by Joy Thompson
Did you know that 51 percent of Americans trust user-generated content more than any other information on a company’s website?
Unfortunately, having a legitimate company with trustworthy products or services is no longer enough to earn a customer’s trust and business.
In order to gain lead generation, it is imperative to implement customer reviews on your website for multiple reasons.
If you are hungry for more leads, these five reasons will show you exactly how user-generated content can gain you those leads you’ve been craving.
It is difficult for consumers to make purchases solely on the promises that companies make. Customers have an ample number of places to conduct their business, so why should they give you their money over your competitor down the street?
Customers do not want to be your company’s guinea pig. They want to purchase a product or a service that they know is going to get them their money’s worth.
So, how do you ensure that customers trust you? You don’t. Previous customers do.
They do this through their online reviews and testimonials. Reviews show that your products or services work and that your promises are the real deal.
Search engines are all about their algorithms and coding. However, they know how to promote companies who have a humane element, aka reviews.
These reviews show search engines that your company is both trustworthy and legitimate. By proving this to search engines, your company will benefit by receiving a higher search ranking.
Look at this aspect from an outsider’s point of view. If you were going to hire a personal accountant and you narrowed your search down to two candidates — one has reviews and one does not. Who are you most likely going to choose?
Probably the one who has reviews because this conveys not only a higher sense of professionalism but also a higher sense of trust. You want to set yourself apart from your competitors in any way shape or form and online reviews are a great way to do so.
Google loves content, there is no surprise there. But having a review page or a testimonial page on your website makes for great content. This relates back to getting a higher search ranking on Google.
The more reviews you have, the more content pages you have. And the more content pages you have, the better you rank on Google, who is just waiting to send your company more leads.
Despite all the technical benefits, having online reviews for your company will show that you care about your customers. Authentic reviews are where you get the chance to interact with your customers and thank them for their patronage or apologize for their negative experience.
You can even use these reviews to steer customers back toward your company if their initial experience wasn’t positive by apologizing and offering to fix their problem.
All in all, having online reviews on your website is vital to your company. Not only will it increase lead generation, but it will also allow you to hear your customer’s feedback.
This can help you to yield a better customer experience, which can drive even more customers to your door. Online reviews are a win-win when it comes to your business.
Are you looking for more advice from digital marketing experts? Take a look at our top tips to learn more.