Ignoring Customer Reviews? BEWARE! It Might Cost You Millions

*90% of people read online reviews before clicking the ‘Order Now’ button.

*88% of humans trust online recommendations of the buyers to the same extent as the personal ones.

*31% extra money is spent on the e-commerce website having good reviews

*72% of the crowd agreed that reading customer review is the best way to trust a local business

*92% of the people accepted that they do not hesitate to purchase from a local website, provided the rating is more than 4

*86% of the customers restrict themselves from placing the order from the website having negative reviews.

These are the findings of the latest survey and the result generated is just shocking. They clearly depict the importance of word of mouth for a business, especially for e-commerce websites. PATHETIC, POOR, WORST, are some of the words which when placed in the review section can drop your sales immensely and ultimately making you lose millions.

The quote of Mr. Sam Walton fits rightly in this scenario-

“There Is Only One Boss. The Customer. And He Can Fire Everybody in the Company from the Chairman on Down, Simply by Spending His Money Somewhere Else.”  

It just takes a couple of seconds to a dissatisfied buyer to criticize your product or services and demolish your brand trust. This blog talks about why an e-commerce industry should take each and every customer review seriously. Later in this write-up are some of the tips that will help you in using the customer reviews for your own benefits. A 5-min read to this blog is sure to help your big ties as a young entrepreneur. Grab a pen and paper. Let’s begin!

Here’s Why You Should Start Taking Customer Reviews Seriously

“Customers Are Our First Priority”- said by all, followed by none. In general, almost all the companies claim to take their customers seriously, but when it’s the time to hear their words, they simply close their ears. It is high time that the companies should realize that every feedback from the customer plays a vital role in minting millions. For instance, the chances of you booking a 1-star rated hotel for your night stay has a 0% chance. Below are some of the key points that broadly explains why every review from your customer counts. Keep scrolling!

1. Helps to Know Your Customer Better & Improve Services:

Every review left to you by your customers helps you to know the interest of your target audience. This will give you a reality-check about whether your services meet their expectations or not. Analyzing each one of them will help you in knowing if your direction is right or wrong. Now, there can be two possible cases. Either the customers are 100% satisfied and give excellent ratings or the dissatisfied ones are giving negative ratings. In any of the case, you will have a learning opportunity. Here’s how:

Positive Feedback: They will tell you to keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground. Don’t get much flattered and continue giving your 100%.

Negative Feedback: With every feedback will come a piece of advice which you have to follow. Try implementing these pieces of advice. Work on improving the aspects of your company based on the customer response, and start with the ones that attract the most negative feedback. It can be related to your support team or just a small payment page issue.

And, when you have erased all the problems pertaining to your business model, profit is the only thing which you will make.

2. Aids in Converting First-Time Visitors into Buyers:

 Ever happened that hundreds of people are visiting your website each day but the only handful of them are making a purchase? If yes, then one of the possible reason might be the negative feedback that they receive from your regular customers. Okay, let us understand it this way- Would you buy a product from the website having poor ratings, no matter how top-class may be the product or the website? A big ‘NO’, right? In the same way, no new customer will invest his hard-earned money and time on your website. Thus, it becomes necessary that you should take online customer reviews seriously if you want to outperform your competitors. The 4 or 5-star rating develops the trust of the buyers towards your company resulting in making them spend a few bucks.

3. Assist in Improving Your Search Rankings:

 You will be shocked to know that good customer rating helps make your website visible among many others. The search engine algorithms take into account the number of positive reviews. Furthermore, the number of feedback on the customer review websites is similar to hitting two birds from a single stone. On one hand, your website ranking will improve and on the other hand, it will make your website look more reliable and genuine. And, it is rightly said, when the customer speaks even the boss listens. Thus, make sure that more and more is written about your e-commerce website as then only search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc., will showcase you on the top pages. Moreover, higher keyword count in the review will further lend you a helping hand. Here’s how this works- Suppose you own a trip advising website and recently a happy customer has left the following feedback:

It is the best website for trip planning.

Now, anyone who will land on Google and search, “Which is the best trip planning website?”

The chances are high that your website will be there at the top searches.

4. Save You from Spending Money on Marketing Campaigns:

On average, an e-commerce website spends a major part of the annual budget on marketing campaigns for brand awareness and expanding their customer reach. The money required for advertising through hoardings, Google ads, TV channels often brings a lot of financial strain on the pocket of an individual. However, if you play your cards right, then the online review can actually save you a lot of bucks. Continuous amount of positive feedback will act as a micro-marketing campaign helping the website to establish its place in the heart of the buyers, making it look loyal. If done properly, then these reviews can gradually benefit your company in the short as well as the long term. Sounds interesting, isn’t it? Thus, save yourself ample money by considering reviews solemnly.

Scrolling so far, you must have realized the importance of customer reviews for your business. Thus, if you want to save your millions, start taking the customer seriously and their reviews more seriously. Moving on further, let us now have a brief of some of the best tips that will help you in using the feedback for making your business reach heights. Let us begin!

Tips on How to Use Customer Reviews for Making Millions

Welcome to this section which consists of some of the most effective ways of utilizing the feedback given by the customers. Without much ado, let us reveal the secret once and for all.

1. Take the ‘Social Media’ Route:

Congratulations on receiving a positive review. But don’t just sit with that review. Instead, promote it on the social media platforms of your website. Also, it is a good approach to list it down on your website. You can also wish to add a picture of the customer to make it look more real. This tip when implemented perfectly, is sure to grab the eye-balls of the potential customers.

2. Include the Feedback in Promotional E-mails:

 E-mail marketing is one of the best ways to promote the e-commerce website. But, how about including the positive reviews in it? Great idea, right? It is a great way to urge potential buyers to purchase from your website. Choosing this method will help you in two ways- first, it will advertise your business in a feasible way and secondly, make your promotional e-mail stand out from your competitors.

3. Make Your Customer Brand Ambassador:

As said already, the customer is the real boss. Now, the time has come to make him the brand ambassador, if not the boss. To make your website look genuine, ask the frequent buyers to run the blog section area of your website. Moreover, you can also give them permission to tweet/post about your services. Doing so will help you to stand out from the league. Also, the content will be more original and look real. High-five! You just read an awesome secret to generate more revenue.

4. Reply All Mails:

 Every coin has two sides. In a similar way, your review can be positive or negative. But, what matters the most is that you should reply to all of them. In the case of a positive review, it is a good opportunity to increase customer engagement. Also, replying the positive review will give a hint to the potential buyers that you genuinely care for your customers. And, when a negative review drops, take it as an opportunity to showcase the world that customers feedback are very important to you and your website always strives hard to remove the loopholes.

This brings us to the end of this blog. By now, you must have gained a lot of information about how a customer review can leverage the business of your e-commerce website. Moreover, tips on how to use the feedback for increasing sales is the cherry on the cake.

Hope you find this blog helpful. If it does, don’t forget to share it with your entrepreneur friends.