What’s in a review?
A lot, it turns out.
Reviews aren’t just about finding out what consumers think you’re doing right or where you can improve. They’re a highly useful marketing tool for drawing traffic, generating leads, and making conversions.
Let me show you why you should be scoping out reviews for your business.
Why It’s Important for Your Business to Get Reviewed
With over 31 million small businesses in the US, consumers have a massive amount of choices. For businesses, this means it’s crucial to find ways to set your brand apart from competitors.
Reviews can help in three primary ways.
1. Purchasing Decisions
Reviews directly affect purchasing decisions: Around 95 percent of consumers check out online reviews before buying anything.
It’s not just your average consumer who cares about reviews, though. Over 41 percent of businesses use review websites before purchasing software—so reviews matter for B2B work, too.
Reviews empower buyers to make better-informed choices.
2. Brand Awareness
Generate traffic and build hype around your brand through customer reviews.
According to BrightLocal, roughly 87 percent of customers read reviews to help them find local businesses, especially new restaurants, hotels, or clothing stores.
What’s more, just one business review on a high-profile site can boost your traffic by 20 percent, and 10+ reviews generate up to 127 percent more traffic.
Think of online reviews as the new word of mouth.
3. Customer Trust
Consumers want to know they can trust your brand, so who better to rely on than happy customers?
The more (positive) reviews and testimonials you have, the more likely prospective customers are to put their faith and money in your services.
Here’s another interesting fact. The BrightLocal research linked above shows 73 percent of customers don’t look at reviews from more than a month earlier.
This tells us we need to pursue reviews at every opportunity and incentivize customers to leave reviews if you haven’t received online feedback in a month or so.
25 Review Sites to Earn More Customer Reviews
While there’s no need to limit yourself to just one review site, don’t feel like you need to target every site on this list. Instead, pursue the ones best aligned with the services you offer and your target audience.
To help, I’ve broken this list into B2C and B2B review sites, depending on your target buyers.
Let’s start with B2C.
B2C Review Sites
“B2C” businesses sell goods and services directly to consumers. If you’re a B2C business, opt for popular, high-traffic review sites to maximize your exposure. Here are 15 of the best.
1. Amazon Customer Reviews
Amazon isn’t just one of the first platforms to accept customer reviews. It’s also one of the most trusted sources for consumers looking for more info before buying something online.
- Open an Amazon Seller Account and encourage buyers to leave feedback.
- Amazon deducts a referral fee from every sale you make through the platform.
2. Which?
Which? is an independent platform in the UK for reviewing everything from flooring to savings accounts. It’s one of the most trusted review sites online, so it’s worth targeting if you have products to sell.
- The audience is consumers looking for impartial, reliable reviews from an expert team.
- You can’t submit items for review, but you can contact the Which? team to give them more information about your products.
3. Angie’s List
Consumers can’t leave reviews without signing up for a paid account on the US-based Angie’s List, so the reviews are usually worthwhile—they have to really think before they sign up and write.
- Businesses must be certified home service providers to sign up.
- You can easily request feedback and reviews straight through the platform.
4. ConsumerReports
At ConsumerReports, unbiased experts test out tech products and write up informative, impartial reviews.
- If you have a physical product to sell, ConsumerReports can review it.
- Since it’s an independent nonprofit, consumers trust this platform.
5. Tripadvisor
If you’re in entertainment, travel, or hospitality, check out Tripadvisor.
- It’s the world’s biggest travel website, trusted by audiences worldwide.
- That said, it’s hard to verify reviews and remove potentially fraudulent ones.
6. Yelp
Yelp is a popular platform known for local business reviews.
- It’s free to list on Yelp.
- Yelp is especially useful if you’re in the home and local services market.
7. Google Customer Reviews
If you sign up for Google Customer Reviews, verified buyers can rate and review your services.
- Sign up for a Google Merchant Account to get started.
- Add the Google brand badge and your seller rating to your website for enhanced credibility.
8. Foursquare
Own a bar or restaurant? Chances are, someone’s already reviewed your business on Foursquare.
- Optimize your listing with social media links and menu details to help persuade customers to choose your business.
- The downside? It’s not always easy to identify and remove “fake” bad reviews.
9. The Yellow Pages
Yes, the “real” Yellow Pages (YP) is still around, though it’s online now rather than in hardcopy.
- The YP is still a popular search option, especially for older populations.
- It’s free to list on the YP, though you can pay for a top spot in the search results.
10. The Better Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) checks all businesses against a predetermined set of “best practices” for customer service. Companies receive ratings from A+ to F based on the business’ size compared to the number of positive reviews and customer complaints.
- More than five million companies are already listed with the BBB.
- An A+ BBB rating can boost your credibility among consumers.
11. Manta
If you’re a small B2C business looking to grow your customer base, Manta can help. If you’re one of 36 percent of small businesses without websites, it could boost your web presence.
- Manta works best for small businesses targeting local consumers.
- It’s free to list, so even if you use other platforms like Google My Business, there’s no financial harm from signing up.
