Positive reviews are increasingly vital for businesses. However, many business owners neglect their presence on review platforms, either due to fear of negative feedback or simply a lack of time.
Nevertheless, review platforms are crucial, as approximately 90% of online users read reviews before making a purchase decision.
These reviews are often more persuasive than advertising and significantly influence customer buying decisions. As studies confirm, many online users trust reviews even more than recommendations from friends and family.
It's therefore essential to be present on relevant review platforms. But which platforms are the most important for businesses?
🔗 1/ Google Reviews
🔗 2/ Facebook Reviews
🔗 3/ Kununu Rating
🔗 4/ Why are Reviews Important?
🔗 5/ Why it's Worth Responding to Reviews.
🔗 6/ Delete Bad Reviews?
🔗 7/ Guide: Removing Reviews
🔗 8/ Conclusion
🔗 1/ Google Reviews
Google reviews play a crucial role for most businesses in e-commerce. They not only influence purchasing decisions but also shape a company's overall image.
In the digital world, where every click counts, reviews can determine the success or failure of an online shop. This is because customer ratings often serve as a benchmark for an online shop's credibility and quality.
Furthermore, Google reviews are linked to Google Maps and play a crucial role, especially for local businesses and services. When customers search for a business on Google Maps, they are shown reviews alongside the location information.
Beyond the dominant role of Google Maps as a platform for business reviews and local searches, the importance of Apple Maps should not be underestimated. As a pre-installed map and navigation application on all iOS devices, Apple Maps is reaching an ever-growing user base.
The parallel optimization on both platforms allows businesses to reach a broader audience and effectively maximize their online visibility.
These reviews not only influence customer decisions but also improve a company's visibility in search results. A high number of positive reviews can help a business rank higher in local search results, which in turn attracts more customers.
🔗 2/ Facebook Reviews
Facebook reviews are highly important for businesses as they establish a direct connection with their target audience. These reviews reflect customer satisfaction and offer valuable feedback for potential clients. Positive reviews on Facebook can strengthen trust in a company, while negative reviews provide important pointers for improvement. Additionally, they influence the decisions of potential customers.
An active presence and interaction on Facebook, including managing reviews, is therefore crucial for online reputation management and fostering customer loyalty.
They offer a platform for direct customer interaction and promote customer loyalty. They are particularly valuable for businesses looking to build a strong online community and brand presence.
🔗 3/ Kununu Rating
Kununu reviews are particularly important in the context of employer ratings and employer branding.
Compared to Google reviews, which focus more on a company's product or service quality, Kununu offers insights into work culture, the work environment, and employee satisfaction.
This makes Kununu a crucial element for attracting and retaining talent. In this context, positive reviews on Kununu can increase a company's attractiveness as an employer, while negative reviews offer starting points for improving working conditions.
Other industry-specific review platforms:
TripAdvisor: Particularly relevant for tourism and hospitality.
Yelp: Popular for local businesses and services.
Local.ch: An important platform for local business reviews.
Booking.com: Relevant for hotels and accommodation.
Ricardo.ch: A platform where users can leave reviews for both buyers and sellers.
🔗 4/ Why are reviews important?
Factors customers consider when buying a new product.
Source: Adapted from Capterra, 2020
Capterra (2020) highlights that customers place the most trust in online reviews when buying a new product.
Tips for Your Reviews
1. Authenticity and Transparency
Maintaining authenticity and transparency in reviews is crucial for building customer trust and ensuring a realistic representation of customer satisfaction.
2. The Need for Proactive Review Strategies
The results of the study by bewertungshelden.de show that online shops should implement proactive strategies for encouraging reviews and managing customer feedback to strengthen their market position and improve the customer experience. They provide customers with an opportunity to share their experiences with the company.
3. Actively Encourage Customer Reviews for Businesses
Actively encouraging reviews is essential for businesses. In addition to using email campaigns, where customers are asked to leave feedback after their purchase or experience, QR codes can also be used in physical stores or on product packaging. These codes lead directly to review pages, simplifying the process for customers.
Furthermore, direct engagement with the community is important. Messages like «Your opinion matters to us» show customers that their feedback is valued. This can be communicated both online and offline to reach a wider audience and motivate customers to submit reviews. A friendly reminder that customers' opinions are important can work wonders.
