Updated on 20/02/2023
Customer reviews: a two-way communication
The rapid spread of the internet and social networks has profoundly changed the way people seek out information about products and services. Companies are facing this changing reality, with the urgent need to keep up with the times. Key to facing this challenge is direct contact with people, which is why reviews are important.
For companies, reviews are a fundamental tool to fully understand the people we interface with or sell something to, which in turn can help inform and improve business strategy. Reviews also serve to help consumers make more informed choices and, it’s where companies themselves can distinguish themselves from the competition.
Today, reviews are one of the most important determinants of a businesses’ success. Consider what you do each time you are comparing hotels to book for your vacation, or when you have to choose between multiple brands when making a purchase on Amazon. You’ll consult the reviews on the platform or do an online search, choose the best reviews, and only then will you decide. It happens in every single sector.
Reviews increase customer numbers and convert more consumers
For example, say that you want to go out to dinner tonight and you’d like to try a new restaurant. If you’re like most people, you’re much more likely to trust a friend’s recommendation than what the restaurant says on its website. Most buyers behave in the same way, and therefore give the same importance and credibility to customer reviews.
Today we can evaluate our purchase and share our experience with anyone thanks to social media and a range of websites and portals that are dedicated entirely to reviews.
This is why customer reviews have a significant impact along the entire consumer shopping cycle. At the time of the search 72% of customers claim to use Google reviews to find businesses and it seems that star rating is more important than the number of reviews. In addition, 34% of shoppers say they always read reviews online; in short, it seems to be a must practice.
But the data doesn’t end there: companies with a minimum of 200 reviews generate double the revenue. Of course, there is a slight mismatch to consider because customers are 21% more likely to leave a review after a bad experience and 94% of consumers tend to avoid a company because of a negative review (source: Findstack).
In addition to this, BrightLocal’s Annual Consumer Review Report points out, however, that even products with negative reviews are more likely to be purchased than a product that has no feedback from users. This means that user interaction is invaluable to businesses and must be an integral part of communication strategy.
It doesn’t matter if customers decide to shop online or in stores: reviews affect their behavior in the same way. This is revealed in a study by Bazaarvoice, which analyzes online purchases and ROBO (Research on line, buy offline) purchases of consumers by more than 20 leading retailers in North American countries, EMEA, and APAC. The study finds that 54% of online shoppers and 39% of shoppers in stores read online reviews before making a purchase. In fact, of 85% of customers surveyed, online reviews are equivalent to a personal recommendation in terms of reliability.
And it’s not just sites like TripAdvisor or Yelp. Reviews contribute to the indexing of your activity on search engines, and they even impact your search engine results in terms of order of appearance, or SERP, on Google by as much as 10%. Also, according to Google, results that have more than three stars will get 41 out of 47 clicks. Users who instead go directly to review sites are used to filter the results by the number of stars, which actually conceals an extraordinary number of activities: 99.2%.
Why are online reviews so influential?
In this context a principle of cognitive psychology theorized by Robert Cialdini is instilled in his book Le armi della persuasione nel 1984: la riprova sociale. A rather common cognitive bias that states that people tend to think that behaviors and choices made by a large number of people are more valid. One of these “behaviors” is feedback, online reviews.
Reviews are a very powerful lever that greatly influences consumer behavior, leading them to place their trust in people they don’t know and who express themselves about a product or service, rather than the company.
The desire to share an experience
Regardless of whether you specifically ask for a review from your client, there is a good chance that he will share his personal feedback.
Every user on the web and specifically on social media is no longer simply a user of the media but is himself a medium. Deciding whether, where, and when to give the company a review is therefore ultimately up to us alone based on our assessment of opportunity and usefulness.
The explosion of technology has had a huge impact on device ownership, especially with regard to smartphones. It is estimated that 91,54% of Italians use a mobile device. Therefore, everyone is always connected and from anywhere. This facilitates interactions between user and company, thus shortening the distances between them. The online review is just one of the means of interaction.
A positive review is written because you want to share a pleasant experience, to talk about a place you visited, or to give an opinion on a product purchased. When we decide to take the time to write a positive review we do it because there was something or someone that motivated us, perhaps with a positive feeling, or simply because we were impressed by the efficiency and quality of the products/services.
How to create an emotion to be remembered
One way to stimulate a positive emotion in users or customers is to address the person directly by name, creating engaging content that is customized only for this person, so as to be remembered and distinguished from what everyone else is doing.
Doxee Pvideo® is a powerful tool to improve your customer experience and create winning marketing strategies. In this sense, they are the perfect tool to strengthen the relationship of loyalty with the customer without sacrificing clear marketing objectives.
Every video has to tell a story. And this story must be at the center of communication. If the message is too “product-centric”, the user will inevitably perceive it as distant.
Videos, on the other hand, have the potential to immediately arouse strong emotions and sensations, which if properly linked to certain information, make them memorable.
A story that speaks directly to the user, that makes him feel like the hero of the story, is one that keeps him attached to the screen. Having the opportunity to enjoy ad hoc content is certainly not a foregone conclusion. In this way, the company can open a preferential communication channel and put the customer at the center, so that he or she can feel part of a confidential and trustworthy relationship with the brand.
Personalization is particularly effective because it works on two levels. On the one hand, it shows a willingness on the brand to distinguish itself and embrace innovation. On the other, personalization increases customer retention, especially in areas as complex and delicate as insurance.
Having the opportunity to receive content that is perfectly tailored to them puts the customer in a position of full confidence in the brand, which becomes more than just a source of products and services, but a point of reference.
Starting from the careful analysis of the customer journey, Doxee offers the possibility to create personalized videos that reach the user at the right time by providing relevant content and conveying an effective call to action. Doxee solutions make it possible to make the user experience truly interactive, thus satisfying his needs and, at the same time, meeting the needs of each company.