12. ConsumerAffairs
From collecting reviews to engaging with consumers, ConsumerAffairs helps you manage all your customer service needs.
- Start the process by opening a free business account.
- It’s most suited for SMBs offering financial or subscription-based products, like home insurance or gym memberships.
13. Citysearch
Citysearch helps consumers find the best local businesses in their community, from restaurants to nail salons. If you’re a US business, it’s worth checking out this popular review site.
- It’s free to sign up, but it’s a little convoluted. You need to sign up on Data Axle.
- It takes around two months for your listing to go live.
14. Yahoo! Local Listings
Yahoo! has partnered with Yext to create Localworks. It helps you manage business listings across over 70 directories, from Facebook to MapQuest, so you can quickly scale your marketing reach.
- Pursue reviews across multiple sites and manage them from the Localworks platform.
- Standard packages start at $23.30 per month, and it’s quick to get started.
15. Influenster
Influenster partners with brands to support product launch campaigns.
- You can run highly-targeted sampling programs to help generate buzz around your products and brand.
- If you’re targeting younger audiences and product campaigns align with your marketing strategy, sign up with their parent company, Bazaarvoice, to get started.
B2B Review Sites
B2B companies target other businesses, not ordinary consumers. Since you’re targeting a different audience, it makes sense to pursue alternative review sites.
If there’s one thing these alternative sites have in common, it’s this: They’re highly credible. They’ve built their reputation on being a trusted source of verifiable information for professional audiences.
With that in mind, here are 10 top B2B review sites to pursue, depending on your product type.
16. FinancesOnline
FinancesOnline has two goals: Help vendors like you find clients and match businesses with the SaaS tools they need to grow their business.
- Reviews are verified, unbiased, and comprehensive.
- There’s no guarantee you’ll be listed on the site. You need to apply to create a listing, and the team will get back to you.
17. CompareCamp
Catered towards the SaaS marketplace, CompareCamp brings together multiple expert reviews and turns them into comprehensive product guides and educational materials.
- CompareCamp offers the kind of rounded, deep-dive into your software that’s hard to find elsewhere.
- It’s a leading, highly respected B2B product review platform.
- Simply contact the team to request a review.
18. G2 Crowd
Do you sell software? Then get on G2 Crowd. With over four million visitors and one million+ reviews, it’s a lively platform known for its reliable product reviews.
- G2 users are highly engaged and love giving opinions on all aspects of your software.
- Turn your best reviews into social media posts to draw more traffic.
It’s quick and easy to claim your free profile.
19. TrustRadius
Like G2 Crowd, TrustRadius is great for gathering feedback and using it to inform your product development.
- It’s best for enterprise-level SaaS tools. The audience is more niche than G2.
- TrustRadius makes it easy to engage your most active buyers and bring them onboard to leave reviews.
20. GoodFirms
GoodFirms is geared toward helping software firms and IT vendors manage their online reputations. If you’re a small business trying to build hype around your product in a competitive market, GoodFirms can help.
- Although paid packages are available, there’s still a lot on offer if you opt for a free plan.
- There’s no free trial if you opt for the more expensive, paid plans.
21. Capterra
On Capterra, users share their software experiences with potential buyers. It’s an active community offering great exposure for vendors.
- Capterra is part of the Gartner Digital Markets group, so the sign-up process is similar to SoftwareWorld and GetApp.
- It’s not easy to distinguish between companies with five-star ratings but very few reviews and four-star companies with hundreds of reviews.
22. Glassdoor
Glassdoor offers everyone, from budding employees to prospective investors, a glimpse into what it’s like to work for a company.
- Glassdoor is one of the world’s most popular jobseeker’s websites.
- It’s free to open an account.
- You can quickly track reviews and respond to feedback.
23. SoftwareWorld
At SoftwareWorld, businesses search for products based on their needs, such as workflow automation or sales management.
- It’s simple to sign up, and listing benefits include social media promotion and press release publishing.
- If your product fits into multiple search categories, you can increase your exposure.
24. GetApp
With GetApp, users can shortlist business apps based on their budget, requirements, and current software stack. They can then read verified customer reviews to help them decide between the shortlisted options.
- With a free listing, you’ll be shown on Gartner Digital Markets, but a premium listing gives you access to analytics, including buyer insights.
- Reviews are divided into “pros” and “cons,” so some negative feedback is almost inevitable.
25. Software Advice
Businesses trust Software Advice for their personalized software recommendations and one-on-one telephone consultations.
- What’s unique about this platform is the team matches you with prospects.
- If a qualified lead contacts them, they pass the details to you to complete the sale.
- You only pay for whichever leads meet your specific requirements.
Conclusion
Whether you’re running a B2C or B2B business, customer reviews can help increase your credibility with buyers and attract new prospects.
There’s no reason to limit yourself to just one or two review sites, either, so explore multiple options and decide which platforms are right for your marketing strategy.
If you need help deciding which sites to target, check out my consulting services.
Which review sites are you pursuing?
