Online customer reviews are game changers for businesses and brands in this digital era. Customers rely heavily on review websites because before making any buying decisions they want to consider the opinion of other consumers about the business or brand. As per the study reports of BrightLocal, before selecting any business, more than 70% of customers read online reviews and 53% of customers avoid businesses with less than 4-star ratings.
Online customer review platforms play an important role in influencing where consumers choose to shop. In different forms, we all heavily rely on customer review websites when it comes to making informed purchasing decisions as it is clear from both observing people and data analysis. Read this blog where you will be provided with a comprehensive view of the best customer review websites and learn the importance of customer reviews.
What Do You Understand By Customer Review Websites?
Online platforms permit customers to form opinions, and express feedback, experiences, or ratings of products about certain brand products or services often referred to as customer review websites. Several customer review platforms serve particular industries, for instance, Yelp for the service and catering industry, Airbnb for the lodging & hospitality industry, and Tripadvisor for the tourism industry.
With rating portals, it is common that opinions are provided in quantitative ratings like scores or ratings. By free text comments, these quantitative reviews are usually justified in defining the customer or brand experience.
Customer review websites have an opinion-forming function and it impacts the buying decisions of customers. Customers use the feedback and opinions of other existing customers to create an image of products, services, brands, and businesses. Therefore, the ratings have a significant impact on the purchasing decisions of customers.
Why Customer Review Websites Are Essential?
Having a strong online presence for growth is important for local businesses and review aggregator platforms understand this very well. Apart from Google, the online reputation is highly impacted by numerous review websites on several platforms. For example, Yelp saw 26,830 new reviews while Tripadvisor reached one billion reviews in the year 2022 per minute.
Online reputation management or review aggregator platforms are helping their users diversify their online presence across different review websites as a result. In the modern customer journey, review websites effectively and instrumentally underpin the reputation phases. Business or brand owners can leverage customer review websites for their business to enhance their sales and growth.
Top Customer Review Websites At A Glance
Here are some amazing customer review websites mentioned below, have a look!
1. Google Business Profile
Google is now the king of the review ecosystem. Google Business Profile is a widely recognized customer reviews and testimonials platform that is of great value to brands looking to improve their online reputation. For every local business, Google Business Profile can seamlessly integrate with Google Maps and other techniques which makes it pivotal in every aspect.
Every second there are more than 70,000 Google searches as per the reports of Hubspot. The ratings impact the Google rankings according to SEO experts. In almost every consumer journey, Google is an essential element whether it is online shopping or visiting a restaurant.
2. Facebook
Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms with a number of 3 billion active monthly users. Facebook has acquired popularity among businesses while initially it was designed as a social networking site to connect with people. Facebook provides basic data for local businesses, including numbers, websites, and locations similar to Google. The users on Facebook can “Recommend” or “Not Recommend” a business to their peers making it different from Google.
According to their particular business, brand owners can create free business pages on the platform. Compared to other business review websites, Facebook has little different features. To leave Facebook reviews, users must require Facebook accounts.
3. Yelp
With more than 200 million reviews across the platform, Yelp is one of the most renowned online directories. Former PayPal employees Jeremy Stoppleman and Russel Simmons founded Yelp in the year 2004. For reviews and ratings for local businesses, Yelp is one of the top rating platforms. Yelp is less industry-specific as compared to Tripadvisor.
By highest rating or through the unique “Yelp Sort” feature, users can select to view reviews in different styles which also depends on some factors like distance and relevancy. For Yelp reviews, there is no minimum character limit but the maximum character limit is 5,000 characters.
4. Tripadvisor
You want to check the online reviews on one of the popular customer review websites like Tripadvisor if you are in the businesses of tourism, travel, hotel, or restaurant industries. Tripadvisor reviews is one of the largest travel websites across the globe and it caters to more than 1 billion reviews and photos posted by travelers.
Tripadvisor has more than 6.5 million accommodation listings which makes it easy for the customers to learn and know the experiences of previous guests at a particular hotel or property. Hotels, restaurants, attractions, and vacation rentals are four different types of listing categories to choose from.
5. Amazon Customer Reviews
One of the first online stores that allowed customers to leave reviews of products was Amazon in the year 1995. For customers looking to make informed buying decisions, Amazon remains one of the most important resources. Brands that sell products on Amazon can benefit greatly from positive customer reviews, which also increases product credibility and online visibility.
Embed Amazon customer reviews and shiny star ratings will differentiate your product on Amazon from other products. Amazon has more than 300 million active monthly users and it captures keywords from the reviews and also motivates users to post photos of the products they have purchased.
6. Trustpilot
In the world, Trustpilot is one of the most important customer review sites. Tripadvisor provides its services in more than 65 countries and it is a listing website that has more than 83 million third-party customer reviews. For online customer reviews, Trustpilot is a one-stop shop where businesses and users can create a free account.
When a customer completes a business on Trustpilot, it sends an invitation to customers to post reviews based on their purchase. To avoid inappropriate and spam content, Trustpilot has strict review guidelines that surround the review content. How to combat fake reviews, Trustpilot offers insight for businesses on such topics.
Key Advantages Of Adding Customer Reviews To The Website
Some of the key advantages of listing businesses on different customer review websites are listed below:
1. Boosts Online Reputation
In the eyes of prospective customers, positive customer reviews on different platforms strengthen the credibility and reliability of a business. To boost their reputation, local businesses actively engaged on product review websites.
2. Provides Competitive Edge
When a local business builds its online presence on different customer review websites then it will provide them a competitive SEO edge. To boost discoverability, maintaining exact information across different listings will take you ahead of your competitors.
3. Benefit For Review Aggregators
Review aggregators can showcase their ability to effectively monitor and respond to customer feedback, by helping local businesses in managing their online reputation across different review platforms.
Over To You
When it comes to shaping the reputation of an online business, online customer reviews wield an unprecedented level of impact in this digital era. Businesses need to understand that the marketing strategy for managing online reputation cannot end only with Google.
With millions of users, different review portals and websites are essential for businesses as they are integrated into the customer journey. Review aggregator tools can help businesses harness the potential to elevate their online presence by navigating these platforms strategically.
Review Widget 
Leave a comment