Hey there, Vikings. Many of you know about our just-launched reputation management business, RepCo. If you don’t, well, go take a look. The home page is rep.co.
If reputation management is something you’re unfamiliar with, keep your eyes peeled for our nearly-ready ebook. Today’s blog post will be an excerpt from that book.
Without further ado, let’s take a look. The book’s introduction and first two sections are included below.
Word of mouth has been replaced by word of fingertips. It is impossible to find any research related to the importance of online reviews that doesn’t conclude that having a positive online reputation is critical nowadays.
Reviews play a decisive role in the success of businesses in the digital age. There have been many surveys that have sought to find the percentage of consumers who read reviews before making purchasing decisions. Online research can reveal polls that found that 90%, 97%, 82%, 95%, and 82-97% of consumers read online reviews prior to deciding whether or not to patronize any given business. So, the numbers vary, but the trend is undeniable– the overwhelming majority of potential customers out there will scrutinize reviews before parting with their money.
These numbers are powerful ammunition to have when it comes to making a pitch for reputation management. There are other compelling statistics to have at your disposal as well. A Harvard Business Review study found that revenue rises between 5-9% alongside a one-star rating increase. There is also compelling research that suggests consumers are most influenced by reviews that are less than 30 days old.
Aside from having an impact on revenue, online reviews also straddle the practice of SEO. They play a role in where any given business will rank for a given search term. This gives any SEO agency a perfect segue into pitching review management and review generation services.
An important thing to be aware of is the fact that the reviews a business gets aren’t an uncontrollable phenomenon. It is possible to stimulate the public-facing quantity and nature of customer evaluations. An important first step is for a business to just ask its clientele to leave it a review. The way that the customer responses are handled plays a pivotal role in how others will perceive the business when they’re searching online.
To concisely summarize everything that has been covered so far, reviews are undeniably influential, they affect the financial bottom line of businesses, and they can improve visibility in search engine results. It is difficult to fathom issues that are more important to business owners. If presented correctly, this is a service that can be put forward as a no-brainer.
The landscape
Reputation management and review generation services charge significant monthly fees because of the factors that have already been discussed. It’s trivial to make a case for these services paying for themselves, which is how the industry at large gets away with getting clients to pay through the nose for their offerings.
RepCo has taken a different approach that has worked for its sister platforms and the users of those platforms in the past. By pricing these services at rates that are a small fraction of what our competitors charge, the appeal to agencies and independent agents is obvious. The ability to offer a high quality service at a marginal price makes the decision to offer it as a value-added amenity simple. The affordability of our offering is unmistakable.
The Opportunity
Aside from the option for agencies to offer reputation management and review generation to their clients, RepCo also offers the prospect of a convenient white label for reselling the software we’ve spent time and money developing at a significant markup while still being able to offer incredible value to your clients. This is a unique niche in the marketplace, and it’s one whose barriers to entry are effectively nonexistent.
The RepCo white label allows you to slap your logo on our interface and situate it on your own domain. Setup is simple. It’s a matter of setting a few DNS records. If that’s something you need help with, we’ve got good news: our absurdly-competent support team is standing by to walk you through that process, step-by-step.
Having a sophisticated platform on your domain makes a flashy impression on potential clients when you make your case for the importance of online reviews. You will look imminently qualified to shuttle your clients from the doldrums to the promised land by way of the transformative impact that review generation can have on a business that has never pursued them before.