Whether searching online for a doctor or an insurance agent, online reviews are one of the most powerful determiners for making a buying decision. Consider that about 95 percent of potential customers read reviews before making a purchase, and it’s easy to see how this often untapped resource can generate more leads and more clients. If you want to turn customer feedback into one of the most powerful marketing tools in your arsenal, you have to learn how to use online reviews for your insurance agency.
Customer feedback can be a valuable marketing asset when you learn to leverage online reviews for your insurance agency. Many businesses rely on third-party sites like Google and Yelp and hope for the best. Others may go a step further and ask for reviews via email or text, yet too few use them for marketing. You can put customer feedback to work much more effectively using these five steps for leveraging online reviews.
How to Leverage Online Reviews for Your Insurance Agency
- Use Online Reviews to Build Your Brand
Think of online reviews as a modern version of word-of-mouth advertising that increases your visibility and attracts more clients. Besides the increased visibility, using online reviews also influences search rankings. That’s because search engines see every online review as unique, fresh content that increases your brand’s relevance.
While Google says your number of reviews and review scores help local rankings, you can do something to drive those rankings even higher. Your online reviews are a gold mine for keywords that reveal how your target audience searches for insurance. Use these keywords to fine-tune your digital content, and your audience and search engines will reward you with increased engagement and higher rankings. - Leverage Reviews to Drive Sales
Learning how to use online reviews for your insurance agency can help you increase your client count, especially at a local level, as most potential clients read online reviews of local companies to determine their worth. An agency’s ratings and reviews provide its online audience with one of the essential needs of any consumer — social proof.
And according to marketing research, customers spend a third more with businesses that have positive reviews. To increase sales, use online reviews to generate leads and attract conversions who will invest more with your agency. - Use Customer Feedback to Improve Your Services
Another way to leverage online reviews for insurance agencies is to use the data to create better services and customer experiences. Your target audience explicitly tells you what they like and dislike about your services, marketing, and the overall customer experience. Don’t ignore them, and don’t focus only on the good reviews. A bad review is where many businesses can find insightful and immediately actionable information for creating a better brand.
Besides using the information from online reviews to improve your business, it’s critical to address negative reviews quickly and compassionately. Engage your detractors and create a more positive experience by answering questions, alleviating concerns, and, most of all, listening intently. - Build Better Customer Service Using Customer Reviews
One of the best ways to use online reviews for an insurance agency is to make customer feedback a conversation. Most of your prospective clients turn to reviews to make an informed choice, and most of them also read the responses to reviews. When you engage with clients who share their experiences, you create a powerful way to provide genuine, high-level customer care that gets noticed.
Surprisingly, a majority of businesses ignore online complaints. Don’t let it be that way for your agency. Thank positive reviewers and make peace with negative reviewers in plain sight so your audience can see how you take care of business. Most of your clients don’t expect an immediate solution to their problems, but they do expect you to reach out and connect. - Use Online Reviews for Social Media Content
Social media is the perfect medium for leveraging online reviews for an insurance agency. When agencies are struggling to connect with demographics like millennials and other demographics, leveraging reviews on social media can be a powerful tool for reaching a new audience. That’s because 84 percent of consumers report trusting online reviews more than other advertising sources — and this user-generated content typically experiences higher levels of engagement.
Using online reviews in your social media marketing lets your agency ditch the typical brand-generated content and allows your audience to be your ambassadors. The result can be online content that is genuine, credible, and far more engaging than anything that comes out of a content marketing strategy.
Harness the Power of Online Reviews with Marketing Technology
If you’re unsure how to get more online reviews, are tentative about engaging with them, or just don’t know where to start, Agency Revolution can help. Our intelligent automation platform, Fuse™, integrates with your agency management system to fuel the most powerful NPS® and reputation management tools available to insurance agencies—making it easy to gain reviews and referrals from your happiest customers, and address issues with the detractors. See exactly how it can work for your insurance agency when you book a demo.