Customer reviews play a crucial role in attracting new customers. When starting a business, it is often necessary to invest significantly to convince consumers of the quality of your products or services. In this context, a positive customer review can prove decisive. This highlights the importance of investing not only in service quality, but also in collecting and managing customer feedback. This article will guide you through best practices for using these valuable reviews to your advantage. We'll explore effective strategies, practical tools, and essential precautions to increase your prospects' confidence. Follow us to discover how to transform your customer reviews into a major differentiator.

What are customer reviews?

Customer review is a rating left by those who have experienced a product or service. Indeed, it can manifest in different forms such as text, video or audio. These comments can be positive, negative or neutral. And, therefore, play a vital role in consumers' perception of a brand or product. Although the increased importance of customer reviews seems to be a recent phenomenon, amplified by the web age, this concept is far from new. Historically, consumers have relied on the recommendations of others to assess the credibility of a product or service. In short, a review can either strengthen or damage a company's reputation. For this reason, it is important to manage these returns with the greatest attention.

How does the customer review system work?

The process begins when you offer a product or service to a customer, whether online or in person. After purchasing or consuming this service, different methods can be employed to collect customer feedback. Some companies opt to integrate a feedback form directly on their website, often accompanied by a rating system. Others prefer to redirect their customers to third-party platforms specialized in collecting reviews, such as Google My Business or Facebook . In addition, with the evolution of digital marketing, encouraging customers to share their experience in the form of videos is becoming an increasingly common practice. These video testimonials can offer an authentic and compelling insight into the experience, helping to build trust with future customers. It is crucial for businesses to simultaneously make it easy to collect these reviews, and manage them proactively. Respond to comments, whether positive or negative. This demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction and can turn a potentially negative review into an opportunity to demonstrate customer service excellence.

How to use reviews to stand out from the competition?

Using customer reviews to stand out from the competition is an increasingly essential strategy in today's digital ecosystem. Take the example of Google and its influence on local SEO. Indeed, businesses with high ratings on Google My Business tend to be favored in search suggestions for specific services. This observation highlights the crucial importance of reviews in the degree of trust placed by Google in a business.

An anecdote about one of our clients

Once upon a time there was a client whose website, with its impeccable and visually appealing design, stood out clearly from those of its competitors. However, despite this aesthetic superiority, he encountered notable difficulties in attracting customers locally. The situation was somewhat confusing. After further analysis, we found the crux of the problem. We could, for example, notice that its online presence was weakened by an insufficient number of reviews on its Google My Business page. That's when we proposed a simple, but effective strategy. We simply encouraged him to actively collect reviews from his customers. Following our advice, it implemented various initiatives to encourage its customers to share their positive experience online. To our great satisfaction, this approach has paid off well beyond expectations. Gradually, the client's Google My Business page began to fill up with reviews. Indeed, His page went from a few rare comments to around thirty laudatory evaluations. This transformation has not only improved its online brand image. But, it also had a direct and measurable impact on its activity. The influx of new local customers increased significantly, proving that positive reviews were the missing link in its digital marketing strategy. This experience reaffirmed the invaluable value of customer reviews in the success of a business in the digital age.

To stand out thanks to customer reviews, here are some proven strategies

Here's a very simple approach you can take to leverage your customer reviews.

Take advantage of Google My Business

Actively encourage your customers to post their reviews on your page. This will improve your visibility and credibility on Google.

Target popular review platforms

In addition to Google, identify the platforms where your potential customers are looking for reviews and make sure to maintain an active presence there. Direct your customers to these platforms to share their experience. Aside from Google and Facebook, here are four key platforms where it makes sense to focus your efforts.

Yelp : Especially popular in the restaurant, hotel and local services sector. It is a platform on which users share their experiences and recommendations. Therefore, being highly rated on Yelp can attract a significant local following.
TripAdvisor : Essential in the tourism, hotel and catering sector. It helps consumers plan their trips and leisure activities using reviews, ratings, and photos published by the community.
Trustpilot : Consumer review platform widely used around the world. It is particularly relevant for companies in the e-commerce sector. Reviews are a guarantee of transparency and reliability for online buyers.
Angie's List (now called Angi): Specific to the American market. Indeed, Angi is a platform of choice for finding reliable professionals in the field of domestic services, renovation and maintenance. Therefore, a good rating on Angi can significantly increase your credibility and attract customers looking for quality services.

Automate the review request

Use tools that automatically send a review solicitation to customers. You can, for example, do this a few days after their purchase or provision of the service. This can significantly increase the number of reviews received. Here are some examples :

Yotpo : This tool allows you to automatically send emails to customers after a purchase. In fact, Yotpo invites them to leave a review on the product or service purchased.
ReviewTrackers : Specializing in tracking and managing online reviews. It offers features to automate the sending of review requests to your customers.
Birdeye : A comprehensive platform that automates the collection of reviews across various channels. This includes SMS and email, making customer engagement easier.
Podium : Podium is a solution that allows you to collect opinions via text messages. It also allows you to manage all of your interactions from a single platform.

These tools make collecting reviews easier by reducing the effort required on both the part of the business and the customer, which can help increase the volume and quality of feedback received.

Integrate reviews on your website

Display customer reviews directly on your website. This can build visitor confidence. Plus, they can get immediate insight into customer satisfaction without having to leave your site.

Encourage video reviews

Preferably, encourage your customers to leave video reviews. This format can have a much stronger impact than text or notes alone, providing visual and personal proof of customer satisfaction. By implementing these strategies, you will not only build consumer trust in your brand, but you will also position yourself as a preferred choice against the competition. Indeed, customer reviews, when used correctly, are a powerful tool for building and maintaining your business reputation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, consumer reviews can have an impact on your sales. Therefore, having a strategy in place to collect positive reviews is very important for the survival of your business. Do you want to work on a plan for acquiring reviews from your customers? Contact us for an evaluation.

Gilblas Ngunte Possi

Founder and Full-Stack Developer at Prositeweb.

My proficiency with modern tools and a keen analytical sense regarding information technology enable me to provide superior guidance in the development and implementation of your web solutions.

Strategy for leveraging referrals to generate revenue.