A customer acquisition strategy is vital for any brand. By taking advantage of online reviews at nearly every level of the customer journey, you make it easier for people to notice your business online and influence their purchase decision.
Ultimately, the ability of a prospective customer to find your brand and choose your business comes down to your online visibility. The more reviews you acquire and respond to, the more your search rank will increase, differentiating you from your competition, winning you more business and revenue growth.
Below you’ll find a detailed breakdown of the customer acquisition journey and just how important reviews are in the process.
You can also skip ahead and use our simple star calculator to understand how many 5-star Google reviews you need to increase your rank, online visibility and ultimately, revenue.
Step 1: Identifying A Need
A customer acquisition strategy should start with identifying a need.
Taking the time to ask specific questions about your brand’s current state helps you see your reputation from an outside perspective, which reveals valuable insights about customer acquisition and perception.
• What is your brand identity?
• How is your competitor attracting people to their business?
• What type of customer are you attracting and do they meet your expectations?
Step 2: Research and Discovery
The next step in the consumer’s journey is the research and discovery phase.
During this part of the customer journey, they will start looking at businesses that meet their needs. A major differentiator throughout their journey, and your success in customer acquisition, will be the reviews and social proof they see from previous and current customers.
Here’s what you can do: ensure that you’re constantly asking for reviews from customers to gather the social proof needed to notice and trust your brand. (Find out exactly how many you need with the simple star calculator below!).
Considering the following customer reviews data:
• 25% of consumers only trust online reviews as much as recommendations if there are multiple reviews to read.
• 53% of consumers view product ratings and reviews as the most important factor in the online shopping experience.
Responses and review amplification can also help you rank higher in terms of SEO. Search engines like Google will take your responses and review quantity into consideration when it comes to your online ranking. Simply put, more personalized responses and more reviews means you end up higher on search results and eventually into the coveted Local Pack – all factors that can help with customer acquisition.
Speaking of quantity, find out just how many reviews you’ll need to increase your Google search ranking with our star calculator!
Step 3: Consideration
After research and narrowing down potential options, consumers will enter the consideration process.
A buyer will take a closer look at each brand and find details that will steer them towards or away from specific businesses. The need for competitive intelligence is vital here as well as evidenced by customer reviews data:
41% of respondents agree on the role competitive intelligence plays in their organization’s success.
Knowing the right metrics, your total amount of reviews, and overall rating can help you get a sense of where you stack up against the competition in terms of online reputation. These insights allow you to effectively monitor the competition and build strategies to outperform them in the long run. Based on the metrics above, increasing your overall rating through new reviews is one of the best ways to stand out from your competitors.
Find out exactly how many reviews you need with our simple star calculator, to the left!
Step 4: Decision
Many will enter, and only one will win during the decision process.
In many cases, getting to this point requires visibility online, and review quantity plays a major role. Once people are aware of your brand you can further amplify consumer trust in you by displaying rave reviews next to your products and services or even dedicating a specific page of your website to reviews.
• 92.4% of consumers use online reviews to guide most of their ordinary purchasing decisions.
• 44.6% are more likely to visit a local business if the owner responds to negative reviews.
Check out more stats proving the value of customer reviews here.
This is further supported by data from ReviewTrackers customers. On average over the last 12 months, enterprise brands with over 100 locations collected reviews in the thousands.
Healthcare: 1,614
Hospitality: 45,114
Consumer Services: 20,977
Financial Services: 2,942
It’s apparent that plenty of reviews provide numerous benefits, but exactly how many do you need to reach your desired rating or potentially end up in the coveted Local Pack? See for yourself with ReviewTrackers’ Google Star Rating Calculator to the left!
In conclusion, through listening, monitoring, gathering insights, and responding to reviews you gain a leg up on the competition not just in service, but also in SEO.
Over time, this hard work pays off with happier and more loyal customers who easily found you on page one of any local online search.