How Online Reviews Build Trust

Forming a relationship with a merchant account provider should do more for your business than just allow you to accept credit cards. They should offer helpful features, including answers to some common business questions that might cause a new business owner to struggle. With this in mind, Transparent wants every business partner to understand the impact of how online reviews build trust in your business.

People Look for Social Proof

Humans are social creatures, and with the propensity to socialize the need for reassurance arises. This reassurance often comes in the form of social proof, which allows them to form an opinion about a product or service without having to experience it themselves. This social aspect is well understood in advertising and forms the basis for most modern ads. Similarly, this social aspect comes out in online reviews.

A company who understands how online reviews build trust and a positive online reputation is going to be better accepted in the eyes of the public. The more feedback you can get from satisfied customers, the stronger your business appears. With this in mind, it is important that you ask every customer to post a review online so that your excellence can be recognized and appreciated.

Online Reviews Are Almost as Effective as Personal Referrals

Of course, when a person looks for an opinion on a product or service, he or she is going to be most influenced by those close to him or her. Think of when you started looking for merchant accounts; how did you start looking? If you are like many business owners, you probably spoke with some other business owners you knew and trusted to see what they had to offer on the subject. Similarly, people will turn to their friends and family. Of course, if these friends and family don’t have input, they go to other sources.

Fortunately, there have been a variety of marketing studies done on how online reviews build trust. According to these studies, online reviews are as much as 72% as effective as a personal referral. In other words, more than 2/3 of the time an individual looking to evaluate a product will trust the review they read online as if it came from a close friend or advisor. For the modern business owner, this makes it very important to monitor online reviews and make sure that your reputation remains positive.

Negative Experiences Are More Likely to be Reported

It is no secret that negative reviews are more likely to be reported than positive ones. After all, people come to expect good service, so when everything goes smoothly they simply are satisfied with the results and move on. Inversely, when things do not go as well as expected people get angry. In this anger, they are much more likely to go online and report their experience. Knowing this, any positive review that is reported will be looked at in a higher regard by consumers than a negative one.

Remember, your online reputation can make a big difference in your future sales. Make sure that you always present yourself in the best possible light and understand how online reviews build trust and how negative reviews can instantly damage your company’s reputation. If a problem does arise, try to work through it patiently. Sometimes, a well-thought-out response to a complaint can diminish or negate the review altogether.