In a meeting late last week, the E-Power Marketing team started talking about a great client testimonial that had just come in. As we were talking through the program and celebrating with the account team, we got onto the topic of how important reviews and user-generated content are for every brand’s digital marketing initiatives. They’re so important, in fact, that we’re focusing on online reviews and user-generated content all month, to help you better understand why you need them, how to use them, and what they really mean for your brand! Here are 5 quick facts to help you start to understand the impact your customer’s reviews and comments have on your brand…
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Reviews define your brand and create trust
According to Achabura, 88% of consumers read online reviews to determine the quality of local businesses! This is powerful, whether you consider yourself a local business or not. Your company’s current reviews could be swaying clients in your direction, or the opposite, pushing them away. Reviews assure consumers when making a purchasing decision. They trust customer reviews as if they were asking a relative or friend for an opinion on a service or product. Those four to five-star ratings and reviews build up your brand more than you would imagine. The bad reviews also give you a chance to address any concerns or hesitations others may have about choosing you. Don’t throw away the opportunity for your customer service team to shine by deleting bad reviews!
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More is better
Shoppers’ attitudes towards more reviews for a product were tested in a study, confirming that people favor products with more reviews. There could be two similar products, but when buyers are choosing between the two, the one with more reviews wins. Companies that embrace this and choose to show the rating, as well as the number of reviews for a certain product, win! More reviews will very often lead to a higher conversion rate, so if you haven’t started proactively curating reviews from your customers, now is a great time to start!
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85% of consumers say they find user-generated content more influential than brand-created content
Reviews and user-generated content kill two birds with one stone because they connect you to your target audience and spark content creation around your brand, products, and services. This type of content is incredibly valuable to you, because your customers see it as genuine, unbiased, and oftentimes more reliable than your marketing messages. Also, according to a study by Photoslurp, user-generated content is 5x more likely to create a conversion compared to professional content from your marketing team! This should jump out at you and push you to use more UGC! Shoppers love authentic content, and what could be more genuine then than people who have purchased and used your products or services talking about their experiences! Don’t stop at sharing user-generated content, let it spark more engaging, thoughtfully branded content as well! If you’re seeing the same questions, compliments or concerns in posts by your audience online, get ahead of the game and address those points head-on in your own content!
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86% of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding what brands they like and support
Companies are striving for authenticity at every turn, for good reason, people are more savvy about who they buy from than ever before. We talk a lot about knowing your audience so you can create more engaging, authentic content. Using your audience’s words about your products or services the most authentic type of content to include in your marketing efforts and should be an integral part of your marketing puzzle. We know customers are researching products more and more, so providing a layer of user-generated content in that path to purchase is a valuable way to help your target audience learn more!
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Nearly 52% of people say they post on social media 1+ times per month about products they’ve purchased
People talk (and talk, and talk) online, it’s what makes social media channels so successful and powerful! While getting the nitty-gritty details on your cousin’s wedding planning, or 700 photos of your high school classmate’s kid’s Halloween costumes may not rank up there as super valuable content to you, plenty of people are posting about their experiences with brands and products every single day. If you’re not monitoring, engaging with, and using the content that’s being generated about your brand, you’re missing out! Embrace the connections, get in on the conversations, and give people a reason to want to talk about you – you’ll see a boost in conversions if you do!
And there you have it! 5 important stats on why online reviews and user-generated content are SO important for brands in today’s digital world. If you’ve been dragging your feet on a review strategy or you’re having a hard time convincing the rest of your team you need to be paying attention to what’s being said online, use these numbers to your advantage! Stay tuned to E-Power Marketing this month for even more insight on this important topic, and make sure you’re following us on all of your favorite channels!
This post was co-written by Adrian Bredeson and Julianna Calzada
