The way people shop for security systems has really changed over the years. From home alarm systems to large-scale commercial integrations, customer buying habits are much different than they used to be.

Today, when both residential and commercial customers look for and evaluate security providers, they   turn to the internet. In fact, that’s where 97% go to find local companies.

And when they look online, you can bet they look for one thing nearly every time: reviews.

When you think about it, you already know that.

Your business has grown through word-of-mouth recommendations and you’ve used customer testimonials and references in your selling practices for years.

Now, these recommendations and testimonials are on the internet for all to see. The good, the bad and the ugly.

No matter what size your company, today’s reality is that you need a solid review marketing strategy to reach more buyers and sell more systems.

Here are three ways online reviews can lead to more sales:

Online reviews generate sales leads.

Here’s how…

You get higher organic search engine rankings. Studies at the University of California Irvine, in conjunction with Local SEO Guide and PlacesScout, show online reviews, and the words used within them, impact organic local market search engine rankings more than any other factor. The higher your organic search engine rankings, the more website traffic you’ll receive. If your website is good at converting visitors into leads and sales, more website traffic means more leads and sales.

Your reviews on popular review sites will help people find you. Many consumers today bypass search engines entirely and go right to review sites to find what they are looking for. It’s very common when people are looking for a place to eat. They go right to Yelp, look for top rated restaurants in their area, and make a selection. They bypass Google entirely and go to a review site. People do that for security systems too, especially homeowners and small business owners.

A study involving more than 30,000 businesses found that adding user reviews on their websites increased search engine traffic 45%.

It’s clear that online reviews lead to more sales opportunities.

Online reviews make sales.

A study by a researcher at the Harvard Business School found that a one-star improvement on Yelp can mean a 5%-9% increase in restaurant revenue. And although the research focused only on restaurants, our personal experience has shown the same impacts on other businesses.

Northwestern University’s Spiegel Research Center found that reviews boost conversions a whopping 270%, with larger ticket items seeing a boost in conversions up to 380%!

Studies also show that more than 67% consider reviews an highly influential factor in their buying decisions.

Testimonials and word-of-mouth recommendations have been an important part of selling security for decades. Now this process happens on the internet, without your involvement, on review sites.

Prospects trust reviews.

No one will ever buy from you if they don’t trust you. And what better way for people to trust you than through the experiences of others?

Your customers trust online reviews. In fact, 85% of them say they trust online reviews just as much as word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family.

A University of Colorado study shows a direct correlation between consumer perception of quality and the quantity of online reviews.

Conclusion

Generating leads and making sales involves lots of things. Websites. Social media. Paid advertising. Local search marketing.

If you haven’t been working on your review generation and marketing strategy however, you’ll miss out on many people that could have been customers.

We have an effective, automated system to help you get more online reviews and market them in ways that bring you more business. It’s called “Angus” and you can find more details by clicking here.