How to Use Reviews to Increase Sales Conversions

Can you believe that a single one-star review cost a company my business? I was on the hunt for new bunk beds for our Airbnb, and just as I was about to make a purchase, I stumbled upon a negative review that made me question everything. In this eye-opening episode, we dive into the incredible power of online reviews and how they can make or break a business, whether you're a social seller or a business owner.

We don't stop at just discussing the importance of reviews – we share actionable tips on how to start collecting and using them to your advantage. By leveraging reviews and testimonials, you can build trust with potential buyers and ultimately convert more sales. And don't worry, when those pesky negative reviews come your way, we've got you covered with advice on how to handle them and even turn them into a positive learning experience.

Surprisingly, negative reviews can actually benefit your business or podcast in some cases. We'll share some hilarious one-star reviews of the Grand Canyon that are sure to leave you laughing, and discuss why a perfect five-star rating isn't always the most trusted. Plus, we'll reveal the astonishing number of positive reviews needed to counteract the damage of just one negative review. So go ahead, embrace the good, the bad, and the ugly of reviews, and remember: you can't please everyone, but you can learn and grow from the feedback.

Here's a sneak peak of our bear lake cabin:
VRBO https://www.vrbo.com/2092802?unitId=2657335

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Here's the Bunk Beds I purchased https://amzn.to/3J56idY

Try my favorite Collagen! Use discount code JENNYP at checkout to save up to 25% OFF ! https://lddy.no/zgjh

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to the social media influencer podcast. I'm Jenny Peterson, a stay at home mom of three turned six figure social media influencer turned CEO of my own seven figure product based business. I'm obsessed with all things online business, online marketing, influencer marketing, affiliate marketing and social selling. Why am I spilling all my secrets? Because I believe when we all do better, we all do better. Let's dive in. You are a social media influencer, an affiliate marketer, network marketer, social seller, content creator, business owner, ceo. However you identify, this episode is for you. We are talking about the power of online reviews. In today's episode, i'm sharing with you the science backed research, as well as a personal story, the entire reason and inspiration for this podcast in the first place. So let's jump on into it.

Speaker 1: 1:00

A few weeks ago, our current Airbnb guests reached out to us to let us know that they had accidentally broken one of our bunk beds, and my first reaction is I was mad. I was upset because I'm like, well, dang it, that sucks. I hate this when this happens. One thing I have learned since owning an Airbnb is people do not treat your Airbnb like they would treat their own home, and things get broken all of the time, and it's very frustrating. And I was frustrated because in this particular room I had two bunk beds And I'm like I can't just replace the one bunk bed and then have misspatched bunk beds, so now I have to buy two brand new bunk beds and have them shipped in time. Our busy season is starting. The cabin's fully booked. I'm going to make these guests pay for it. I was so mad. And then my husband, who's much more calm, much more level headed than I am, and very, very kind He doesn't charge anybody anything. He's like you know what? We bought this cabin fully furnished. It came with this furniture. It's never been replaced. It's not the best condition. It probably needed to be replaced anyways. It's okay. This is just part of the normal wear and tear of having an Airbnb And we just need to accept it and pay for it and move on.

Speaker 1: 2:18

So I began the search for new bunk beds in this room. I decided to order from Amazon. That ships the fastest. I needed them as soon as possible. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted. Do I want to go rustic to match the rest of the cabin? Do I want white wood? Do I want metal bunk beds? And after looking at hundreds of bunk beds. Because that's the kind of shopper I am, i narrowed it down to two And I asked my social media which bunk bed do you like better? My top two favorites were this white wooden bunk bed and then this like metal rustic industrial bunk bed. And everybody voted for the metal rustic industrial one.

