews on your website can have a positive impact. More positive reviews can bring more traffic to your website and help boost your sales.
When star ratings are displayed in Google search results, prospective customers can instantly judge whether they can trust your product enough to visit your website. Getting these stars displayed in Google isn’t easy but displaying your customer reviews on your website with the correct “Schema” markup can certainly help. Many users perform internet searches for reviews of products or services, so there will be more opportunities to rank higher in these search results if you have positive reviews that you can display in front of your target audience.
In order to get the most out of your reviews, you should:
- Have a clear review strategy
- Encourage reviews from your customers
- Monitor and improve your review scores
- Use rich snippets to embed reviews on your website
- Make sure you are targeting the right audience (customers) when asking for reviews
- Your review strategy should not ignore reviews on social media websites like Facebook
- Remember that negative reviews are still important
- Reply to all reviews
If you’re looking for a way to collect, monitor and display customer reviews on your website, our Reputation Management System can be a fantastic asset to your online review strategy.