How important are online reviews?
If you’re a business owner, you probably spend a fair amount of time considering your business’s reputation and online reviews, and/or the reviews that your products get in popular shopping channels. Many business owners focus on the ratio of negative and positive reviews, hoping for more positive reviews to sway people to purchase their products. These reviews are seen by other consumers as a form of validation. Even if they don’t have direct experience with the product, someone else does, so the consumer can trust something more than a company’s own marketing efforts.
Researchers have found that online reviews have a major impact on purchasing trends. A massive 93% of consumers who were polled said that the reviews they read have an impact on their shopping choices. The study also found that 82% of people wouldn’t even buy anything without at least reading one review first. It’s clear that online reviews may have an even bigger impact on sales numbers than other types of advertising efforts.
Negative reviews may matter more
But researchers were not just interested in the percentage of people who read the online reviews. They also used eye-tracking software to consider exactly what specific reviews people put the most emphasis on.
What they found is that people tend to linger on negative reviews longer than positive reviews. Many consumers were far more interested when other consumers had a negative experience than if they were happy with the product.
This demonstrates the incredible power of these negative reviews. Your business could have numerous positive reviews and five-star ratings, and you may know that the vast majority of your customers or clients are more than satisfied with the products and services that they receive. But if you have just one or two negative reviews, they could wash out all of the progress you’ve made. Other consumers may ignore the positives, read the negatives, and move on to other shopping options.
Your marketing efforts
At Content Customs, we understand the intricacies of online marketing. We can help with content creation, reputation management, social media marketing, search engine optimization and much more. Contact us today to get started.