Speaker 1: 2:56

And just as I was about to click purchase, i realized, oh my gosh, i forgot to check the reviews. So I quickly went and looked at the reviews of this bunk bed. Do you do that? Do you look at reviews when you are purchasing things online? I always do. And I realized, oh crap, there's only eight reviews And the most recent one, on May 15, 2023, was a one star review that read Missing Parts Avoid. It was reviewed in the United States and it says package was missing a major component that prevents it from being assembled. would not recommend buying this product at all. And even though it had seven, five star reviews, i was immediately turned off by that one negative review and I didn't get it, because I'm like there's only eight reviews to begin with, like that's not very many reviews and one out of eight, that's a negative one star review. That's 13%. So I decided I'm not going to get the industrial one, even though that's what everybody said would look best in that room. Because of those reviews, because there was so little and that negative review, i just could not get over it.

Speaker 1: 4:04

So then I went to the white set of bunk beds because I'm like, okay, i'm going to check out these reviews. They only had 50 reviews. It was like a four out of five star rating And I just felt like 50 reviews for an Amazon seller That doesn't seem like very many. And as I was reading these reviews, so many of them kept saying like it's perfect for children, perfect kid sized bunk beds, and I'm like I need these bunk beds to be functional for adults. So I decided I'm not buying either one of these bunk beds.

Speaker 1: 4:33

And the search continued And I decided to look for a different set of white wooden bunk beds And ultimately the one that I decided to go with, the one that I purchased, it was because of the reviews. It had over 5,000 global ratings, it had almost 1,600 positive reviews, a 4.6 out of five star rating, and it really hit me that, oh my gosh, one person's negative review literally cost the company my purchase, cause I was about I was putting in my credit card information. I was about to buy it when I just thought, oh, i better check out the reviews. And then both of those bunk beds that I had originally selected. They ultimately lost my business because they didn't have very many reviews, and this experience really got me thinking about how important customer reviews are to us as consumers, social sellers and business owners, and I don't want you to just take my word for it. I wanna share with you.

Speaker 1: 5:43

The science backed research about the importance of reviews. 95% of customers read online reviews before buying a product. So if you were like, yes, i'm like you, jenny, i check their reviews, hello, you're like 95% of the rest of the population. We all do it. Furthermore, 96% of customers look for negative reviews specifically. That kind of boggled my mind, cause I don't feel like I was looking for negative reviews. It just happened to that the most recent review was a negative review, so it really stood out to me and there was only eight reviews. But isn't that crazy? 96% of people are looking for the negative reviews.

Speaker 1: 6:23

Research backed that the more reviews, the better the reputation. It found that 60% of consumers feel that the number of reviews a business has is critical when reviewing and deciding whether to buy a product. 60% want to see more than eight reviews. Basically, they want to see more reviews And for some reason, as consumers, we think the more reviews that a company has, the better that company must be. 43% of consumers have indicated that they want to see more than a hundred reviews for an item. So that's almost half the population wants to see at least a hundred reviews And I really can say that I must be part of that percentage, because the reason why I didn't buy either of the first bunk beds that I found is because they each had less than 50 reviews.

Speaker 1: 7:16

49% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. So if you think about that for a second, just stop and think about that for a second. That means half of the population trusts an online review from a stranger As much as a personal recommendation from a family member or friend. That is wild. That is wild that we would trust the opinion of a stranger as much as a personal recommendation from somebody that we know. But 50% okay, technically it's 49%, but approximately half of the population they trust reviews that strongly. 94% say reviews have made them avoid a business.

Speaker 1: 8:04

Positive reviews can increase customer spending by 31%. 74% of consumers say that reviews increase trust in a company. 7 out of 10 consumers admit to using rating filters when browsing businesses. Let me say that again, 7 out of 10, that 70% of consumers admit that the way that they find products is by using the rating filters. The average consumer reads 10 reviews before trusting a business. Okay, especially if you are a business owner or a social seller, you need to tune into this one. So, displaying online reviews increases conversions by 270%. So if you are a business owner, you need reviews. If you're a social seller or an affiliate marketer, you can use reviews to increase your conversions, to make more money, to make more sales.

