How Much are Negative Reviews Costing Your Business?

Harshly critical comments like these on TripAdvisor, Amazon, Yelp and other shopping or review sites are killing your sales and ruining your brand’s cherished reputation.

Depending on the size of your company, negative reviews like this may be costing your business hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

Here’s why:

1.       Online reviews influence what people buy. 83% of online consumers say reviews influence their purchase decisions, according to Opinion Research. In the hotel industry, travelers are 3X more likely to book a room at a hotel with 5 stars vs. a hotel with 3 stars, Morpace has found.

2.       Negative online reviews are a “silent killer.” Prospects don’t call you and say, “Hey, I just decided to eat at a different restaurant because I heard your service sucks.” They just go to a different restaurant.

How to Estimate Impact of Negative Reviews

Here’s a simple formula of how much business is lost by negative Word of Mouth in the form of negative reviews, using a restaurant as an example:

Brand Under Attack? Fight Back!

Identify and energize your Advocates, those highly-satisfied customers who act as champions for your brand and products. Invite them to rate and review your products and services. Make it easy for them to share and publish reviews on shopping and review sites and elsewhere.

Here are a few real-world case studies:

• Norton doubled its star ratings on Amazon and increased sales by $26 million after it started energizing its Advocates.
• Over 150,000 Advocates for Chili’s Bar & Grill, the popular casual dining chain, wrote reviews of their local Chili’s. About 50,000 of them published their reviews on Yelp, plus shared their reviews on Facebook and Twitter, reaching 7.5 million potential diners with social recommendations.
• A leading consumer electronics manufacturer boosted its star ratings on a major shopping site from 2 to 4 stars in less than one month after energizing its Brand Advocates.
• A popular software company increased star ratings on a shopping site from 3.25 stars to 4 stars in two weeks, in time for Black Friday.
• In about three months, a boutique hotel saw its ratings on TripAdvisor jump from 3 stars to 4.25 stars after energizing its Brand Advocates.

-Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance

Rob Fuggetta As Founder and CEO of Zuberance, Rob Fuggetta is the driving force behind Zuberance’s vision and strategy.