There was a time when a restaurant would rejoice when a major food critic in the city wrote a positive review. Not too long ago, companies wanted consumers to air their opinions and such endorsements were used in various marketing and branding purposes. As internet empowered everyone to have a voice and as feedbacks, criticisms and outright bashing became more prominent, companies became increasingly worried with independent reviews. What did these companies do as a result? They started manufacturing reviews and endorsements.
Truth be told, such manufactured reviews or testimonials, endorsements and marketing gimmicks have worked for many but they are losing steam now. People or consumers at large have understood such strategies. People look for independent reviews. Even if you were to manufacture a dozen odd reviews on Amazon, shoppers will know which ones are genuine. Account info, history of a profile and the content in the review has made it easy for anyone to segregate the genuine or authentic ones from the manufactured and concocted reviews.
Here are just some of the many reasons why independent reviews are important.
- Independent reviews are a source of hot leads or referrals. Manufactured testimonials will never get you a lead directly. It may propel someone to make an enquiry. But when you have independent reviews, you can be sure that the customer has already spoken well about you before publishing the review. This is how companies like Courierpoint have been generating leads from unexpected markets and have been getting unending referrals.
- Independent reviews help with branding. The good old word of mouth publicity is not dead. It has just got transformed into something new. It happens online these days. Authentic endorsements or actual reviews will always be more believable. Someone who has actually hired a courier to Spain and has been satiated will have a story to tell and their tone will be different from someone disassociated from personal experience penning a predetermined review according to some formula.
- Independent reviews have a huge influence on search engine and social media optimization. When people start talking about a company and there is user generated content pertaining to a brand, it does wonders. Google, Bing, Yahoo and every major site prioritizes user generated content. Also, such contents instill trustworthiness. Any consumer will be completely disinterested in a product or service when he or she learns that the company has relied on shady marketing and paid reviews or concocted testimonials to get some positive exposure.