How to create a link for your Google reviews:
1. Sign in with the appropriate Google account
2. Enter your business name in the Google search bar
3. Your business overview will appear as the first result
3. Select «Ask for reviews» and copy the link
4. Quality over Quantity
Authentic and honest reviews are more valuable than a large number of generic ratings. They provide insights into customer satisfaction and offer valuable feedback for improvements. So, steer clear of fake review offers!
🔗 5/ Why it's worth responding to reviews
Impact on Customer Acquisition: 89% of consumers are 'very likely' or 'likely' to use a business that responds to all its online reviews. In contrast, 57% say they are 'not very likely' or 'not at all likely' to use a business that doesn't respond to reviews at all. [Source: Brightlocal]
Positive SEO Effects: Search engines like Google view customer interaction positively. Responding to reviews can therefore lead to better search engine rankings. This is particularly important for local searches, as positive reviews and their responses can increase visibility in local search results.
Positive Perception: 54% of consumers have a positive attitude towards businesses that respond to their reviews. This is the third most important factor for a positive perception, directly after a positive description in the review (69%) and a high star rating (58%). [Source: Brightlocal]
Valuable Feedback: Reviews provide direct feedback on your products or services. By responding to this feedback, you show that you take it seriously and are continuously striving to improve.
Likelihood of Use: 34% of consumers stated they are 'very likely' to use a business that responds to both positive and negative reviews. This number drops to 10% for businesses that only respond to negative reviews, to 15% for businesses that only respond to positive reviews, and to 8% for businesses that do not respond to any reviews [Source: Brightlocal].
Importance of replies compared to star ratings: 55% of consumers feel positive towards companies that respond to reviews. This is only 3% less than those who say a high star rating would have the same effect. This indicates that consumers consider star ratings and review replies almost equally important [Source: Brightlocal].
Caution when reacting to fake reviews: Only 26% of respondents stated that a response from the business owner calling a review fake would encourage them to trust the business. This highlights the importance of carefully handling fake reviews and using all available channels to report and remove fake reviews [Source: Brightlocal]. See the next chapter for more.
Responding to reviews not only improves customer satisfaction and loyalty but also significantly contributes to your company's online reputation and visibility.
🔗 6/ Deleting bad reviews?
1-star review: Not everyone is always satisfied.
Star ratings serve as a simple quality indicator and are a crucial factor in consumer decision-making. They provide a quick overview of the perceived quality of a product or service. A high star rating can strengthen customer trust and lead to a higher conversion rate.
Negative reviews are particularly influential. Studies show that negative reviews have a stronger impact on potential customers than positive ones. They can not only damage a company's reputation but also directly lead to abandoned purchases. Therefore, it is crucial to respond appropriately to negative reviews.
What to do about bad reviews?
Deleting reviews is generally not a recommended solution, except in cases of false statements, hate speech, insults, or if they are bot, spam, or fake reviews.
Carelessly removing reviews can lead to a loss of authenticity and a feeling of censorship, which can cause even greater frustration among customers.
Instead, it is advisable to use feedback as an opportunity for improvement and to strengthen customer loyalty. Negative reviews should be seen as a chance to question and improve internal processes. A proactive approach to criticism can ultimately lead to stronger customer loyalty.
To delete Google reviews, you can contact Google Support to initiate the necessary steps.
Are you sure that a review violates Google's policies?
🔗 7/ How can I report or have a Google review deleted?
- Sign in to Google My Business: Open Google My Business and sign in with your business account.
- Select your business: Choose the business for which you want to remove a review.
- Find the review: Go to the «Reviews» section and locate the specific review you wish to remove.
- Report review: Click the three dots next to the review and select «Report review». Explain why the review violates Google's policies.
- Wait for Google's review: Google will review the reported review and decide whether to remove it.
In urgent cases where applicable law is violated, you can report the content separately here.
This method is a step above «reporting a review» and usually leads to a quicker response from Google.
Do you already have many reviews?
This blog post shows you how best to manage and respond to reviews.
Conclusion: How important are online business reviews?
Review platforms like Google Reviews are a crucial tool in online marketing. They not only offer the opportunity to improve but also to demonstrate authenticity and transparency. There are many ways to generate authentic feedback and strengthen customer loyalty.
Feel free to share your experiences and opinions on online reviews with us, or even leave us one! ;)