3 reasons why reviews are a

powerful marketing tactic

3 reasons why reviews are a powerful marketing tactic

3 reasons why reviews are a powerful

marketing tactic
For all the ways it has changed, marketing strategy has been the same since it was in-

vented. Brands work hard to craft a message, then send it into the world in newspapers,
whitepapers and 140-character tweets, and hope consumers respond by opening their
wallets.

For a while, this one-sided shouting match with consumers worked. Even in the 1990s
unbelievable spending on full-page magazine spreads, $3 million Super Bowl spots and
X-Games sponsorships.

But, with the rise of consumer generated medianamely social media and reviews on

third-party sites which make their way to organic search resultsconsumers hold a more

powerful megaphone than ever before. As consumers turn increasingly to search engines
to research brands before they buy, the impact of unmonitored customer feedback is

more noticeable. Negative consumer sentiment on third-party review sites ranks at the
top of search engine results pages (SERPs) for queries consumers use to research and

make purchasing decisions, depressing the effects of even the most extravagant ad bud-

gets.

While many brands view online reviews as an uncontrollable, expensive presence that

must be managed, at ConsumerAffairs we believe companies should seize the oppor-

tunity to connect with customers and jointly shape the conversation happening online.
Brands who engage proactively see an increase in customer engagement, a shift from

negative to positive sentiment toward their brand in organic search, and increased ac-

cess to consumers at their exact moment of need, meaning leads that convert better than
anywhere else on the web. Rather than managing customer reviews, brands should be
marketing with them.

Take a look at three ways you can incorporate online reviews into your marketing strategy
in a way that will maximize your marketing budget, and use our secret sauce to create a

marketing recipe that has a lasting impact on your bottom line.

3 reasons why reviews are a powerful marketing tactic

Increased customer engagement

Modern consumers are subjected, conservatively, to more than 5,000 brand messages

per dayeverything from billboards and television ads to the banners at the top of their
preferred online news outlet.

Turns out, people dont love being bombarded by advertising, and many are taking steps
to reduce the number of ads they see during the day. Technology allows television viewers to fast-forward through commercials, streaming services like Pandora, Spotify, You-

Tube and Hulu offer users premium ad-free experiences, and a report released by Digital
Content Next showed 33 percent of surveyed consumers were somewhat or very likely

to try ad-blocking software in the three months following the survey. And thats not just

on desktop22 percent of global smartphone users employ ad-blocking software, a 90

percent increase since 2015.

2,

3 reasons why reviews are a powerful marketing tactic

You work hard and spend millions of dollars to spread your brands voice. If you feel like
weary consumers are no longer listening we have your solution.

In lieu of getting information about products or services in the form of brand websites or
marketing, consumers are turning to another source to help them make their purchase
decisions: each other.

A Dimensional Research study showed an astounding 90 percent of consumers said

their purchase decisions are influenced by online reviews. Eighty-six percent said they
3

wouldnt buy from a company with unresolved negative reviews, and a separate study

showed it takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience.

Thats a huge chunk of potential business youre letting walk out the door every day that
youre not engaging with the customers you already have. We understand many brands
are dealing with budget constraints that create additional friction in their customer ser-

vice, but 71 percent of the consumers who post online do so as a result of failed customer service, and while 70 percent of complainants hope to receive a response, only 38
percent receive one. The message from consumers?
4

If you take our money,

you should be willing to
engage with us.
4

3 reasons why reviews are a powerful marketing tactic

Brands are beginning to take notice of the consumer cry for engagement, which is be-

coming more obvious as the number of brands claiming or signing up for new business

accounts on review sites climbs rapidly. Partnering with third-party review sites is a powerful engagement tactic that enables even small customer service teams to have a big
impact. The good news is, when you work to engage with your upset customers, their
perceptions often change.