Speaker 1: 8:59

One negative review requires roughly 40 positive reviews to outweigh the damage. Isn't that nuts? One negative review For every one negative review, you need 40 positive ones to outweigh the damage. Only 5 to 10% of consumers actually write reviews. Consumers are 50% more likely to be motivated by an online review than by a discount offer. That is insane to me. 86% of users will think twice about buying from a company with negative reviews. Listen, if you are a business owner, like I am, i hope that these research backed statistics have opened your eyes and help you see how important reviews are to your business. They can increase conversions, they increase trust. Reviews are so important, and not just reviews, but positive reviews and lots of them. This is one thing that I feel like my company has done very well.

Speaker 1: 9:56

In My company, i own a company called You. We sell nutrition health supplements and we are less than two years old, but we have collected over 2005 star reviews which we display on our website. For my company, we ask for reviews. After somebody purchases a product, we ask for it. I love how we display it on our website too. If you want to see it, you can go to beautifulyoucom, scroll all the way to the bottom and you'll see the reviews. But it has the title of the review. It has the person's review. It has their name, like their first name, last initial verified buyer. It tells you what specifically they bought, has the date that they gave that review. This stuff is powerful. It's absolutely powerful.

Speaker 1: 10:39

Let me read you a couple of them. This first review is from Barb Jay. She's a verified buyer. She left it on June 2, 2023. She said the collagen is amazing. I love the taste. I wish I could take it more than once a day. I've been taking collagen supplements for years and this is by far my favorite. Isn't that amazing? That is such a powerful testimony and review that is going to help other people want to try the collagen. This next review is from a verified buyer, kelly C, and it was left on June 2, 2023, five star review, loving the taste, how it curbs my appetite and gives me energy. I'm down 11 pounds too. Oh my gosh. There's just so many good ones It's hard to choose. Here's another one Life Changing. This is from Tina L, a verified buyer, and I love how it says on her website like what she actually bought. She bought the trio, so the Protect, the Collagen and the TrimFit Bundle, and she said I'm very happy with this trio. The best thing, i think, is that it's not just for weight loss, but it's also for anxiety as well, and my skin feels amazing. I'm truly a customer for life. These reviews are gold, pure gold.

Speaker 1: 11:48

So if you are a business owner, have a way to capture reviews. Have a way to incentivize your customers to leave reviews, because this is going to help convert more people to try the product. This is going to help more people press buy, because 49% of the population trust reviews just as much as they trust a recommendation from a family member or friend. Now, if you're listening to this and you're like, okay, that's great, but I'm not a business owner, girl, i got you Listen.

Speaker 1: 12:18

If you are a social seller, if you're a content creator, if you're a network marketing, affiliate marketing, influencer marketing, if you sell a product online, you, too, can use reviews to increase your sales conversions. If you're with a company that's great at collecting reviews, like my company is, use those reviews. Use those reviews, screenshot those, share those on your social media. But even if you're with a company that's not great at collecting and asking for reviews, you can start your own review collection, your own review and testimonial library. You can do this by whenever you post and people comment like, oh my gosh, i love this stuff, this is what it's done for me. Screenshot that and save it in an album on your phone. When anybody messages you back and forth in your DMs, they're telling you how much they love XYZ that you recommended. Screenshot that. You can share that in your posts and in your stories, and reviews can help other people jump off the fence and try what it is that you are selling. It's social proof that somebody else has tried something that you've recommended and they love it. Remember 74% of consumers say that reviews increase trust in a company. Trust is everything. So when you are sharing those online reviews, those testimonials that you're collecting yourself, you are helping your followers, your potential buyers, your customers gain trust in the company because it's not just taking your word for it. Now there's somebody else backing you up. Now there's social proof that it's working for others as well. If you want to increase your sales conversions, collect these, capture these reviews, screenshot them, save them in an album on your phone. You don't need to reveal your customers name profile picture, none of that. You can scribble that part out and just share the review as an anonymous customer One of my favorite ways that I saw this and I thought it was totally out of the box, but it totally worked.

