Kyle Stanton has owned a thriving cattle farm in northern Iowa for three decades and considers himself lucky to have a network of friends whose opinions he can rely on. However, over the years, he’s come to trust his online community just as much as his local one. Kyle chose his new John Deere skid steer based on a series of online reviews, especially a detailed post comparing models, and then headed to the dealer that had a wealth of five-star reviews cheering about great customer service and a reliable repair team. He never even checked in with his friends. Kyle is not alone. In fact, it turns out that 72% of purchasers say they trust an online review just as much as they would inputs from a family member. And, like Kyle, over 90% of consumers say they check online reviews before completing a purchase—with 4 in 5 buyers reversing a buying decision based on a bad review! Couple these trends with limitations on face-to-face interaction thanks to COVID, and the impact of online reviews as a top influencer of your brand and reputation comes into sharp focus. READ FULL ARTICLE >>
