Online Reviews: How to Use Reviews to Drive Revenue for Your Business

Are you taking advantage of what could be the single biggest way to increase and maintain your long term revenue? The World Economic Forum released a study which documents that your reputation is responsible for 25% of a business’s market valuation.

 

A great example of this is Apple. In 2015 Apple’s reputation was to have contributed to 46% of its total market valuation. It has recently reported a market cap of $1 trillion dollars. The first company to ever do so. This is big money and the big companies know that reputation management has become a high return business essential.

 

So how can other smaller businesses such as your own make use of this information and actively manage and control what other say about your services? Afterall, Apple is teaming with personnel that may in fact do nothing more than manage reputation.

 

It’s not that hard. Simply start by getting awesome online reviews.

 

Google is always making changes directed at improving user experience. As an example its determined that some of the information users value is other people’s opinion about using a company. That is the reason it displays a company's reviews in a more obvious manner and is increasing its importance in rankings, traffic, AND sales.

In fact, having reviews on sales pages can increase conversions by 18%.

 

Reviews are also having a positive impact in search rankings. We now understand that the higher the number of reviews the higher a company will show up on search results.

 

If you are in an ultra-competitive niche, it can be the difference being successful or being relegated to an “also ran”. Simply, 93% of U.S. consumers always check online reviews before purchasing.

 

Here is a snapshot of a hyper-competitive industry on Texas: BBQ. The search for “Austin’s Best BBQ” turned up almost 340,000 results. The top result on Google maps has over 1,800 reviews.

 

 

We wanted to provide you with an automated way to not only get reviews, but do it consistently and be able to produce positive results.

 

And be able to only provide reviews from REAL customers on Google, Facebook, and YELP, and other TRUSTED review platforms.

 

Here is a case study of of the process once it was implemented. The result was an impressive climb from a middling 3.5 stars to a more respectable 4.8 stars in less than 2 months.

 

 

So if you want to fast track the review process and start receiving 5-star reviews and improve your standing, reputation and crush the competition, then you may want to check this out.

 

We’re going to share exactly how we:

 

• Rapidly collect positive reviews
• Prevent negative reviews
• Make more money by using reviews in marketing
• Save more time by automating the process

 

Let’s get to it!

 

I. How To Rapidly Collect Positive Reviews

So really there are a number of ways to ramp up the number of reviews you receive. What’s really an added bonus is that most don’t require any maintenance once they are set up. They can collect reviews on auto-pilot.

 

A. Add widgets to your website

Websites are considered the best channel to receive these reviews. They have a 63% effective rating, and is often the first look your customer have at what you have to offer and how you are branding yourself. Why not take advantage of the good will your website generates and capture a “thumbs-up”.

 

Great chance to capitalize on a first impression. Simply add widgets that prompt a positive review after they take action on an offer to join your newsletter, use your service, or engage your chat bot.

 

These are folks that you already wowed and have taken an action. Why wouldn't you take advantage of what should be slam dunk endorsement for your services?

B. Employ email autoresponder and ask for reviews

The second highest effective marketing channel is email at 52%. You can have an automated email go out after someone takes a positive action. Again, you are taking advantage of a lubricated audience that is prone to gush over your stellar service. :)

 

 

C. Ask for reviews in every email signature

Business users send and receive on average 121 emails a day in 2014, and this is expected to grow to 140 emails a day by 2018.  If you’re like most, you have your fair share going out as well. Make each email your little sales person sent to ask for a review. You know what they, “If you don’t ask…”.

 

 

II. How To Prevent Negative Reviews

Bad reviews are usually a result of a misunderstanding. Your company’s reputation suffers if these are not handle in a timely manner. They are left to have a life of their own, and once reviews start pouring in, it becomes harder and harder to get out ahead of these things.

 

So what is the solution?

 

Automation. Simply, I can show you how you can pre-qualify the reviews, so in the event there is a negative one, it allows you a chance to resolve it even before it hits the airwaves. And the automation allows you to post the 5-star reviews straight to the social sharing page.

Go from this:

 

To this:

 

 

For example, those customers that rate anything other than say 4 stars are taken to a different page allowing them to explain their bad experience. This is directed to your customer service where someone has a chance to resolve the issue and save the day in private!

 

 

III. Increase Your Bottom Line By Using Reviews In Your Marketing

Once you’ve mastered the art of soliciting 5-star reviews, you need to spread the good news! After all, this isn’t anything that needs to be kept to one's own self. Get the cigars out!

 

Here’s how:

A. Collect all reviews

Monitor all your reviews in one spot and keep tabs on them. This includes those that were unsolicited on the many far-flung review sites across the web. Store these in a database for tracking and further use.

 

B. Include reviews on your sales pages where pricing appears

There is nothing like a positive affirmation next to the price to firm up any potential buying reluctance. If you are not eCommerce, have them in other strategic areas when its critical to converting a new customer.

 

If you want to take a page from a successful company, Amazon uses this strategy. Not sure if you’ve noticed. They provide reviews on the sales page, which has been shown to increase conversions by 18%.

 

With the cart abandonment rates as high as they are, this is one last push to save any deal that may go by the wayside.

C. Create a reviews page

Start a page that is dedicated to nothing but reviews. It’ll be your own vanity page. But vanity aside, this has real practical advantages. You can SEO this page and get more eyeballs to show up and check out your services for the first time. This is very powerful when your review webpage page shows up instead of the 3rd party review site like YELP that has you competitors listed as well. Rank this page for “your company + reviews”!

 

D. Share your reviews on social media

Your social media sites are one great way to connect instantly and in an unobtrusive way to stay in front of your customers. And it always has the chance of going viral. Or baby viral, like picking up a few hundred shares. It builds and enhances brand reputation. Share screenshots of actual reviews. Do this constantly, and use related hashtags, tag relevant influencers, and don’t forget to respond to customers on social media.

 

IV. Don't Forget To Automate The Process

So now you know what is working now. This is a bulletproof plan and if followed can reap great rewards. But there’s a slight catch: it takes a lot of time and patience to implement manually.

 

Businesses that are able to scale, do so by knowing what to outsource. If you are involved with SEO tactics, who is taking care of the customers?

 

So we looked at ways to speed up and automate the process.

 

So we streamlined the process and offer it as a service.

• Collect and push reviews to any website
• The review widget that helps resolve negative reviews
• An autoresponder that can be immediately deployed to start collecting reviews
• Monitor and quickly respond to any reviews that came from other sources
• Market reviews on any website
• Automatically push reviews to social channels

 

Shoot me an email and find out more about automating your reputation management.

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