Speaker 1: 14:17

I was on a live video with one of our top affiliates, trinette. She screenshot reviews and customer testimonials And while she was live, she pulled out an iPad and she said let me read you what people are saying about these products that I'm sharing right now, and she scrolled through them. She had them nice and blown up big so that people could read the reviews along with her on her iPad and she read the reviews out loud. She also shared before and after pictures. She shared the testimonials and what people were saying to her about how much they loved the products, and guess what That helped those who are watching the live video and the replay jump on the bandwagon and try it too. It totally builds trust and credibility.

Speaker 1: 14:59

Shout out to Trinette, though. I thought she was just absolutely brilliant for doing that. Like, yes, i've seen people share reviews and testimonials and things like that in posts and in stories, but to actually share them all together in an album and then read them out loud on a live video Pure genius, pure genius. And I loved how she was. Like you know what.

Speaker 1: 15:19

You hear me talk about these products all the time, but don't just take my word for it. Here's what other people are saying. Here's what you guys are writing to me about. Here's the messages that I'm getting in my DMs. These are the kind of comments that I'm getting on my posts. Look at all of these other people who love the products too. So hopefully by now, your wheels are turning and you can start thinking of ways that you can start collecting and creating your own testimonial and review library and how you can share those reviews and those testimonials to gain even more sales. And as business owners, as content creators, as social sellers, affiliate marketers, we need to be thinking about this kind of stuff. Reviews matter And they influence people to make a purchasing decision. So we can use these statistics, we can use this knowledge and use these reviews as tools to actually get more sales.

Speaker 1: 16:10

So what do you do when you get a bad or negative review? And I said when, not if, because it will happen. Even on this podcast, there's over 200 positive reviews and I know for a fact there's at least one one-star review And I'm like Look, this podcast is free to listen to. I try my best to bring valuable information that is helpful, but I'm not going to be everybody's cup of tea And guess what? That is okay. Like I tell my teenage daughters all the time, you can be the juiciest, sweetest, ripest peach in the whole wide world, and there's still gonna be somebody out there that hates peaches. Be your peachy self anyways. So don't beat yourself up. If you get a bad review, it's going to happen. When you put yourself out there, it's going to happen.

Speaker 1: 17:00

Here's a couple of statistics that I do wanna share with you, though. 53% of consumers expect brands to respond to negative reviews within a week. 56% of customers said that a company's response to review changed their perspective. So that's one thing that can help you If you do get a negative review, if you can try responding to that review, because your response may change other people's minds. 68% of people said that they don't trust a five star rating unless there are more reviews, which is kind of boggling. That it's almost like it's too good to be true if somebody actually has a five star rating, but it's how we are as people. So your negative reviews can actually kind of help you, because then you're not like at the highest rating. One negative review requires roughly 40 positive reviews to outweigh the damage. If you get a negative review, ask your customers, ask your followers, ask your peeps to leave positive reviews and bury that negative review. And I cannot end this podcast episode without asking you, friend, please, if you love the show, would you take a minute and leave a five star review? That means the world to me. Now you know how important reviews are, not only to businesses, but to podcasts too.

Speaker 1: 18:24

I personally read and love reading the reviews. They make my heart so happy. I also want you to remember that when you get a negative review, don't beat yourself up about it. I was looking this up. I have to read this too, because this is just so entertaining to me.

Speaker 1: 18:42

The Grand Canyon You know the Grand Canyon, like one of the wonders of the United States of America has one star reviews. Some of these reviews are so ridiculous I'm gonna read them to you because I was laughing out loud. Are you ready? Here's some of my favorite one star reviews of the Grand Canyon. So Brody left a one star review and he said I went there with my family expecting to have a great time. Sadly, there was just too much canyon. It was very unreasonable to have that much canyon. What Like? take it up with God, brody, okay. Also, brody says I lost three different pairs of pants all in one day. I won't be coming back ever. Please fix. I Don't know what's going on here and I personally have never been to the Grand Canyon. It's on my bucket list, but several of the one-star reviews Mentioned losing their pants or someone stealing their pants. If you know the story behind that, please slide into my DMs on Instagram and explain. Here's another one. Michael left a one-star review Totally false advertising. I came here and saw absolutely zero canyons, let alone a grand one. I am furious in all caps. My kids were crying the whole ride home.

