Whatever your customers want from you, they are looking at you as if they were buying something for themselves, not for a business

That’s because businesses don’t make actual purchases. Individuals do. But before we buy, we’re all looking for someone, or something, that we can trust. Trust enhances every buying stage from awareness, to consideration, to content creation and advocacy. Soon you’ll find you’ve built the best, most trusted buyer experience possible, boosting your bottom line. To achieve this success we look at how online reviews:

1. Bring confidence to buyers’ research
2. Improve customer service & customer experience
3. Create content that gets you noticed

Bring Confidence to Buyers’ Research With Reviews

In a recent B2B study, peers were found to be one of the preferred sources of information during the buying cycle. It’s not surprising: 73% of B2B buyers say they prefer solo research, so validation in the form of previous customer feedback is key when going it alone.

The search for online trust is growing, too: since 2014, there’s been a 70% increase 3 in the number of 18-34yr olds who make the B2B purchase decisions. This tech-savvy bunch are looking for immediate confidence in your business so they can recommend you. To appeal to your buyers, to improve your online visibility, and to increase sales and retention, you need online reviews.

Acquire more leads for less effort

It’s second nature to research on our devices. Because of this, B2B businesses are expected to supply the same level of slick customerfocused convenience as a typical B2C company.

Buyers have more power when they have smartphones and tablets and information at their fingertips. They really want to speak with peers, not salespeople.

- Laura Ramos VP and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research

Improve Customer Service & Customer Experience

By 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator for B2B.10 It’s no good anymore to only offer the best price. You need to offer great customer service, a slick brand, an easy purchasing process and more. And then you need to repeat all of this for every customer.

It’s a tall order, but one that’s easier with reviews because their transparent nature proves you’re a legitimate, reliable business. Seventy per-cent of companies with the best customer experience use customer feedback, and more than half (59%) of software buyers say they write reviews to help others.

Build a fluid customer experience with reviews

A study found that 45% of buyers say decision making has become more complex due to greater choice of services and suppliers. Be the slickest choice and you’ll make that decision a bit easier.

Case studies and testimonials have their use. But for an authentic analysis of what you offer, online reviews are the only way forward. With Trustpilot, it doesn’t matter how your customers find you. They can always see your reputation thanks to Trustpilot’s tools for your website, social media and marketing.

Online reviews help you:

• Understand what you’re doing well
• See what needs improvement
• Build a reputation without selfish self-promotion

Online reviews improve customer service

Research shows star-rating in search results is the number one way to judge a business. Buyers like to see from their peers that you’re offering the great customer service you market. Online reviews give you another channel to reach your customers. Feedback here helps you improve the areas that need it and continue doing what’s great in the areas you’ve received praise.

It’s all about having a conversation with your customers to find out what works and what doesn’t, so you can replicate the best customer service time and time again in the future. And with Trustpilot’s advanced analysis tools, you can analyse feedback in-depth to identify review trends in an instant. That means no lengthy, expensive commitments to audience analysis.

Case Study: Dashlane improve their online visibility

World-leading password manager Dashlane came to Trustpilot with one goal: to increase organic traffic and conversions for their offering. Dashlane invited their customers for feedback. Soon after, Dashlane collected enough reviews to qualify for Google Seller Ratings. This new step alone led to a 93% increase in click-through rates. By displaying Trustpilot reviews on their paid ads too, conversions increased 14.5%.

Personal trust and usability are huge for businesses and often a story about family password sharing, alongside powerful data protection, is more credible and important than a corporate endorsement

- David Rostan, Head of Organic Marketing for Dashlane

Create Content That Gets You Noticed

B2B decisions take time: 54% of B2B buyers say they take longer to make a decision about buying than they did 12 months ago. Make sure your value is evident in the first few seconds. With a review-built reputation easily accessible across every communication channel, the buyer doesn’t need to look to a competitor.

Assure buyers you are the best choice

Analysing feedback and making necessary changes, based on that feedback, is worthy enough in itself. But what’s the point in collecting feedback if you don’t showcase it? Trustpilot makes it easy to display your feedback thanks to a simple range of widgets which can be placed anywhere on your site, to guide your buyers through the purchasing process. The confidence created through displaying customer feedback can mean more leads for less spend.

Boost SEO with reviews

Search engines notice the fresh, relevant content of your customer feedback and can consider you an authoritative source. This can potentially push you up the search engine rankings. Because Google trusts certain third-party online review communities, like Trustpilot, to supply review data, you can also earn a star-rating in search results.

So not only is your visible review content guiding people through to the checkout, it’s helping you gain popularity and dominate your competitors in buyers’ initial research stages. Here’s where you can see the benefits:

Earn Rich Snippet stars in Google

Google takes your customer feedback data (through Trustpilot) and represents your reviews in a simple, representative star rating in its search results. This makes it easy to see how trusted you are from the first search.

Get Google Seller Ratings for your ads

If you have a Google AdWords account and a collection of fresh review content from a site like Trustpilot, a star rating on your ads can appear. You only need 30 different reviews to get started.

Use reviews in retargeting marketing

According to a study by B2B International, most companies lose 45% to 50% of their customers every five years, and winning new customers can be up to 20 times more expensive than retaining existing customers.

Strategically use your Trustpilot reputation in your remarketing efforts, from emails to leaflets, to assure past or lost customers that you fulfil their needs. Website targeting, email and ad campaigns are among the most common acquisition methods. Make sure your marketing, through whatever channel, builds trust the very first time it’s seen.