Before the Internet took over the world and much of our daily communications and interactions, most of us had local experts we would call or go visit if we had a need. Or if we didn’t know where to look, we’d leaf through the local business directory or yellow pages.

The advent of the Internet age has significantly changed the way we work and play.

What’s the first thing you do now when you need to buy a new flat screen TV? Or if you’re checking out a nice hotel for your holiday, or a fancy restaurant to bring that special someone?

You’ll probably grab your smart phone or mobile device, fire up “Google” and type in the product or service keywords, possibly including the word “reviews” to find out what other consumers are saying about the product or company.

Online reviews are highly influential when it comes to consumer purchasing decisions. With information easily available at their fingertips, consumers now expect more and they are chasing perfection, more determined than ever to ensure that they’re getting their money’s worth.

Keeping pace with expectations in providing customer reviews is going to be absolutely essential in the modern E-commerce era.

Online reviews define the buying process. According to Nielsen, 68% of global consumers trust online consumer reviews – an increase of 7% since 2007, it’s also the second most influential factor in the purchase decision.

So how are you collecting and showcasing your reviews online? Do you know what your customers are saying about you? With 7.7 billion mobile devices (most of them with Internet connectivity) in use at the end of 2014, can you afford to ignore the power of online reviews?

Chances are that you rely on reviews when making your own purchase decisions. Why wouldn’t you expect your customers to do the same?

There are many different platforms available to collect online reviews, how do you select the most suitable one? Third party review sites versus reviews on your own website, which shouts more loudly and comes across more credible?

7 Ingredients to a successful Word of Mouth Marketing campaign

 AUTHENTICITY OF REVIEWS

Are the published reviews authentic and verifiable? Unfortunately with the Internet, anyone can hide behind a mask of anonymity and write almost anything they want.

Can your competitors leave nasty negative reviews on your services? How is your review platform filtering the fraudulent reviews? Can you report suspicious reviews and how are the ‘abusers’ of the system dealt with? Your online review platform provider must have solid operations and policies in place to identify and deal with suspicious reviews.

ABILITY TO POST MANAGEMENT RESPONSE

Does your online review platform allow you to post a management response to the reviews posted? Do you receive alerts when negative reviews are posted? Who has the last say?

An online review platform only works if you are listening actively to your customers, responding to and resolving issues. This helps you engage your customers, build trust and it also ‘humanizes’ your organization. With the online review platform that you select, it’s important to be able to respond to feedback without any limits.

SOCIAL MEDIA SHARING

Is it easy for your customers to post their reviews? Can their reviews of your services be shared easily on social media such as Google+, Facebook, Twitter? Research has shown that 75% of consumers who read social sharing comments have clicked on the link in their friends’ Facebook posts, taking them to the product or service page. Enabling your customers to easily share their reviews of you with their friends and connections is a powerful and cost effective marketing tool.

EASE OF COLLECTING REVIEWS

How easy is it to implement the online review platform? Do you need to deploy additional resources to manage these reviews and will it compliment your current process flows? Most online services are designed to support your routine tasks but some tools may not be so easy to use. It is important that you’re able to try the system and all its features before implementing it. Ultimately, you want good results without having to devote too much time and resource to managing your review platform.

You should be able to set it up and get it running in minutes. Some providers offer no training, some have minimal support whilst others include personal onboarding when you sign up. Depending on your requirements, ensure that the provider can provide the training and support you need.

EASE OF PROCESS INTEGRATION

You shouldn’t have to change or make drastic modifications to your current process flows to accommodate an online review platform. The platform should compliment your process flows and you should be up and running in a matter of minutes, ready to have your first customer post their review.

Appoint key members from your team to champion the project and ensure that you get everyone’s buy in on this new tool. They all need to be clued in on the impact that online reviews have and work together with your customers to shape your reputation and build trust.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY

It’s good to understand the exit clause on your contract with your service provider. What will happen to all your reviews if you terminated the contract? Will you still be able to access your reviews? Are you able to bring all your customer reviews away with you?

A good service provider will not hang you out to dry upon contract termination.

ONLINE VISIBILITY

In a study done on the retail sector, companies that featured customer reviews during check out saw their conversion rates increase by 58%.

Quite simply, reviews increase conversions. They can eliminate any doubts potential customers may have about your service.

It’s also extremely important to get started quickly; you want to start collecting those reviews before your competitors! The more reviews you accumulate, the more creditability you will have.

How will a collection of reviews benefit the business?

So how can a collection of customer reviews online have an impact on the business? Having your satisfied customers leave you positive reviews is a critical factor in determining your company’s reputation online. It builds trust, lends credibility and chances are your customers are all ready to commit when they get to you. You should be able to use these reviews on your website, and these should be in real time.

Whatever you might think of them, the power of online reviews cannot be ignored. Whether you’re a small mover in a single location or a large corporate mover with 138 offices worldwide, online reviews have an impact and they’re here to stay.

With the right platform, an ongoing collection of fresh reviews from new customers will help you build trust, drive sales and increase visibility.

How do I get started?

Start building up your arsenal of reviews immediately; invite your customers to review your services on MoveAide.com. Designed especially for the moving and relocations industry, MoveAide will help you collect, showcase and manage your customer feedback.

With MoveAide.com, you’ll also have full control over the review process. You have the option of responding to every review posted. Upon receipt of a less than stellar review, you will also be alerted immediately so you can jump on the service recovery process and respond to the published comments, engaging your customers and demonstrating that you value their business.

To get started, all you need is a computer with an Internet connection. MoveAide is cloud based and it’s really easy for your customers to post their reviews on your services. With powerful real time analytics to help you measure service quality, quick snapshots of your team’s performance is now available at your fingertips, 24/7, 365 days a year. It really can’t get any easier than this.

We think it’s time you harness the power of online reviews and let your customers do the talking for you. Do you?

To find out more about how you can drive sales your way with Word-of-Mouth Marketing, reach out to us at info@moveaide.com