As a top US-ranked third-party review site, weve learned a thing or two about how quickly active customer engagement can transform a brands reputation online. Brands that
have partnered with ConsumerAffairs see 77.8 percent of unhappy customers change

reviews to 3 stars or better within 21 days, and our most engaged brands have seen up

to 35 percent of their least satisfied customers, called brand assassins, turn into outspoken advocates for their products and customer experience. Thats powerful marketing.
5

Imagine what could happen if you took action to be present anywhere your customers
are dwelling online.

3 reasons why reviews are a powerful marketing tactic

Balanced sentiment in organic search

A lot of brands are under the impression that third-party review sites like ConsumerAffairs

only publish negative reviews. Some brands even wonder if the negative feedback on these
review sites is real, or if it is fabricated to force brands to purchase products and services. We
can understand whyeven with more than 200 unaccredited brands listed on ConsumerAffairs.
com rated at 3 stars or higher, many companies are plagued by imbalanced feedback that

appears at the top of search results for their brand. Unfortunately the feedback is from real
5

customers, and stems from what we call feedback friction.

You remember this from physics class, right? Friction is a force that holds back the movement of one object sliding across another. As we use it here, friction is the force holding
back consumers from leaving feedback on a particular channel. The greater the friction,
the greater the effort it takes consumers to leave feedback.

In his book, Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000, Pete

Blackshaw explains that most satisfied customers arent opposed to giving feedback, but
brands generally make it too troublesome. Satisfied customers blame a lack of time, ac-

cess to convenient processes, and trouble making contact as the most common reasons
for not providing feedback. On the other hand, angry customers are motivated to give
feedback because they face a problem that needs to be solved andfairly or unfairly
they will tolerate friction to make their voice heard.

3 reasons why reviews are a powerful marketing tactic

Brands can change this dynamic and improve their online reputation by simply asking

satisfied customers for feedback and reducing the feedback friction that prevents them
from following through.

ConsumerAffairs partners with brands on the review collection process to create simple
and auditable feedback mechanisms, increasing channel effectiveness and ultimately,

collecting more reviews. A well thought-out approach to review collection channels, timing, and unbiased outreach optimizes the quality of feedback and gives the added ben-

efit of providing rich customer insights to inform improvements across your organization,
from product to operations.

Many self-motivated customers visit review sites to share their experiences, but there are
plenty of others who simply need a little encouragement. We call these the silent major-

ity, and many of them are satisfied customers who are happy to give you their 4 or 5 star
feedback with the right prompting. To connect with more of the silent majority, brands

need to be sensitive to their customer demographics, which may include less tech-savvy
customers requiring alternative methods of review collection on channels theyre more
comfortable engaging on.

Early on in our own efforts to help brands collect authentic feedback, we discovered a

variety of review collection channels with varying degrees of success depending on the
customer demographics for each partnered brand. We collect unbiased reviews on be-

half of our partnered brands through Facebook, email, feedback cards, targeted phone
calls and, of course, through ConsumerAffairs.com to help satisfied customers easily
communicate with brands. Brands need to identify potential customer engagement

channels to ensure all bases are covered and no customer is left unheard. By committing
to unbiased third-party review collection, brands get the benefit of adding increased

credibility to outreach efforts, ensuring authentic feedback proven to help brands see the
most ROI from their efforts.

3 reasons why reviews are a powerful marketing tactic

Most importantly, that balanced, authentic sentiment about brands ultimately finds its place

at the top of SERPs. Without pageviews, even top-rated brands wont see results. Many of the
consumers who land on review sites to research brands often arrive there via queries like:
Brand X
Problems with Brand X
Brand X reviews
Brand X complaints

Because of the trusted consumer-oriented nature of third-party consumer resources like

review sites and buyers guides, these sites rank at the top of SERPs for thousands upon

thousands of consumer-focused queries. A proactive approach to review collection cou-

pled with continuous improvement in the customer experience adds up to more positive
sentiment and brand perception in organic search rankings.

Access to consumers at their exact moment of need

Eighty-eight percent of consumers research brands online before making a purchase decision , and every month nearly 8 million unique visitors come to ConsumerAffairs.com
4

to research or share their experiences with the more than 5,000 brands represented on

our own site. With dozens of other spaces for consumers to share their feedback, the volume of potential customers brands have the ability to connect with is enormous.

