6 Reasons Customer Ratings Are Important for Your Business

91 percent of consumers in the United States read online business reviews and ratings.

What’s your business’ rating? What are customers saying about your business on the web?

If you thought these things don’t matter, you’re leaving money on the table. The modern consumer wants to buy products and services from businesses with good customer ratings on platforms such as Google, Yelp, Facebook, and Amazon.

Continue reading for more insight into the importance of customer ratings.

1. Consumer Trust Online Ratings and Reviews

Of the 91 percent of consumers that read online reviews and ratings, 84 percent trust them as much as a friend’s word. This is to say, if a potential customer reads a positive online review that was left by someone unknown to them, there’s a strong chance they’ll buy your product or service.

If your sales have been on a slump and your business’ online rating is low, it’s easy to make a direct connection. What’s more, your sales aren’t going to increase until your business gains a favorable rating.

If your business’s rating is low, you’re certainly wondering what you can do to improve it. One effective way is to hire a digital reputation management agency. These experts will implement a number of strategies, including Google review management, to ensure your business gains a positive rating.

2. Build Your Business’ Online Presence

At a time when the vast majority of consumers in the U.S. are shopping online, only businesses with a strong online presence have an edge.

The question is: how do you build a strong web presence for your small business? How do you compete with mega giants like Amazon?

If you’re anything like most small business owners, you probably think having a business website and creating social media pages for your business is enough. Well, this is a good start, but what will really build your business’ online presence is customer reviews and ratings.

When more and more customers are talking about your business on various review sites, search engines like Google take note. If the reviews are positive and ratings high, your business website will gradually rank higher in search engine results. This means more organic traffic to your site, which you can then convert into sales.

3. Get Valuable Customer Feedback

When you run a brick and mortar business, collecting customer feedback is easy. You don’t even have to ask them about their experience. A quick glance on a customer’s face is enough to tell you whether they’re satisfied or not.

However, running an online business makes it a tad difficult to get valuable customer feedback. You don’t physically interact with them, so it’s hard to judge by their look on their faces.

Here’s where online reviews and ratings come in handy.

All you have to do is create a page for your business on the top review sites and wait for customers to start leaving reviews. From their comments, you can pick valuable pieces of feedback, which you can use to improve various aspects of your business.

4. Showcase Your Business’ Professionalism

A customer can tell a lot about a business from the way it handles negative reviews.

If you check out a business’ Google or Yelp reviews, for instance, and you find that it hasn’t left any responses to negative comments, you can tell the business doesn’t care about its customers’ experiences. But if a business responds to negative reviews and pledges to correct the mistake or invites commenters to contact the business, you can tell the business is run by professionals who care about customer experience.

As such, online customer ratings and reviews give you a unique opportunity to showcase your business’ professionalism. Don’t run away from negative comments or low ratings. Respond to the comments and offer apologies and solutions.

5. Stay Ahead of Your Competitors

There are several ways to beat your competitors. One way is to offer a product or service that’s superior to theirs. Another is to offer excellent customer services.

But how do you beat them on the web? A business can have an inferior product but still manage to build a stronger online presence. It’s all about their online reputation management strategy.

If you want to beat your competitors online, focus on getting better customer ratings and reviews.  Don’t just assume that because your product is superior, your business will automatically get higher ratings and better reviews. You need to hire a review management expert whose job is to ensure your business is getting the ratings it deserves.

6. Improve Customer Loyalty

Did you know it costs five times more to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an existing customer?

It would save your business some marketing dollars if you implemented strategies that would help retain existing customers. As you know, customers are always on the lookout for better products or brands. They won’t hesitate to jump ship as soon as they discover a business with better customer ratings and reviews.

The good news is you can stop this from happening. You just need to keep an eye on your business’ online rating. If you can manage to keep it higher than that of your close competitors, your customers will see that your business is still the best in your niche. They will have no reason to leave.

Customer Ratings Can Make or Break Your Business

We live in a consumer-centric world, which means the businesses that offer the best experiences end up getting the best customer ratings. If you weren’t sure whether these ratings have an impact on your business, you now have a clear answer: customer ratings can make or break your business.

Stay tuned to our blog for more business tips and insights.