There have been a number of highly covered stories about the downsides of using Review sites, from fake reviews, to unreasonable rants, to online confrontations between customers and owners, which have hit the headlines.
These tend to be published on sites without any real verification that the reviewer is a patron or even a real person, so it is easy to understand why insurance businesses tend not to use review sites as a way of marketing their business.
It should be said however, that there are a number of review services, which can add real value to an online business in a number of different ways. For insurance businesses we recommend a couple of services, which we will mention shortly.
These services are pretty similar but offer the ability to only ask for reviews from a paying customer. They can also give you the option of a 7 or 14 day cooling off period before asking for a review, allowing you to deal with any issues before asking for a review.
After all, the last thing you want to do is ask for a review from a customer who has cancelled his policy.
Benefits of a review service
There are a number of positive benefits with using a review service. It adds social proof you can display on your website. Client reviews can provide you with a star rating and then allows a client to provide comments and testimonials which you can display on your website and even use within any paid advertising.
This social proof helps Google determine the value of a site and can be used to help it rank higher in search engine rankings. It can also have a positive impact on any paid advertising you do.
The other benefit is positive feedback from a client that you know has bought a product. This can be used as an internal KPI for your customer facing staff. Positive feedback can be rewarded, while negative feedback can highlight an issue with a knowledge gap, which can then also be addressed.
The two services we have experience working with are Feefo (http://www.feefo.com) and Trustpilot (https://uk.business.trustpilot.com).
Both services operate in a similar way and they allow you to ask for reviews via email and then display the reviews on their websites, which you can link to.
This provides a bonus of perceived independence, which can add real value when a potential customer is trying to find an insurance provider. Both these services are low cost and if used fully can even pay for themselves in value.
Feefo (http://www.feefo.com/web/en/us/cost-of-feefo-places-retail-reviews) also enables you to run a retail location programme so you can get reviews for your local insurance brokerage – so don’t think you have to be a national brand to take full advantage of a review service.
Don’t discount the true value of a review site. Just be careful how you apply them in your business.
