How important are reviews to your business? It turns out, very important. Read my latest column from Tableware Today magazine on the importance of reviews.
Turning Reviews Into Sales
Does this sound like you...You need a hedge trimmer so you click on Google, read a few reviews, head to Home Depot, and make a purchase. You’re on a favorite clothing store’s website. The pants you’re interested in have poor fit comments so you choose something else. The reviews for the family theme park say it’s dirty so you change your vacation venue. You read book reviews to learn if the next book you’re about to order is something you’d really be interested in. How important really are reviews to your business?
Customers are likely to spend 31% more at a company with excellent reviews; 72% say positive reviews make them trust a local business; 88% read reviews to determine the quality of a local business; 70% rely on customer reviews before making a purchase.
But bestreviews.com, Amazon, and other review sites aren’t reviewing tabletop patterns. So what do you want people to say about your store? How about how the sales staff helped create the perfect bridal registry. That the business owners really care. That customers had great experiences. I might want to know that the product selection was unique or extensive. I want to feel that when reading a business’ reviews that I’m going to have a good experience if I shop at your store.
I look to Yelp as the ultimate review site, but millennials I interviewed said they primarily use Yelp searching for restaurants, hotels, or other activities. Millennials mostly look to Facebook reviews or reviews directly on a store’s website. And, of course, Amazon. Since a customer often checks out reviews on Facebook, how can you increase the number of reviews there? One simple way is get customers to check in on your Facebook page. This check-in sends an immediate status update on their Facebook page to all their friends announcing that they’re at your store. (Make sure you’ve turned on the allow check-ins feature found on the About section of your Facebook page.) When people check into your business, Facebook follows up with them saying you were at their store yesterday. Write a review to share your experience. A store doesn’t have to do it. Facebook will.
A relatively unknown Facebook feature encourages check-ins. Sign up for Facebook Wi-Fi. Then whenever someone enters your business and connects to your Wi-Fi the feature displays your business’ Facebook page. At that point, to connect to your Wi-Fi, they can enter a password or check in on Facebook. This underutilized feature is a free service from Facebook. The Wi-Fi isn’t free, but the sign-in via Facebook is the key. Google Facebook Wi-Fi for details.
If you use the Bridge platform, customers that buy from Bridge retailers online are automatically asked to review their experience five to seven days after the purchase was completed. The store doesn’t have to do any work. This is not unlike Zappos, Nordstrom, Eileen Fisher, or myriad other stores using similar rate your experience solicitations. Since it’s unethical to pay for reviews, Bridge will soon roll out a reward-for-reviews system. When a customer leaves a review of three stars or higher, they’ll receive an unsolicited email with a coupon for money off to be used in-store. This encourages a happy online customer to come in to the physical store and make another purchase.
Turn website reviews into Facebook posts. Nancy Joseph of LCRwestport uses them as one of the content themes on the store’s Facebook page. By combining a photo of the item purchased with the person’s review, you can fill the Facebook newsfeed with real testimonials. What if you get a bad review? Turn bad reviews into opportunities. Use them to garner credibility by demonstrating how you handle an unsatisfied customer. Say you’re sorry they weren’t happy with your service and offer to fix the problem. Let your customers see how you handle the complaint. If you sense the problem will be difficult take the conversation offline by asking the customer to contact you via email.
Amazon has turned us all into critics. Reviews have turned into indicators of customer service. Using them wisely can lead to stronger sales.
Call-out: You need to pay attention to reviews on Google, Yelp, Foursquare, Citysearch, and even the Yellow Pages. Online reviews make up 10% of how Google and other search engines rank search results. Use reviews to help you get on page one.