Reviews turn lookers into bookers. Makes sense then to bring them to your website and drive conversions. But, which widgets perform best?
Reviews are the cornerstone of the content strategy for online travel agents (OTAs) and are proven to improve conversion rate significantly. Elina Property Management System team rates some key widgets that can improve your website content and drive bookings.
Google Business Listing
This is one of the most important listing a business can get in the modern digital landscape. If you haven’t claimed yours till now, don’t delay any further. Next step, optimise it and see the reviews and results flood in.
Click here to find out how this widget can be embedded on your website, helping increase the chances of turning users into guests. Remember to play close attention to reviews and respond appropriately as they cannot be removed.
Review Widget Score: 9/10
Yelp
Yelp exists as a directory with reviews, but it has fallen out of favour and doesn’t get much traffic. It does have good brand value though as it has been around for so long. You can claim your Yelp listing in a few easy steps if you haven’t already done so. To embed Yelp on your website, follow the steps here.
Review Widget Score: 5/10
More than two billion registered users and an average of 20 minutes per day on the platform (per user) is huge. It’s also a place where people are very likely to leave a review. Make sure your Facebook business page is set up, optimised and then monitored for content and reviews daily. Be responsive and engage your Facebook users.
Follow and manage your Facebook reviews regularly. To embed individual reviews and automate the process, follow this link. You can’t currently embed the overall score.
Review Widget Score: 9/10
ReviewMinder by STAAH
You can now use review management tools such as STAAH’s ReviewMinder for a widget on your website.
Easy to install on your website, the ReviewMinder provides latest reviews from both social sites and key OTAs such as Booking.com and Expedia. The tool allows you to choose the platforms you wish to display. As part of a test, Elina PMS team noticed a 20% increase in conversion compared to the previous week when ReviewMinder was embedded on the site.
Another upside to the tool is that you get the opportunity to capture reviews and publish your own reviews, in addition to reviewing analytics on reviews from OTAs.
Review Widget Score: 8/10
TripAdvisor
One of the most recognised review brands in the travel and hospitality category, TripAdvisor widget is popular among accommodation providers. As Tripadvisor’s core business has been reviews since inception, they are way ahead of others in widget choices and flexibility. The widget does link though to their website, so another option is to just add the image of the widget.
Claiming your listing on TripAdvisor is easy. However, the platform has been part of heated discussions around fake reviews. So when you’re promoting content from TripAdvisor, make sure you hunt down genuine reviews to balance your overall online image on the platform and reflect a true picture of your brand.
Review Widget Score: 7/10
Things to keep in mind when choosing the widget:
To determine this, you need to evaluate the power of the brand or of the platform, then factor in the growth of their user base and the presentation of the widget content on your website and booking engine. Here are some other considerations:
- Space on your website and where you will feature the widgets.
- Check if you already have reviews on the platform. If yes, and they are valuable, having a widget makes sense.
- Website speed. Widgets can impact page loading. Keep this in mind when choosing your widget and always test and measure impact.
Edited with permission from Elina Property Management System.