The customer is always right! Haven’t we heard that one before? But, honestly, it’s true, and particularly when it comes to their experiences with brands.
The only way you can truly gauge how well your business is doing is by paying attention to what your customers are saying. Sure, you’re bound to get someone on a bad day, who decides it’s time to bad-mouth you, but generally, customer reviews are vital for businesses in many ways.
The Importance Of Customer Reviews For Businesses
Here are some of the top reasons why customer reviews are essential
Social proof can influence consumer behavior
Think of a time when you’ve considered buying anything, from buying a new car to trying out a new restaurant. You tend to listen to your friends and family, or influencers and contacts on social media. It’s often easier to trust peer reviews and social connections than simply relying on the marketing that a company might throw at you.
This is why customer reviews are important to both the customer and the company. As the customer, you get valuable insight into a company. And as a brand, you’re able to gauge consumer perception and influence behavior accordingly.
It can go both ways, right? You would most likely avoid that new restaurant in town if someone you know found a hair in their food or if it has multiple terrible reviews. Adversely, you would probably go with the contractor that has multiple good customer reviews. So, as a brand, it’s important to display these (as we’ve done here) to show that people have had a positive experience working with you.
Builds trust with your brand
Whether it’s a good or bad review, sometimes it’s about having honest opinions about your brand out there for the world to see. Obviously, you aim for 5-star ratings, but honesty builds trust among potential customers. And even better when it’s positive feedback!
It’s always a good idea to have reviews live on trusted sites, like Google Reviews or Houzz, to increase the level of trust your brand holds in the industry.
When it comes to building trust in this way, it’s essential to respond to customer feedback – both the good and the bad. Regardless of the platform you’re reviewed on, it’s super important to respond to your customer. Whether it’s a simple thank you or an apology for a bad experience (hopefully not necessary!), it helps that you engage with your customers and shows that you care about their experience.
Improves brand reputation
When you decide to buy something, whether it’s a kitchen remodel, or a new stovetop, you like to know you’re buying from a trusted supplier. And how do you find out how well-liked a supplier is? Besides tracking them down online and making sure their website is legit, you like to see what others say about the product or service.
So, the more people say about you, the better! How you may ask?
The more customer reviews you have on your website and partner sites, the more you show that you’re a credible and reputable brand. A 5-star rating, with one or two reviews, doesn’t say very much, but 20 reviews, ranging from 4.5 to 5 stars say a lot about the service your customers received. Essentially, it all adds up to you having a really reputable brand presence in the online community.
Boosts search engine rankings
We won’t bore you with the finer details, there’s A LOT that goes into SEO (Search Engine Optimization). These days, Google Algorithms are very particular about what constitutes good search engine rankings.
It’s not just about punting your own content and patting yourself on the back 100 times, it’s about partner content and customer reviews too. Essentially, you have to have your brand spoken about across different sites and platforms, from social media to your own website, to industry sites. This way, you have something of a breadcrumb trail of positive information, good reviews, and great content.
Google sees this and will then rank your website higher, which then boosts your organic traffic. That’s why it’s always a good idea to encourage your customers to leave a review on Google Reviews once you’ve done a job. It leaves that very important breadcrumb trail of your brand so that you pop up in more online searches.
Final Thoughts
We can all agree customer reviews are a winner at building your online presence and credibility as a brand.
At Fazzolari Construction, we have a couple of reviews online from some pretty happy clients over the years and would love to add more to the list. If we’ve done some work in your home, whether it’s a complete custom home construction project or a renovation project, you can let us know what you think by clicking this link.
