ONLINE REVIEWS PLAY A FAR GREATER ROLE IN ATTRACTING AND PERSUADING CUSTOMERS THAN MOST PAYMENT PROCESSORS REALIZE.

Most businesses today, including merchant services and credit card payment processors, are at least partially aware of online reviews.

They know that those reviews play a role in their online success, with the understanding that better reviews will mean more and better business. Still, different providers deal with reviews divergently. Some spend a lot of time and effort cultivating a portfolio of good reviews, while others completely ignore them and just hope for the best.

But hoping for the best is not a plan for success, and what many companies don’t realize is how extensive a role reviews play in the business development cycle. Reviews do far more than just give customers a chance to praise or complain.

First, reviews are critical to online discoverability.

In fact, as this paper will explain, reviews help make merchant services and payment providers discoverable through three different mechanisms.

In other words, your online reviews can determine whether a prospective customer even finds out that your business exists.

Second, reviews are one of the principal ways for a company in the financial services sector to establish credibility in today’s market.

Payment processing in particular is an intensely competitive business. How do end-users choose which processor to use? They look for trust factors that can showcase genuine benefit and support any marketing claims. Reviews are a pivotal part of that process.

But how does all of this work? What’s the mechanism by which reviews enhance discoverability and credibility? And how can merchant services and credit card payment processors influence and maximize the value of the reviews left about them without running afoul of applicable compliance regulations?

This paper will address all of those questions and more.

In This Paper...

1: Review sites as mini-Googles

2: Extending discoverability through search engines

3: Discoverability through other channels

4: Establishing credibility and trustworthiness

Online reviews boost your website’s search ranking, while creating additional online doorways to discoverability.

First, third-party review sites extend discoverability through search engines.

It can seem like third-party review sites are “stealing” search traffic rankings, but, in general, they make up for it in the volume of traffic they generate.

Over a third (37%) of people begin researching services and businesses by going online first.1 They typically hit the big name review sites, like Google, Facebook, and Yelp, and then they search sector-specific sites more focused on their unique needs.

If your business is listed on those review sites when prospective customers are performing market research, bingo! They can discover you directly through the review site. In this way, each site functions like a mini-Google search engine.

This is true even if they don’t hit review sites right away. Many times the online research process starts instead with a simple Google search for a phrase like “Best Credit Card Processing Companies” or a more targeted phrase like “Best High Risk Merchant Account Providers.”

Out of all the listings on the first Search Engine Results Page (SERP), your individual website can be only one.

But review sites frequently show up as well, and if your business is also listed prominently on those, that means the prospective customer has more chances to find you. You might be discoverable through 30%-80% of all first page search results.

However – and this point is key – your listing on the review site has to be visible. If it’s buried, you won’t be any more discoverable through the review site that if you don’t show up in Google search rankings. Fortunately, many review sites let businesses promote their listings.

Second, review sites also make your website more discoverable through search engines.

We mentioned that your individual website can be only one result in a Google search, but in reality, not even that is guaranteed. Merchant services and payment processing are particularly competitive, and it’s very easy for one company’s website to get bumped off the first page of search results.

That diminishes your overall discoverability.

But here’s the second great benefit of third-party review sites: they can potentially boost your own website’s ranking with Google and other search engines.

Google’s ranking algorithm is complex, considering over 200 separate factors to determine which sites rank higher, but reviews are part of what the algorithm considers. In fact, review “signals” make up more than 15% of Google local pack ranking factors.2 That’s a huge impact from just a single ranking factor! Search Engine Journal explains:

“Google will connect the prevalence of reviews talking about your [services] with your … website. This will lead them to experiment with showing your site

more within the search results or perhaps placing you higher within the map pack. The more those adjustments result in solving people’s quest for the best [credit card processing] in your [area], the more entrenched your visibility will be.”3

Review ratings also impact whether a web searcher clicks on your site or your competitor’s. Review ratings are the single biggest driver of clicks in local SERPs. For example, a 5-star rating generates 39% more clicks than a 1-star rating.4

Third, clever use of third-party reviews can make you more discoverable through other channels and through demand generation initiatives.

Reviews can do double, triple, or quadruple duty when it comes to discoverability. That’s because businesses can use their reviews and clever and creative ways to generate more buzz.

The most obvious example is spreading reviews through social media and highlighting them on your website. Note: companies operating in the financial services sector have to be cautious about this. A multitude of regulations affect how financial services companies can advertise themselves. In general, you want to avoid anything that could be construed as “fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative.” In practice, if you publish reviews on your site or in paid advertising, you may fall out of compliance with regulatory guidance if you cherry-pick which reviews.

Fortunately, in most cases you can freely direct people to third-party reviews, including from your website.

Reviews can also serve as sources of added content for the website, with the reviewer’s permission. For example, you might ask a customer who left a rave review if they’d also be willing to provide a formal testimonial. If the story they’re telling is particularly compelling or interesting, it might also serve as the basis of a case study that can be used in content marketing initiatives.

Even bad reviews or negative feedback can serve a purpose here. If customers keep running into the same issue over and over again, a white paper or technical paper educating the user might be useful.

What about customers who don’t actively search for new providers?

Many potential customers do not actively search for new payment processors and similar providers unless and until they are unhappy with their current service.

That limits how effective passive discoverability is going to be. Thus, using reviews in demand generation activities like content marketing and social media marketing is equally important to getting in front of prospective customers.

“To reach established businesses, the key is to initiate a conversation through demand-generation strategies and digital tactics like email, content, social media, and display advertising,” Jenn Reichenbacher – the senior director of corporate and channel marketing of payment-technology company Cayan – told Digital Transactions Magazine.

