Before the world was taken over by the e-commerce storm, most buyers used to depend on advertisements and word-of-mouth reviews of their friends and family to make a purchase decision. However, these days consumers depend heavily on online reviews.
The moment they have to buy something, they check reviews and ratings first. Online reviews have become critical for the consumer’s decision-making process.
Statistics say more than 50% of consumers check online reviews before making a decision. 75% of people trust a business if they find positive reviews online. Consumers trust customer reviews more than the review of the manufacturer. Customer reviews influence around $400 billion of the total e-commerce industry. Therefore, it is clear that online reviews can make or break a business in the coming year.
How Reviews Influence Customer Decision
In the past, many companies did not give importance to online reviews. However, gradually most of them have realized the significance of reviews to grow business.
Reviews give visibility
Google’s algorithm trusts customer reviews. A company that has more reviews would get listed higher on Google’s search engine. Google has 57.5% of total reviews of the internet and 63% of consumers check reviews on Google. Reviews contribute to 10% of SERP ranking. Therefore, to put it simply, more reviews means better visibility on the search engine.
Reviews can convert into sales
Customer reviews can increase conversion by 270%. Having a strong review presence online can bring attention to your business as that would increase your star rating on Google. A business with more stars would attract consumers more and also be listed higher on the search engine. Customers would also trust a business with a high star ranking more than a business with no reviews or star ranking.
Things Customers consider before making a decision
Typically, potential customers look for these four things before making a purchase decision.
- Star Rating: Every review site has a star rating or a like button. Usually, it is a five-star rating and the customer can rate between one through five. Businesses with more stars would be higher on the search engine list.
- Number of reviews: 92% of customers would hesitate to make a decision if there is not a single review. Ideally, the first ten reviews are the most important. If the first ten reviews have mostly positive comments, chances are high that the consumer would also make a positive decision.
- Customer Feedback: 82% of customers search for negative reviews and gravitate towards the comments with lower ratings. They want to check out what the complaints mention specifically before migrating toward the positive reviews
- Response of Business: Customers not only look for negative reviews but they also look out for the company’s response to those reviews. Businesses that respond quickly and show an intention of solving the issue earn credibility among potential customers. It shows that the business is not only concerned about customers’ satisfaction and the quality of product/service but that they are always monitoring and listening for feedback and ways to improve.
Why Companies should avoid Fake Reviews?
Companies often make the mistake of trying to generate fake positive reviews of their products on business review sites. Most of these reviews are paid reviews. It is still quite difficult to know the exact percentage of fake reviews. Amazon has always been one of the places e-commerce customers go to read reviews about products. However, statistics from a study show that 61% of reviews on Amazon are also fake.
Due to this malpractice, lots of genuine positive reviews are also getting discounted as fake reviews. Consumers are looking at multiple platforms to avoid getting duped by fake reviews. That is also the reason why many customers gravitate towards negative reviews to get the actual picture.
Getting genuine and credible reviews from customers is the art that companies and businesses need to master in this new age. It is actually not that difficult because:
- 77% of customers would happily leave a review if asked.
- 63% would leave a review on their own if they had a good experience.
- 35% of customers leave a review if they had a bad experience.
How to Generate Genuine Reviews from Clients and Customers?
Business gifting is one of the most credible ways to generate positive reviews from clients and customers. Business gifting is an organic and thoughtful way to express gratitude towards the clients that generate a domino effect of referrals and reviews.
However, customer gifting is a tricky area. A lousy gift can look like a promotional effort and may put off the client from feeling genuine appreciation. Therefore, any business should give a thoughtful gift that can compel the client to give genuine reviews and referrals.
A Case Study
A mortgage company called Arcus Lending was struggling to generate enough reviews and testimonials, even though they were one of the fastest-growing companies. Many of their clients were happy and satisfied with them yet the company only managed to garner only 40 reviews in 3 years. Then they collaborated with Eva for corporate gifting solutions.
At Eva, we firmly believe a simple gift that appears thoughtful, personalized, and useful for the recipient goes a long way in leaving a lasting recall. 98% of the recipient of gifts at Arcus Lending remembered it even after 9-12 months of receiving them. Arcus Lending now has 94 reviews on Google. Over 4 months and more than 210 personalized gifts helped them generate 54 reviews. That’s a whopping number compared to what they had managed to get in the last three years.
To Wrap Up
Fake reviews can give business for a limited period of time. Customers are smart these days and they are able to see through them. Fake reviews take away the credibility and trust factor from a business which is important for long sustenance. Therefore, the best way is to generate genuine and credible reviews from satisfied customers. This would not only give sales conversion but also earn the long-lasting faith of the customer. And it is well known that only repeat customers make a business thrive.
Business gifting is one of the most subtle and thoughtful ways of appreciating customers for doing business with you, and it goes beyond the formal give-and-take business relationships. Customers see this as a sign of a reliable and secure company that cares for and values them. Eva is there to help you with business gifting. Eva solves the indecisiveness that comes with choosing the right gift for the chosen recipient(s) through AI.
All you have to do to do is feed in the recipient’s data like name, email address, and phone number. Eva Gifting Assistant would then generate a unique link for each of the recipients and automatically send it to them. The recipient would receive a message along with a link. Once the recipient clicks the link, they are asked to take a short survey of no longer than 5 minutes to understand what the recipient likes and prefers, do they have children, do they have pets, etc.
Once Eva collects the necessary data, it takes care of everything. From choosing the right gift for the recipient to packaging it in a branded box and shipping it to them in record time. Eva has a success rate of 94%, for choosing the perfect gift, sent in record time adding to the delight and satisfaction of the customers.
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