Forrester ranked the publics trust in different promotional activities and found that

third-party sources hold the most credibility with consumers. Direct communications from
brands hold much less credibility, falling to the bottom of the list.

3 reasons why reviews are a powerful marketing tactic

For our engaged partnered brands, that trust translates to traffic. Partnered brands on

average see a 58.4 percent increase in views on their profile page, and a 65.4 percent

increase in unique page views. But increased traffic doesnt mean much unless it leads to
6

an increase in revenue. If youve been looking for those coveted Glengarry leadsthe
creme de la creme of qualified, ready-to-buy consumersthis next part is key.

Lead paths from third-party review sites frequently capture consumers at what Goo-

gle coined the zero moment of truththe last search consumers perform before they
make a purchase decision. When customer stories on review sites align with a brands

marketing messages, that brands trustworthiness increases, and consumers feel safer
buying a product or service knowing the brand will be easy to communicate with and
happy to help.

To give you an example of the power of putting social proof next to a lead path, when we
recently compared our own stats with those of list-buy companies and other lead generation service providers, the difference was clear: click through rate (CTR) for lead paths

across the entire ConsumerAffairs.com site, including typically low-converting categories,

is 3.55 percent, a full one and a half points higher than average pay-per-click (Google

Adwords) CTR, which sits just below two percent. And instead of converting 1-4 percent
8

of the time, consumers finding the right brand to connect with at the right moment converted 20-40 percent of the time.

< 2% CTR

3.55% CTR

When you engage with your customers and make an honest effort to solve their issues,
third-party review site listings act like an extension of your brands existing marketing

and lead generation channels, strengthening your customer pool and generating new
growth.

3 reasons why reviews are a powerful marketing tactic

Lets Review
Nobody likes to see a bad review about their brand, especially in the marketing department. For many brands, negative consumer sentiment on third-party review sites like

ConsumerAffairs seems like an insurmountable obstacle standing in the way of better

marketing ROI. But smart brands know the power of engaging with their customers

online, collecting reviews to create balanced sentiment in organic search and using
third-party review sites as powerful lead generation tools to grow their business.

If youve been wondering how to get started on the right path to incorporating reviews
into your marketing strategy, our team of reputation marketing specialists can help.

Schedule a free 10 minute call today to get an evaluation of your brands online reputa-

tion in organic search. Well help you pinpoint current marketing obstacles, and offer you
solutions guaranteed to increase revenue, reduce customer churn, and build trust with
consumers.

To schedule your call, visit www.consumeraffairs.com/brands today.

10

3 reasons why reviews are a powerful marketing tactic

Sources
1

Anywhere the Eye Can See, Its Likely to See an Ad

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/15/business/media/15everywhere.html?&_r=0
2

Digital Content Next Research Indicates 33% of Consumers Likely to Try Ad Blocking Software in Next
Three Months
https://digitalcontentnext.org/blog/press/digital-content-next-research-indicates-33-of-consumers-like
ly-to-try-ad-blocking-software-in-next-three-months/
3

Survey: 90% Of Customers Say Buying Decisions Are Influenced By Online Reviews
http://marketingland.com/survey-customers-more-frustrated-by-how-long-it-takes-to-resolve-a customer-service-issue-than-the-resolution-38756
4

20 Customer Service Statistics You Cant and Shouldnt Ignore

http://www.infinitcontact.com/blog/20-customer-service-statistics-you-cant-and-shouldnt-ignore/

ConsumerAffairs, Internal Study, Dec. 2015

ConsumerAffairs, Internal Study, Jun. 2016

23% of people complain online out of vengeance

http://oursocialtimes.com/23-of-people-complain-online-out-of-vengence/

Average CTR (Click-Through Rate): Learn How Your CTR Compares with AdWords Grader Plus
http://www.wordstream.com/average-ctr

11