Why Companies Need Reputation Management

by Apr 28, 2019

Reputation Management is important to every business

Reputation Management

So many companies are in desperate need of reputation management. Some companies aren’t even aware that they need reputation management. What is reputation management? It’s exactly what it sounds like. Managing one’s reputation online.

The Intent Of This Article

 

What I will do in this article is point out the statistics of why reputation management is such an important part of your online and offline presence. How you can grow your business, if you learn reputation management or higher a company like mine to manage it for you.

A Customer Declines

Why should businesses care about the way they look to people searching online? It’s hard to believe that I was once told by a potential client that they didn’t care about any online presence. This was just in the middle of last year 2018. He said it was a waste of his time and he would not spend one dime on anything website, social media marketing, or anything search related. I get it. Most people have been burned by so called SOE experts.

We live in a new world, a digital world. Most people use the Internet every day. As a matter of fact, the average American spends 24 hours a week online. Some people are always on the Internet. The Internet is changing the way we buy goods and services. Most local companies are still in the dark about what they are missing with not marketing online in some form. One of the most important elements of SEO is reputation. Every company needs to monitor their reputation or hire a firm to do it for them.

Define Reputation Management

What is Reputation Management? It’s a process where you get your customers to help you’re business out by leaving reviews on sites that allow customers to share their opinions, good and bad, with others. This process is so importatnt and has only a few elements.

  1. Do Business With Someone
  2. Have them go to specific websites to leave an honest review
  3. Respond to every review

There are 3 major review sites that companies are reviewed on publicly. Google My Business (AKA Google Maps), Facebook and Yelp. There are a ton of industry standard sites, but these are the main ones and are listed by importance. Google and Yelp use a star rating while Facebook uses some sort of algorithm to give a rating. All of them are 0 to 5 rating, 5 being the best.

Statistics

The statistics are insanely high. When I first read them, I was shocked how people rely on ratings. Brings me back to the Siskel and Ebert thumbs rating. I had different taste so I never used it as a viable rating factor to sway me from or to see a movie. After reading all the statistics I took a good look at what I do and yes, I am guilty of using online reviews to help me decide if I am going to buy goods or services. I just never thought the numbers would be this staggering. Here’s the short list:

 

Your customers read reviews

  • 95% of consumers use online reviews to decide if they are going to purchase something
  • According to BrightLocal 93% of local consumers use reviews to determine if a company is good or bad.
  • 72% of customers don’t decide if they don’t read the reviews first.

How reviews can help or harm your business

  • 92% of B2B buyers have a higher probability of purchasing after reading positive reviews
  • Displaying reviews can increase conversion rates by 270%
  • Five reviews increase conversion 4 Times
  • Displaying reviews on higher-priced products conversion rate is 380% higher
  • Purchase likelihood improves 15% when buyers read verified buyer reviews over anonymous reviews
  • 97% of consumers say reviews were the deciding factor
  • 68% of Americans report positive reviews make them more likely use a business
  • If 2 products have the same rating consumers are more likely to buy the product with more reviews
  • Reviews produce an 18% Uplift in sales
  • Reviews make 71% of consumers more comfortable purchasing products
  • 88% of consumers decisions are based on reviews

Consumer engagement with reviews

  • 73% of customers value the written review over the overall star rating
  • 68% of consumers look for either information on the reviewer’s experience, or problems the reviewer experienced when reading reviews
  • Only 3% of buyers say that reviews never factor into their buying decisions
  • Only 13% of shoppers find the seller’s website to be the most helpful when buying consumer goods, and 17% when purchasing services
  • 60% of people read online reviews for a local restaurant or cafe)
  • 73% of consumers trust a local business more after reading positive reviews
  • 87% of American-based consumers need a business to have a minimum star rating of three or higher (out of five) to use it
  • 54% of consumers visit a local business’s website after reading a positive review
  • 71% of B2B buyers look at reviews during the consideration stage
  • 67% of B2B buyers rank peer reviews as very important when making a purchase decision
  • 82% of buyers consider user-generated reviews to be extremely valuable
  • 67% of B2B buyers want to see a mix of positive and negative reviews
  • 85% of buyers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations

The importance of replying to customer reviews

  • 53% of customers expect businesses to reply to their online reviews within seven days
  • 41% of consumers say that brands replying to reviews makes them believe the company really cares about their customers
  • Not replying to reviews risks increasing customer churn by up to 15%
  • 7 out of 10 consumers changed their opinion about a brand after the company replied to a review
  • 16% of participants in a 2016 study expect businesses to reply to negative reviews in 1-3 hours

Negative reviews

  • 72% of B2B buyers say negative reviews give depth and insight into a product
  • 40% of B2B buyers say negative reviews help build credibility for a product
  • 82% of shoppers specifically seek out negative reviews
  • Consumers spend four times as long interacting with negative reviews, with a 67% increase in conversion rate
  • 92% of consumers have difficulties or hesitations purchasing an item with no reviews
  • 95% of consumers get suspicious of fake reviews if there are no bad scores
  • The likelihood of purchase peaks at a star rating of 4.0 – 4.7, then decreases as the rating gets closer to 5.0.

The process of getting customer reviews

  • 68% of consumers have left a review for a local business after being asked to do so
  • Up to 80% of reviews originate from follow-up emails urging shoppers to review their purchases
  • Consumers with negative experiences are more likely to write a review than those who had a positive experience
  • Brands can expect their average star rating to increase after emailing buyers a direct link to submit reviews

The need for reviews and user-generated content

  • 84% of people trust reviews they read online as much as personal recommendations
  • Only 34% of B2B Buyers are willing to consider vendor-related content as trustworthy
  • 81% of buyers generally conduct research before bringing in a vendor
  • 66% of buyers use sources outside of vendor materials during the research phase
  • Irrelevant content is the number one reason buyers don’t engage with vendors more frequently
  • Reputation makes up over 25% of a brand’s market value
  • User-generated content is trusted by millennials 50% more than traditional media
  • Experts believe that online reviews make up over 13% of how Google and other search engines rank local search results 

 

So, you can see how important reviews are for your business. There’s no situation I can think of that a business is better off ignoring reviews or not asking for them.