The marketing world is still trying to adapt to the fluid global B2B impacts and find solutions.
Two recent reports including the MDM 2020 Top Distributor Report and the Demand Gen Report’s 2020 Content Preferences Study point to significant changes including use of reviews.
If you were looking at buying a product or service then reviews were definitely part of the research. How many reviews have you read on Amazon? Did they convince you of the sale? Maybe more questions like customer service? Maybe those 4-star ratings could have been a five if only for that one reviewers recommendation? Or you saw way too many 1 star posts and started a new search for another brand.
As we stated in part 1, buying committees are increasing in size and demanding more justification. In part 2 we looked at content and how it can address each members questions, problems and solutions. Do you think that reviews were part of this, you bet your job on it. Like a good HR manager checks for references, so will your client.
If your selling a million dollar fire truck, guaranteed your potential customer is on the social media channels asking other department members what they think of their apparatus. They might even go there to see for themselves. People want to see and know opinions and feedback and will keep those comments for the documentation package.
Reviews can be a breeding ground for improvement. For example, a fire apparatus manufacturer kept getting feedback about wasted space around the wheels. The feedback from users recommended SCBA tank storage which saved valuable space and allowed more equipment.
So how do you ensure your reviews including testimonials, feedback and suggestions are positioned properly? First you should always welcome input from potential and existing customers. If there is a bad review, make it right so that it doesn’t keep new customers from running away. If it’s a major product change, take it seriously, maybe that one bad design flaw can be eliminated or improved.
Review your competition fiercely, look at their reviews, if your kicking their butt in sales because your better, maybe make a comparison chart review. If your product is fabulous ask for expert reviews/endorsements. Get feedback from demos, explain to your customers about how their ideas are making products and services better. Not only will this counter bad reviews, it shows your improvement and quality control. The bottom line is reviews should contribute to your sales, not drag it down.
Remember that reviewing is a continual process throughout your business management systems and processes, just like the marketing flywheel, so don’t forget this for your products and services.
Be careful about every review as companies are being caught with paid reviews. Usually you can weed those out because the wording/emotions or logic in the review does not match up to the other reviews. If most of the comments are bad because of a specific issue then pretty much its truthful. If you see comments about the same product that state its worth more than life, then you pretty much can delete that as real.
Likewise, for paid comments, do read the bad ones for nonsense like it arrived a day later than promised so we give it 1 star. Another example is a person that comments on how bad the recipe was when they changed half the ingredients, you know that review is not worthy of anything.
If your not sure how or where reviews can be used in your sales flywheel and web copy, Email me now for your free consultation to discuss your B2B Industrial Safety Marketing flywheel solutions.
And to prove the points in this blog, I encourage your comments on our B2B Industrial Safety Blogs to provide you relevant content based on your review.
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Thank you from your B2B Industrial Safety Copywriter!
Bryan Popowich
