Social proof has been a prominent concept and is still very much in use. It can be applied to all areas of commerce and business. This concept directly correlates with brand success and how the business targets its potential customers.

Think about your customer. Would you rather invest in a well-marketed product or one that your friends recommend? It’s easy to see why.

Reviews and recommendations are an important part of any company’s reputation, including digital agencies.

Social media is a powerful marketing tool today. Businesses can win the entire market or crash and burn.

A single negative review from an influencer can discourage existing clients and eliminate the possibility of getting new ones.

We will now look at the metrics that determine the importance of reviews. Also, how an e-commerce platform, a digital agency in Phoenix, or any other e-commerce platform, can use some tips and guidelines to make sure they aren’t on the wrong side of customer reviews?

The value of customer reviews

Invesp provides some amazing statistics to help you understand the potential customer reviews. These numbers are listed below.

* Approximately 90% of your customers will read reviews before purchasing products or services.

* Websites with excellent reviews are more likely to be visited by customers by 31% more than websites with mediocre reviews.

* 72% of respondents to a survey will add a product or service to their shopping carts if they read a positive review.

* 86% of respondents also stated they would be reluctant to buy products from websites with negative reviews.

These metrics or statistics show that positive reviews can help customers retain customers, and also generate sales.

These reviews also help to build trust between clients and your company.

These numbers BrightLocal’s survey demonstrates this:

* 91% of those aged 18-34 are millennials. They will give reviews the same priority as recommendations from friends and family.

Positive reviews will instantly increase the trust between clients and businesses, as 73% find these platforms more trustworthy.

Taking into account the experiences of your customers will allow you to better understand them. This will provide you with incredible insights into how to improve your product or what is driving customers away.

Negative reviews are a learning opportunity for your business.

This allows you to measure the customer’s response and behavior towards your products more accurately and effectively.

Customer reviews are a key factor in any business’s SEO rankings. Good reviews can help you rank higher in search engines because they value customer experience.

Your website will also be more likely to appear in search results for certain keywords because of the content on your platform.

It is important to include reviews on e-commerce. Let’s talk about some guidelines and practices that you can use to properly utilize customer reviews and respond effectively to negative ones.

Maintaining reputation via reviews

First, it is important, to be honest with your reviews and not hide from negative ones. Websites tend to delete negative reviews and display only positive reviews.

This will not fool Google’s complicated algorithms and can negatively impact your SEO strategies. These algorithms are designed to identify websites that only display positive reviews and rank them accordingly.

Customers will also be skeptical about websites that have received poor reviews from customers. The brand must be balanced to appear legitimate and understandable to all standards.

A good mix of positive and negative reviews will make 68% of customers feel more confident in their product.

Remaining honest

However, e-commerce sites often create fake reviews for the products they sell.

These reviews will be written in-house and strategically displayed on the websites. These practices are known to users, and they can be easily identified by them.

Even if one user raises concerns about the authenticity of a review, it can cause a major downturn in the entire group. Each user will start to distrust the company and won’t invest in its products or services.

Fake reviews can also be a deception.

According to BrightLocal, fake reviews are not difficult to find. This is even though more than one-third of those surveyed saw fake reviews in 2018.

Handling complaints

High quality speaks for itself. If your website is looking great, good reviews will begin to pile up. However, bad reviews are likely as we all make mistakes.

It is not a good idea to ignore or remain silent in such cases. Follow-up with a response will be beneficial for both parties.

Understanding the user’s complaint is key. You should address it quickly and, if possible, make amends. Sometimes, an apology and assurance of special care are enough.

BrightLocal once again shows that 33% of consumers value feedback on complaints. However, 89 percent of users look for and evaluate any responses from businesses.

Businesses should also be careful about responding to negative reviews.

The content is what defines the consumer’s view and can lead to disastrous results. Negative reviews should be dealt with by your content development team.

If a review isn’t constructive or relevant and serves to troll or soil your brand’s reputation without making a concrete claim, it can be flagged by Google. Google will analyze the post and take appropriate action, especially if there are profanities in the content.

Utilizing different spaces

Your platform reviews will only address visitors to your site. However, to reach potential customers, your business will need to use many channels.

Positive reviews posted on your website are not enough to make an impact. You will need to share these posts via other channels.

BrightLocal offers a different perspective on this. They claim that half of the consumers will only visit an e-commerce site if they’ve read positive reviews elsewhere. It is important to register your brand in different places such as Google Maps, Yelp, and Facebook so that people can get an idea of what your business is all about.

This is just a small selection of the many channels that your business has to effectively market your reviews.

Placement and Timing

A review profile is a two-way thing. Having reviews displayed prominently and conveniently is just as important as knowing when your customers are going to leave reviews. Although it’s easy for an eCommerce website to include reviews on its pages, digital marketers in Miami have utilized positive reviews to their full potential.

This company posts testimonials from clients and reviews on its homepage, to make a lasting impression.

Sophie&Trey has added a twist to the e-commerce site formula by showing the feedback comments on an item in their blog section, in addition to the usual reviews on the product page.

It all comes down to timing when it comes time to collect reviews. Reserve reviews should only be submitted after the product has been delivered for a long time and the customer has had the opportunity to use the service. You can usually email them within a month of delivering the item.

Clients may request that they be contacted to review their experience. In these cases, it is important to ensure this happens.

It’s easy to make the review process simple by asking the consumer for a rating on a scale from 0 to 5, and then allowing them the opportunity to submit their review via Push Notifications or Email. Before you allow any customer to leave reviews, ensure that your business has provided excellent services or products.

The deciding factor in client reviews is their overall experience during the purchase process.

Reviews are tools to build relationships with customers while also greatly boosting the brand’s reputation and search engine rankings as a whole.

It is important to deal with negative reviews positively. You should also appreciate the positive reviews.