Marketing
Reviews Matter: Six Reasons Your
Company Needs to Generate Reviews
Word-of-mouth marketing has been around for
centuries. People love to recommend companies
that they’ve enjoyed doing business with, and
conversely, warn others of bad experiences. Whether it
is a local eatery, health care office or contractor, people
are more likely to use a business that has been recommended
to them.
With the rise of social media sites, online directories
and instant-sharing apps, reviews are just a click away
at any time. Word-of-mouth still goes a long way in
the digital world. As a matter of fact, 84% of web users
value reviews as much as they would value a personal
recommendation from a friend.
With this in mind, it is no wonder
why more and more propane,
oil and HVAC companies are
shifting their focus to online
reviews. However, what exactly,
can reviews do for your retail
energy business?
Gain Exposure
Your propane, oil or HVACrelated
business may be the best
in the area—but if nobody knows
about it, you’re not going to get
leads. Customer reviews expose
your business to readers and increase
Word-of-mouth is crucial to business and, whether you like
it or not, people will give an opinion of your business online.
awareness of who you are and what services you
provide. In fact, online reviews are often a customer or
prospect’s first exposure to your business. Reviews also
tend to build on themselves. Once people start leaving
reviews of your business, others will be more compelled
to join in. With each new online review creating an opportunity
for someone else to come across your brand,
your chances of being discovered increase.
Build Credibility & Trust
While you can write the best content about how great
your business is, there is no better endorsement than
approval from actual customers. With 88% of consumers
trusting online reviews when considering a business, reviews
are critical to earning their business. Even those
less-than-shining, negative reviews help to build trust.
Customers increasingly value transparency. By display-
Melissa Bellas
Warm Thoughts Communications
ing these reviews, you can show that your business has
nothing to hide—all while making your positive reviews
come across as even more sincere.
Increase Search Engine Rankings
Reviews are crucial to local search engine optimization
(SEO) because they get more of the right people to
see your business—that is, those who are conducting
searches for businesses like yours and the services that
you offer.
Better yet, a steady stream of reviews helps boost
your rank and visibility on Google and establish a more
prominent online presence. The more times your business
is mentioned online, the more important search
engines consider you to be. With 56% of consumers using
search engines as their top source to look for reviews
about a business, you want to make sure your business
is ranked high.
Gain Insights into Customer Satisfaction
While online reviews are helpful to prospective customers,
they’re just as important to your business. Reviews
provide existing customers an opportunity to provide
objective feedback about your business and the services
that you offer. Take time to read through them and use
this feedback as indicators to how well your business
is doing in terms of customer satisfaction, service and
overall experience. Understanding your customers and
8 ICM/July/August 2019