Buying decisions are more greatly affected by online reviews than by any form of advertising. In fact, most prospective customers check reviews about a product or a service before they make any sort of purchase. This puts reviews beyond optional for a business; reviews, in fact, are crucial for a business to exist and thrive.

Research states that more than ninety percent of people will check reviews before deciding on where to spend their money. Even more interesting, people are willing to trust reviews that they read online as much as the loved ones they ask for recommendations. Reviews, therefore, are a form of marketing that is virtually impossible to suppress in the online world.

Positive reviews are also the most advantageous aspect of any business. In addition, they tend to encourage trust, build credibility, and help a business rank higher in search engines. Such as Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor reward businesses that receive high reviews by displaying their business in the search results. As a result, their foot traffic, website visits, and sales are bound to increase.

Indeed, a one-star review can be detrimental for a business, particularly in situations where a review seems to be neglected. Negatives can provide a boost to service, which can be very useful. Through offering personalized solutions, a refund, or just being systemically polite unfiltered, a customer can be responded so as to deal with angry customers. By showing such practices, a business can show it cares about customer opinions. It can show the business queries the customer s willingness to do business with the company again.

Having online reviews as part of a business s reputation are very useful. However, features like post service emails, comments on social media, point of service WiFi, and promotional Twitter templates can be useful. Reviews can be a very useful component for customer service.

Online reviews carry even greater weight as they can have a direct impact on a business s online reputation. It can be shown in how business are able to grow by a review reputation. It also reflects how inactive a business is in generating reviews, as this often indicates that most of its exposure happens offline rather than online.