Part of marketing your small businesses almost always includes providing a web site on which potential customers can find out more about the product and/or place an order.
When someone comes to your site, you have a captive audience for a limited period of time and your website can (and should!) go further than providing simple information and transaction capabilities.
The addition of customer reviews, blogs and forums may offer improved conversion rates provided they are correctly utilized and managed.
The use of online reviews by potential customers to inform their decision making is very common today. In fact, one study says that 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site which has user reviews on it!1
How Can my Small Business Compete?
When you are building your business, mass media advertising may help people notice you, but does it translate into an increased bottom line? When you factor in the expense of that advertising, the answer is often “no”. And there is always the risk that the “big guy” down the street may just open up their wallet and drown out your message with one of their own!
The Great Neutralizer
We all know that “Word of Mouth” is King…it’s been around since the beginning of time and it is a great tactic for small businesses to encourage, not only to be cost-effective, but to battle the bigger, richer, competition in your market.
Today, “Electronic Word of Mouth” is the more efficient, effective & widespread version that has taken over!
Did you know that nearly 9 out of 10 people (90%!) trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations…AND they are 6.5 times more likely to trust online reviews than traditional advertising!2
Most Small Business Owners Agree
A majority of small business owners believe that positive online reviews are at least as important as a website (65%), word of mouth (60%), online listings (59%) and print advertising (51%) for getting new customers.3
And if being found online & driving traffic to your website is a main driver of your business…online reviews are believed to help with search engine ranking, particularly for local businesses. This means that the quantity and quality of your reviews may affect where you show up (page 1 or page 10…) in the results of search engines like Google, Yahoo & Bing!
Don’t underestimate the impact that online reviews can have on your business!
Ready to Generate More Online Reviews?
At BARQAR, we specialize in helping all types of local businesses generate more online reviews. Learn more about our system and app that will help you generate immediate customer feedback and reviews.
1 The MarketingSpot.com – “Importance of Online Reviews for Local Business”
2 Brightlocal.com – Local Consumer Review Survey 2013
3 Yodle: Small Business and Online Review Survey 2014