With the high rise of internet users, consumers are different than they were in the past. They can easily conduct research by sampling making a few quick searches from the palm of their hands all around the world. According to a few different statistical findings, studies show that over 60% of consumers research and read the reviews before they make purchases. They want to find hard evidence that what you have to offer is worth investing in and your business is worth trusting. Companies need to understand the importance of a trusted reputation. The opportunities that a great reputation provides is infinitely valuable to the company. This is how your company grows with word of mouth marketing. There are a number of different ways to help build your reputation and trust. Providing quality and valuable content to consumers is virtually the most important thing you can do. Many retailers will stress the “80/20” rule. The rule states that when you’re creating content, 80% should be engaging and useful without talking about your product. Where the other 20% can talk about your actual product. This shows that your customers are king and prioritized and that you’re not just posting to sell them something. By creating trustworthy and informative posts as opposed to just trying to give a sales pitch, you build trust and consumers are left feeling conformable in going with you. 

If you notice on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, consumers enjoy engaging and having a real-time relationship with companies’ brands. Social media is a great way to individualize and personally reach consumers. The great part about these types of interactions is that it is public for everyone to see. All of the engaging consumer’s followers will see your company personally engaging with him/her. This is an effective way to generate positive attitudes from other viewers. Being engaging and actually reaching out to customers personally you can build a great reputation. There are large companies who’ve created entire departments for customer engagement through their webpage and social media platforms. 

User-generated content is an excellent way to show case your business through real people and real-life experiences with your business. People enjoying your services and different products will build authentic trust with your brand. These types of posts and reviews are critical to highlight on your page. You need to show your endorsement of the situation by sharing or re-tweeting that particular customers positive testimony. Remember to keep in mind the links that you share along with posts are the direct source to your brand so ensure that curious viewers are led to the right spot. 

According to Lucid Press.com, Your brand isn’t simply what you say it is, but rather a reflection of consumer trust in your product or service. With the technology of the present your business has the opportunity of expanding rapidly though social internet marketing tools. Providing compelling content, interacting with customers, and maintaining brand consistency is essential to building a brand that people trust.

Pros and Cons of Online retailing

After looking at how we shop today and how its continuously evolving. I think It’s interesting to point out the steadily rising use of online shopping. There are so many different factors to consider when talking about the pros and cons of ecommerce retailing. The internet can be an excellent resource for shoppers looking to increase their purchasing options, as well as a great way to save money. 

            There are a number of advantages to online shopping. One of the best parts about online shopping is that the store is never “closed”, you always have the option to look at different products that you want and shop for as long as you want in your underwear. It’s so much easier to sit at home, find what you want and have it delivered directly to you. Websites like Amazon allows customers to order things from the palm of their hand have it readily available to them in just two days with Amazon Primes shipping (Offered to students all over for a discounted price.) You can avoid the crowd along with the long lines and crowded parking lots during popular store times. If you are a very introverted homebody type, online shopping is the best thing that ever happened to the world. With new technology available online representatives often are often incredibly helpful and flexible to aid you in finding what you need for the best price! Online shopping also gives shoppers the opportunity to easily compare items and read reviews. You’re able to line up different products next to each other and find the best options. I know at least for myself I’m always able to find more discounts online rather than the actual store. When you reach the point of checking out your cart there always are options for code redemptions, you can save tons on simply plugging in a one-word phrase and dropping the total price. 

            While all of that sounds great there are some negatives to shopping online, sometimes a product that appears great falls vastly short than what you imagined. Online shoppers don’t have the opportunity to try things out in person. Also, problem solving becomes a real issue when you’re in a hurry and you want to talk to the same representative that you talked to face-to-face previously. It’s harder to reach next level management when you’re struggling to settle an unresolved issue. Trust is a major part of shopping and sometimes It’s difficult to build that trust through a potentially sketchy web page. Online consumers don’t always know if a site is legit or not and this makes scams so easily possible. Lastly, I would say the biggest bummer about online shopping is that discouraging feeling when you see that the shipping and handling costs are nearly half the price of the item you were buying initially. This is many times where businesses lose out on a sale and cart abandonment occurs. 

            The bottom line is that online shopping is a great tool to have available, but it just always depends on what exactly you’re shopping for. Sometimes It’s worth waiting and avoiding all of the hassle of going to the brick and mortar location and other times Its an emergency. Another point to consider is how repairs are handled after a purchase is made. It’s so much easier to make a return to the local store than to ship it back to the inline retailer, that just takes too long. Brick and mortar stores will always be around for these reasons even though the popularity of e-commerce is on the rise. 

The Impact of consumer reviews 

Consumer reviews is one of the largest factors that contributes to a businesses or brands reputation. Almost 90% of consumers said that they read reviews for local businesses before visiting their location. That percentage is staggering, considering your first impression as a business, online to people researching you in the area. Managing your online reputation is critical to your business’s success. Being aware of your online surroundings and what satisfied, or especially Unsatisfied customers are saying about their experience with your business is so important. 

Platforms like Facebook, Yelp, and Google are all examples of review platforms. Google is the most visible of all review platforms and can be seen in regular Google search results and on Google maps when someone is looking you up through the app. The listings will show all of your information and recent photos. According to Forbes, Businesses that have brick and mortar locations should keep a close on these particular reviews because Maps are usually highly influential when making a purchasing decision. Monitoring these diligently so that you maintain an exceptional reputation can be a fulltime job in itself. Negative reviews have become quite powerful in that they could result in lowered search engine ranking. Search engines will automatically rank you lower on pages like Google and Yahoo for having low ratings. Negative reviews also can cause potential customers to lose trust in your business. This is especially true when it is a close family member or friend that negatively spreads word of mouth to the people around them. It becomes a double-edged sword if they have good things to say about you. Once your business accumulates an abundance of negative reviews, it can make it extremely difficult to regain that trust, rebrand, and win customers back. That is why monitoring your efforts is so key to your success. 

On the flip side, positive reviews reinforce your business and helps it to grow rapidly. You have an established reputation and trust with customers, and you can out compete other lower rated businesses in your market. Positive feedback from repeat customers will increase the chance of a prospect to choose you over a competitor.  As a business, you’re always looking for ways to improve and what better way than asking your own customers directly on what you’re doing right and what can be improved. This saves you time and money on figuring out what you need to shift your efforts away from, and what you need to start putting your resources toward to receive the largest ROI. Online reviews are a convenient way for consumers to report their experience with your brand. 

It’s vitally important that your business stays on top of monitoring these reviews on all of the various platforms. Starting with taking the negative reviews and making them right by getting them off of the public forum where others can see and offering those people some sort of reimbursement. Make reviewing your business an easy thing to do. If it’s a 10-step process just to give a quick 4/5 stars on your business, then nobody will ever take the time to make it to that point. The simpler the process is, the better. The money spent on making things right is infinitely worth spending on. Your reputation is the most valuable asset you possess as a company so giving that customer who had a negative experience with your business $50 is a no brainer. In a world where everyone has smartphones, online reviews are either going to attract or repel potential prospects. Placing customer satisfaction first on your priority list will directly correlate to your bottom line. 

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.