By Gaia Vezzoso, Psydro 

In the business world, customer reviews have turned into a necessity rather than an option. Indeed, this type of user-generated content has become an integral part of a consumer’s purchasing process. So much so that if your business hasn’t gained any online feedback, potential buyers won’t trust you.

The power of online reviews can’t be underestimated. This feedback can influence a buyer’s purchasing decision; more than traditional marketing strategies. In fact, over 90% of consumers trust customer reviews as much as personal recommendations.

How influential is your customer’s voice?

Word of mouth recommendations are widely considered to be one of the best ways to organically promote your business. The great part of this marketing tactic is that you are not telling your customers to recommend you to their friends and family. Instead, they believe that you did such a fantastic job that they feel the need to share their experience with other people. Also, since the past customer’s acquaintances trust their feedback and opinion, they will be more likely to shop with you too. Nothing beats the power of your customer’s voice!

Similarly, reviews are a powerful type of social proof. Again, this is because no one forces a customer to write a review; they always have a choice, even if you send them a review invitation. So, all reviews are written because buyers want to share their experience with the rest of the online community, making this content extremely valuable to potential customers and businesses alike.

There’s no question about it; word of mouth recommendations and online reviews are crucial for businesses looking to gain new customers and make more sales. At Psydro, we wanted to combine these two forms of feedback to give our clients the best chance to become more visible on our platform (and online) and help them reach their business goals.

A social review platform

Psydro is the world’s first social review platform. But what exactly does that mean?

Put simply, on our platform, users can socialise with other shoppers. They can follow and message each other, just like on social media. This interaction allows them to chat with other reviewers, ask for recommendations about a company they want to buy from and even keep in touch with like-minded people.

Online communities are vital, especially today. Living in a digitalised world, people spend more and more time online. Indeed, nowadays, most of us work, shop and communicate through digital means. That’s why we thought it was crucial to build a space where users could freely communicate as well as get feedback about companies, products and services they are interested in.

The power of social proof

Why is this important to businesses? Think about it, the more types of social proof there are on a platform, the more trust and credibility you will build with potential customers.

For instance, let’s take multimedia reviews. Through text, images, videos and even voice recordings, shoppers can gain a real insight into what it would be like to shop with you. They can see what your products/services really look like and how efficient your customer service is, whether through the content of the review or your response to the feedback.

Through reviews, you can also see what you are doing well and what needs improvement. By reading and replying to your customers, you will understand what you need to do to exceed their expectations in the future (if you are not already doing so).

When you add the social element to the mix, your customer’s voice becomes even more valuable.

By allowing word of mouth recommendations through messaging, interested shoppers can ask past customers about their experiences with a business. This means you’ll constantly be the centre of attention as users will not only be publicly posting about their experiences with you, but they will also be talking about your offering to potential customers.

For example, imagine a Psydro user is looking for a florist. They see a great review on a florist’s Psydro page that answers most of their questions. However, the user still wants to get more information about the company to make sure they will spend their hard-earned money wisely. For instance, how long did the delivery take? Were the flowers fresh and beautifully presented? How was the customer service?

So, the user clicks the message button on the review and sends a few questions to the past customer/reviewer. After a while, they receive a response with all the information they need. With it, the potential customer is now much more likely to shop from that company as they’ve been meticulously informed about the product and service it offers.

The social benefit

One of the main goals when creating Psydro was to unite shoppers and unify customers through social interactions. We thought this aspect had so much untapped potential in the review industry, but for some reason, no one was taking advantage of it.

This social tool is helpful to users as they can be part of something bigger; an online community where they can follow and talk to like-minded people.

Also, as we’ve seen, this helps shoppers make more informed purchasing decisions and get a real insight into the company they are interested in buying from whilst, at the same time, allowing companies to grow their online reputation and gain new customers through the power of social proof.

Boosting sales through your customer’s voice has never been easier!

Psydro are sponsors of this year’s Brighton Summit: Unite. Get your ticket for 29 April here.