Discoverability Best Practices
Be Proactive	Ask at the Right Time	Make Reviews Visible
Make sure you are actively soliciting reviews, monitoring review sites, and managing the review process. That’s the only way to retain influence over how reviews affect you.	Take care for when you ask for reviews. Make the request part of your normal workflow at a touchpoint that makes sense, like after a successful effort that has pleased the client.	Visibility is critical; if your listing on the review site is invisible, it won’t make you discoverable. Work on building your portfolio of reviews, but in the meantime, consider promoting your listing.

Third-party review sites establish credibility and trustworthiness.

Reviews don’t stop working at the point of discovery. Because reviews contain material descriptions of how the payment processor or merchant services company performs, they also affect how likely it is that a customer will reach out.

In other words, past the point of discovery is the question of whether your business actually gets a new sales lead.

The key here is credibility.

The review needs to establish that the company will generate successful business outcomes for their customers. It needs to showcase the kind of experience and benefits the prospective customer can reasonably expect.

In short, the review is a way for prospective customers not just to discover the company but also to certify whether it can meet their needs.

And that is exactly what reviews do, as "online reviewers have overtaken friends, family and colleagues as the most trusted source of product information."5

In fact, reviews are amazing at lead generation because they let your customers do your selling for you. While financial services organizations need to take care in how they handle reviews (see sidebar6), letting happy customers extol their virtues is incredibly helpful in an industry with strict regulatory guidelines on advertising claims.7 “Your company's best marketers and sales reps

aren't your employees – they're your existing customers,” says HubSpot.

Don’t be afraid of an occasional bad review, either. The sweet spot is a review rating between 4.0 and 4.7, according to Northwestern University.8 A small number of negative reviews help to legitimize the other reviews and make them both more believable and more meaningful. If the total review rating is too good, prospective customers may not trust that the reviews are being honest.

Compliance Concerns in Marketing for Merchant Services & Payment Processors

Organizations that operate within the financial services sector are subject to specific regulatory compliance requirements related to marketing and advertising.

Payment processors, depending on the specific scope of services they offer, may not be covered by all of these regulations (e.g., lenders are covered by regulations that other financial services companies are not), but they are covered by at least some of them. At heart, these compliance requirements are designed to prevent fraud through deceptive or misleading marketing. Companies in this sector must be scrupulous in how they solicit and use reviews to ensure they do not fall afoul of these requirements.

Under Federal Trade Commission rules, for example, the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising face specific limitations. Financial organizations can’t necessarily control what reviewers say, but if they use those reviews in marketing activities, they become accountable for the message and must be transparent about the financial relationships and circumstances through which the review was procured. For more information and individual guidance, contact your legal advisors or representatives.

Even Google has specific guidelines for companies that fall into their “Your Money, Your Life” (YMYL) category. Financial services business are included in this category, and Google has a higher quality guideline for these organizations. This is particularly true after the Google medic update in August 2018, which was designed to reward companies that are genuinely expert, authoritative, and trustworthy.

Organizations that do not meet Google’s guidelines in these areas, or that try to deceive or manipulate users, will be punished by Google’s search ranking algorithm.

 

 

Credibility Best Practices
Don’t dictate reviews.	Respond to reviews.	Be mindful of regulations.
For reviews to be credible – and legal – your company cannot dictate what goes into them. For that matter, do not pay or otherwise incentivize reviewers to leave positive reviews.	To handle negative reviews and restore lost credibility, respond promptly. Studies have found that review responses actually lead many reviewers to improve or delete their review.	Always be mindful of both Google guidelines and applicable federal, state, and local laws that govern how financial services companies can market and advertise themselves to customers.

 

 

So, a small number of negative reviews can actually lend credibility. However, the merchant services and payment processing industry is so competitive, it’s important to ensure bad reviews don’t get out of control. Too many will damage your credibility. Upwards of 80% of consumers have changed their minds about a potential purchase after reading negative reviews.9 The more negative reviews, the stronger the effect: reading a single negative review or article can lose a business up to 22% of potential customers, but three negative reviews increases the potential for lost business by up to 59.2%.10 That means you need to actively monitor reviews posted about your organization on the web.

The good news is that monitoring and managing reviews is not nearly as onerous as it may seem. Companies can outsource some or all of the process to a service or technology tool, but once a clear process for soliciting and responding to reviews has been setup, ongoing monitoring is usually straightforward. It’s also well worth the time investment. By extending online discoverability, reviews help increase the number of potential customers who get their eyes on your site. Then, by establishing credibility, they turn those visits into qualified leads. Few marketing activities return such excellent benefits for so little investment of time.

Referecnes

1 https://www.searchenginejournal.com/third-party-review-sites-seo/209190/ 
2 https://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors 
3 https://www.searchenginejournal.com/third-party-review-sites-seo/209190/ 
4 https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-services-ads-click-study/ 
5 https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Consumer-Trust-Evolving-Digital-Age/1014959 
6 https://www.digitaltransactions.net/magazine_articles/getting-merchants-to-click/
7 For more information, see http://content.aba.com/textbooks/POBM3/resource/marketing_regulations_summary. pdf
8 https://spiegel.medill.northwestern.edu/online-reviews/
9 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/game-changer-cone-survey-finds-4-out-of-5-consumers-reverse-purchase-decisions-based-on-negative-online-reviews-128670633.html
10 https://moz.com/blog/new-data-reveals-67-of-consumers-are-influenced-by-online-reviews