Speaker 1: 20:01

Gearish left a one-star review of the Grand Canyon. Overrated location, totally underwhelming experience. Nothing other than a huge, ugly looking gorge that stretches over miles. Don't waste your money and time on this place. Jordan's one-star review reads this is a great place, but I have two main concerns. Firstly, i feel as though there are far too many rocks here for my liking. Perhaps consider taking some of the rocks and moving them. Secondly, i had to buy new pants after my visit. All of my pants, as well as my family's, mysteriously disappeared. This may be an issue. Thanks, too many rocks for his liking. Are you rolling yet? Like let's keep going, okay?

Speaker 1: 20:43

Harley left a one-star review of the Grand Canyon. Honestly, i don't get it. It's just a big hole in the ground. I mean, it does have a beautiful view, but people are overhyping about a big hole in the ground. Hours and hours of just walking around this hole Sorry to sound harsh. Ray Saylor gave the Grand Canyon a one-star and said too cold, too windy river, too far away. Pretty awe-inspiring, i guess, if you like that sort of thing. The river was too far away. I can't even Anna Brinkman's one-star review reads. I just can't believe this.

Speaker 1: 21:19

After a 14-hour flight and a 23-hour drive, we finally arrive at this so-called Grand Canyon. As we stepped out of the car, our pants We're abruptly ripped off our legs and we stood there freezing, no warning from the staff, who didn't care and wouldn't give us a refund. My friends and I had really been looking forward to this, but it was the worst experience ever, even worse than the Eiffel Tower, the Little Mermaid and Mount Everest combined. I don't understand what's going on with everybody missing their pants. By the way, if you know the story behind that, please fill me in, because I know I'm super interested. There were so many one-star reviews about people losing their pants. I saved the best for last. Are you ready for this one?

Speaker 1: 22:01

Yeet Yaw left a one-star review one week ago of the Grand Canyon. It was always my dream to go see the Grand Canyon growing up, but after finally seeing it in person, i have to say I'm deeply disappointed. This was the biggest piece of malarkey I ever had the displeasure of Experiencing. The staff was cold and unfilling, there was garbage everywhere and the canyon wasn't even grand. It should be called the mid-canyon. This despicable display ruined me and my family's trip. I was so disappointed that I decided I needed to drink 12 beers to calm my crushed dreams. This led to my wife becoming belligerent, saying that I was verbally abusive to my children, that we're getting a divorce Now. They won't even speak to me. I spent $1,100 on this trip and it's safe to say it was the biggest waste of money I've ever spent.

Speaker 1: 22:52

I would give a zero star rating if I could. And on top of all this, some German came up behind me, let out a high-pitched giggle when I was already four beers deep. Next thing, i know my pants are gone and he's nowhere to be found. Oh my gosh, we could do this for hours.

Speaker 1: 23:07

There were so many one-star reviews of the Grand Canyon Canyon. Like who is giving the Grand Canyon a one-star review? take it up with the Lord, the person who created the Grand Canyon. Okay, i Could not even deal. It was. It was kind of entertaining to read these. But literally Every person that you admire, that you look up to they, have gotten a bad review. Every beautiful wonder of the world has gotten a bad review, so will you probably get a negative review. Yes, and it's okay. You keep showing up being your true, beautiful, one-of-a-kind, authentic self. Your vibe is going to attract your tribe, and Don't let the negative reviews get you down. Focus on the positive ones. Friend, thank you so much for spending this time with me. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review on this podcast. That really, truly makes my heart so happy. I love you so much and I will see you inside another episode.