Customer feedback has a mixed reception from businesses. While it’s always great to receive positive reviews from customers, it is still a challenge to address negative ones.
Businesses, especially the small ones, should see the importance of reviews and why there is a need to work on them.This article aims to emphasize the necessity to work on earning positive reviews, and the benefits that it can do especially when starting a small business.
Five Reasons Why Positive Reviews are Valuable to Small Businesses
Reviews are truly essential nowadays. It is a crucial facet of modern-day businesses. Earning positive feedback from customers is rewarding in itself, but there are other reasons why it is essential. This includes the following:
1. Reviews help you get found
Customer feedback can help make your business more visible. Customer feedback is a crucial ranking factor in increasing e-commerce sales, so it is an essential aspect of search engine optimization. Reviews from customers are taken into consideration by search engines such as Google when evaluating your site for ranking. Your ratings are also crucial for review sites such as Yelp.
It must also be noted that other businesses also use review information for strategies that aim to influence customers’ purchase behavior. With that, it is best to work on improving your business’ reviews to help make your brand more visible online.People usually only look at a business with high ratings and ignore businesses with low ratings, so it is vital that you work on improving getting great reviews.
2. Reviews give your business credibility
Reviews form part of your business’ reputation Businesses that earn a lot of positive reviews would be seen as an excellent business to transact with. On the other hand, businesses with a lot of negative feedback would probably be avoided and would earn a negative image, discouraging potential customers to complete their transactions with them. It is therefore essential that you work on building a positive image for your business by earning positive feedback. 
Feedback from past customers has a significant influence on the purchase decision of a new customer, especially those that have no prior experience with your product, or your business as a whole. A lot of people are very hesitant to try out a new brand without something compelling. With positive reviews from people who had prior experience with your offerings, first-time customers would be more confident to do business with you. Customers genuinely value the feedback provided by other customers.
3. Reviews provide important feedback
Reviews, whether positive or negative, are opportunities to learn more about your business in the eyes of those who you transact with. There’s a lot to learn, and it is always best to keep your ears open for whatever has to be said about your business so that you will know what to retain, and what to improve on.
Of course, negative feedback will always show you things to work on, but positive feedback will tell you what your customers love about you, what you are doing great on, and what makes them do business with you instead of your competitors. With this knowledge, you will be able to further work on these aspects so that you can earn new customers and retain your current ones. On the other hand, negative reviews you make will tell you how you can prevent losing your customers, and what it takes to be able to win back those you lost.
4. Reviews let you connect with customers
Giving your customers the ability to provide their feedback helps provide a line of communication to you. This helps provide an avenue for your customers to engage with you in ways that they know you will see, and hopefully respond to. To make it useful, you really should practice responding to customer reviews, whether positive or negative. Just thanking them for positive reviews help your customers feel that you acknowledge them, making them more engaged with your brand. 
You should also respond to negative reviews, and not delete them. Show your other customers how you address negative feedback. Never curate your reviews. It is always tempting to do so as this makes things a lot easier, but this is not an ethical practice. Instead, do your best to appease a disappointed customer, and try to win him or her back. Not only will doing this help you mitigate what is potentially a crisis for your business, but this will also show that your business handles trials in a good way, earning the respect that you deserve.
You should also look at using reviews as a social media marketing strategy such as featuring positive reviews on your business’ social media profile. Not only will this help you promote that there is something great about your business, but this will be a great way to make your customers attached to your brand. Doing so will help you earn loyal customers who would more likely do more transactions with you.
5. Reviews facilitate word-of-mouth marketing
Reviews can work as multiple forms of marketing, but it can be tied up more to word-of-mouth both digitally and in reality. 
In as much as you can feature reviews you gain, your customers can also share the reviews they give, as well as those they see. As this is very easy to do, news can spread quickly. This can be done in their digital platforms, as well as in your customers’ communication. It is therefore essential that you do your best to earn positive reviews so that word-of-mouth can work in your favor, and not against you.
Be a business that deserves positive reviews
Positive reviews can bring a lot of benefits for a business, especially for the small ones who cannot work on huge publicity campaigns that can improve their brand image. It is essential to do your best as a business to deliver quality products and services so that you naturally earn positive reviews without the need to exert extra effort. It’s not just about winning positive feedback – it’s about being a business that deserves a great review.