Your website is the face of your business, and it’s where you’ll tell visitors everything they need to know about your brand and ensure you make an excellent first impression. As a business owner, you’ll know that you need to build trust with your customers to drive more sales, and customer reviews offer one of the best ways to show visitors that your company is credible.
Collecting and displaying customer reviews on your website can have a huge range of benefits for your business. Since many people are naturally skeptical about making an online purchase, it’s essential to leverage past customers’ feedback that reflects well on your business.
Let’s take a look at five reasons why you need to showcase customer reviews on your website to drive traffic to your site and boost your revenue.
Reviews can help to improve your website’s SEO
Search engine optimization, or SEO, refers to the steps you take to help your site rank higher on relevant search engine results pages (SERPs). And, it may not seem like an obvious connection but, for a number of reasons, the more reviews your page has, the higher it could rank on the SERPs. One reason for this is that your reviews could include relevant keywords that your ideal customers might be typing into search engines, and another is that reviews will signal to Google that your website is trustworthy.
Once you have collected strong feedback, you’ll want to display this in a way that will help to build trust with potential customers as they look at your products and services. For example, you could showcase one review per week in your header or create a carousel that scrolls through several of your best reviews. You can also place certain reviews near the products and services they’re related to so new customers can see what people are saying about them.
Let’s look at a website that does a great job of using reviews to boost its SEO efforts and build trust with potential customers and search engines.
Virtual event platform BeaconLive uses positive customer testimonials to enhance its homepage. They do this by including reviews between each section that describes their company. They even use arrows to help guide the reader from section to section, stopping to read the positive reviews as they go.
Notice how their page design highlights the reviews and is designed to drive conversions by supporting every value proposition with actual feedback from past customers. The reviews also include relevant keywords and improve the customer experience, as they provide additional context about what’s on offer. This shows that BeaconLive is a company of experts who know how to help customers organize and facilitate online events.
You can use the same strategy in your web design by adding customer reviews strategically throughout your site to help Google recognize that your business is credible and authoritative.
They’ll help you provide a great customer experience
Online business owners should be striving to provide their customers with the best shopping experience possible. Offering reviews from past customers helps enhance your customer experience by giving them peace of mind. Past reviews and testimonials offer a lot of value to potential clients, too, because:
- They provide context for potential customers as they search for products and services to address their needs
- They provide reliable information based on how your products or services helped past customers solve their problems
- They build trust and help to instill a sense of confidence in new customers
Let’s look at another company that does a great job of using customer reviews to build trust with their customers.
Take a look at this example from Ruggable, an online rug retailer. They strategically use customer reviews to help their visitors decide whether or not to make a purchase, because they build customer confidence as they look for a product to purchase.
Also, notice how they display three sample reviews linked to the rest of their customer feedback. This allows visitors to continue doing their research, making them feel more informed about their purchase. This approach helps their audience obtain more information about a potential purchase and the testimonials build confidence with their audience as they go through the website.
Positive reviews will help to improve your conversion rate
Customer reviews can help to boost your conversion rate and sales revenue by showing potential customers what past customers say about your products or services. This helps build momentum since the reviews reduce friction in the minds of potential customers and build trust between you and your audience.
Having a collection of positive reviews from previous customers is often enough to push people to convert. By the time users are at the stage of the buyer’s journey that they are reading reviews, they are prepared to spend money to get the solution they are looking for, so make sure you add customer reviews to the sales pages and product pages across your site.
Let’s look at an example from a website that uses customer reviews to boost its conversion rate.
Logo design tool Looka does a great job of displaying their total number of reviews, along with the average star rating they’ve received right at the top of their page.
Notice how they place it right underneath their call to action (CTA) button, ensuring that their customers see they are a credible, well-liked company.
Social proof, like reviews, testimonials, and user-generated images, puts customers’ minds at ease and inspires them to convert. You can use the same strategy in your web design by adding positive reviews near your CTA buttons to help alleviate distrust of a potential purchase in the minds of your customers.
Reviews can help customers make better purchases
With so many options available on eCommerce sites, customers may feel overwhelmed when making a purchasing decision. Displaying customer reviews next to different products on your website can help people compare your offerings and choose which item is right for them.
Simple star ratings can help people to find particularly well-received items. At the same time, written testimonials can provide more information and details, such as how items fit, what kinds of applications they’re perfect for, and more.
Let’s look at a company that uses customer reviews to help their customers pick out the best products to suit their needs.
Take a look at this example from A Gift Personalized, a website specializing in custom gifts. On their homepage, they do a great job of using star ratings to highlight their most popular products, making it easy for visitors to compare items and choose the ones that best fit their needs.
Notice how they display the scores and the total number of reviews the products have received. This is a great way to show customers that this website is legitimate and has extraordinary items to offer their customers. This, in turn, can lead to more sales for the business.
On your eCommerce website, display star ratings and review counts to help your customers make informed purchasing decisions. This information will make them feel more at ease with making a purchase and help them decide which products are right for them.
They’re great for winning your audience’s trust
Before people spend money with you, they’ll need to trust your business. Reviews can help with this, as they show you’re a legitimate company and past customers have enjoyed what you offer.
Choose and display reviews that give details about the whole purchasing experience. The more positive information a potential buyer gets about the customer experience of your brand, the more likely they are to trust that you will deliver on your promises.
At Loganix, an online marketing agency, we work hard on displaying reviews that will build trust with our audience. For instance, we highlight four customer reviews on our SEO services page from past clients who have had positive experiences with us to show potential customers that they can trust our service.
Notice the header for our displayed reviews says that these customers support us despite not vouching for everyone. This tells the reader that these reviews are authentic and that we can be trusted to satisfy their digital marketing needs.
You can use the same strategy in your marketing plan by choosing reviews that speak to the credibility and positive attributes of your business. This will help build trust with potential customers and direct prospective buyers towards investing in your products or services.
Summary
Customer reviews hold a lot of power for your eCommerce business. They can build your reputation, increase your conversion rate, and help customers make informed buying decisions.
Make your customer reviews obvious and use them strategically to support your value proposition. In time, you’ll see your revenue and web traffic increase as customers read your reviews and decide that your company is right for them.
Looking for more ways to grow your business and increase your sales numbers? Check out the LiveWin business blog for more insightful articles on how you can improve your company and your bottom line.
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Author bio & headshot:
Aaron Haynes is the CEO of Loganix, an SEO fulfillment partner that supports marketing agencies and professionals. The company specializes in helping businesses to improve their online visibility and ultimately make more sales. The Loganix blog has a lot more information and advice, so make sure you check it out if you found this article helpful.