"Trust me..."

… two words we hear every day, be that from friends, family, or most likely – advertising.

These two words are often followed by a mental note of “yeah, right” or “why should I”.

Because, why should we trust? Unless someone has given you reason, why on earth would you choose to trust someone on their word alone if you had a choice. And that’s just it, when it comes to being a consumer, we’re inundated with choice and, equally, sales messages. So how to choose the right product and who to trust?

According to research, 97% of us make this choice based on the recommendation of others, it’s why TripAdvisor, Trustpilot, Feefo etc all have a business, and successful ones at that. Who better to rely on than people who have been in the same boat? Personally, I have never bought anything from Amazon without reading the reviews or booked a hotel or restaurant without first visiting TripAdvisor.

Given that 97% of all consumers use reviews to make a purchase decision, you must question, if you aren’t collecting customers/clients’ reviews, then why not? Not only will they be your most powerful tool in supporting the advertising messages you spend time and money conveying, but they also become an advertising message in their own right.

It’s time to act. Get the reviews, let your prospective customers access them easily, then share them so that more prospective customers may come your way.

It seems obvious, but it really is an easy win, plus, with Google giving preference to sites with Google reviews or Feefo/Trustpilot content, there are more gains than perhaps initially perceived.

However, this really must be a long-term consideration. If you gain 5 reviews in a month but then lapse for a given period, visitors may think you’ve not delivered since. It must become ingrained within your overall marketing strategy and customer support in order to achieve optimum value.