Ever wondered what people say about you behind your back? If it’s your business they’re talking about, this isn’t mere paranoia – your survival is at stake. Online reviews are read by anywhere from 67-97% of consumers, depending on which study you cite.
There is less data available about how B2B companies are affected by online reviews than there is for B2C companies. But I don’t think that gets B2Bers off the hook. We are people, after all, whether we’re in B2B or B2C. And while buying decisions in B2B are often more complex, it’s still people making those decisions – and those people are swayed by online reviews.
There are also plenty of circumstances when it’s obvious that even pure B2B businesses are affected by online reviews.
- Employee review sites like Glassdoor and Indeed.
- If you’re a SAAS biz, on sites like GetApp.com and Product Hunt. Or Spiceworks and G2.
- Industry-wide research reports or surveys of what people think of different B2B services.
So while we don’t talk as much about online reviews for B2B companies, it’s not like B2Bers are in a review-free environment. Reviews also carry more weight when you put them in context.
As you probably know, word of mouth marketing is arguably the most effective type of marketing, as this chart from Implisit shows.