In this digital age of marketing and communication, passing along opinions by word-of-mouth is all but extinct. Instead, millions of people use powerhouse search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo! to seek out reviews about products and services every single day. Do you know what this huge audience is saying about your business?

Of course, we’re talking about online reviews: the good, the bad and the ugly. No matter what people are saying about you, more online reviews means more exposure for your business, plain and simple. In addition, these reviews are an excellent opportunity to more successfully manage your company’s reputation and gain trust and credibility in the eyes of potential customers.

In fact, 71% of the people in a survey conducted by www.peopleclaim.com agreed that ‘consumer reviews make them more comfortable that they are buying the right product’ and a whopping 82% agreed that they ‘considered user-generated reviews extremely valuable or valuable.’

Good reviews are wonderful, but we know that there will be a time when a disgruntled customer will take to the keyboard to share his or her negative experience with the world wide web. Not to worry—by taking the time to address unhappy customers’ concerns quickly, politely, and with appropriate solutions can actually help your business look better.

Reviews (good and bad) have a very powerful impact on businesses. The more reviews you have, the better. Don’t believe us?

In a study of Spectrum’s own clients, displaying more live reviews in organic search generated 35% more organic traffic to their websites and 49% more organic leads than over the same time period the year before. So what does this mean for business? More money—a lot more. This same group of clients has generated millions of dollars more in organic leads than they did before by harnessing the power of online reviews.

On top of tremendous increases in revenue, these same clients had significant improvements in organic keyword rankings since the reviews had been added. The average ranking was 30% closer to being in the number one search result spot and an average increase in visibility score of 37%.

But…how?

Luckily for you, you already have the tools to increase these important aspects of your business right at your fingertips. Using Spectrum’s Sales Automation Software, getting more reviews can be done in a matter of minutes. Simply log in using your username and login credentials to get started. From there, follow these few, simple steps:

  • Once in the website dashboard, click on “Contact Manager” in the left-hand navigation and then click on “Contacts” after the section expands.
  • Click on the specific contact you want to request a review from, keeping in mind that you only want to ask for reviews from contacts that had a positive experience with your company.
  • Click on “Actions” and then “Send a Message” from the drop-down menu that appears.
  • Select “Get More Reviews” from the “Message Template” drop-down menu and click on your specific market from the “Market” drop-down menu.
  • Your message template will appear in the box below. Click the “Send” button once you’re ready to send it to your customer and start receiving reviews!

It’s as easy as that!

As the importance of savvy internet marketing for businesses continues to increase, it’s essential that you know exactly how to make the most of your business’ online presence. Reviews are powerful tools and you can get more of them, quickly and easily, using Spectrum’s Sales Automation Software that you already have.

For more tips and tricks on how to make the most out of our Sales Automation Software, be sure and check out our video tutorials or contact your account manager with any questions you may have—we’d be more than happy to help you out!