Online reviews have an enormous affect on the purchasing decisions of consumers both online and off. And even if you don't have review capabilities on your own site, your brand, product and service is still being discussed via review platforms on other sites. In fact, more than half of adult Internet users refer to online reviews though only about 19% contribute them. Still, an estimated 70% of consumers who read online reviews share them with friends, family and colleagues, thus increasing the spread of the opinion.
The Society for New Communications Research found in May 2008 that 74% of consumers in a study agreed (while another 14% strongly agreed) that they choose companies and brands based on what others say about them online. And a 2007 ComScore study found that online reviews have the greatest impact on the hotel industry with 87% of review readers citing an online review as having a significant influence on their purchase.
This means that the constant online conversation is affecting your brand's reputation online and off and is ultimately influencing your conversions.
'With such a large percentage of review users subsequently purchasing,' said The Kelsey Group research director Steve Marshall, 'it's vital that local service providers have a positive presence on these review sites.'
Monitoring your brand's online social mentions and reviews is an incredibly important-albeit overwhelming-task. But how can you possibly keep up with it all and make user reviews work for you?
Here are some tips for harnessing the power of online reviews.
1. Make reviews available on your site - ComScore found that consumers in the hotel industry were willing to pay 38% more for a 5-star rated (excellent) property versus a 4-star rated (good) property. An iPerceptions case study for a major consumer electronics retailer found that 63% of consumers indicated they were more likely to purchase from a site that displays ratings and reviews. If you are concerned about receiving negative reviews on your site, consider what the negative reviews mean, if they are valid and whether or not they warrant an adjustment to your service to improve the overall customer experience.
2. Encourage online reviews - Since a positive presence in online reviews is so important for hotels, consider encouraging your guests to share their experiences with others online by providing review forms on your site or at least links to other review sites. Most user-generated content online is created by a minority subset of 'active' Internet users while the 'inactive' or 'observant' majority allows those few opinions to dictate their buying habits. Try to facilitate a simple review process so that you can influence more happy customers to talk about you.
3. Monitor your brand mentions - This can be tricky considering the number of review sites available. It may seem there is no way to keep up with it all. Consider subscribing to a social media monitoring tool that does the work for you. Social media monitoring tools are an easy and affordable way to keep up with the online conversation without devoting countless hours to the task.
10Best Solutions is a leader in online image and reputation management. The latest social media monitoring technology, VinePulse, helps you to monitor and influence your online image by scanning the social web and online travel reviews to deliver real-time mentions and reviews of your brand categorized by positive, negative, and neutral sentiment. All this information is delivered to you in a simple, straightforward prioritized dashboard to give you an easy tool to listen and engage with customers online. Contact Eric Ingrand at eric.ingrand@10best.com or Will Kellett at will@10best.com to learn more.
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