02/24/2021
WHY ARE ONLINE REVIEWS IMPORTANT FOR MY BUSINESS?
Today almost everyone is reading online reviews before deciding on where to spend their money. They trust those reviews as if they were a personal recommendation from a friend. And Google is taking notice.
HOW DO POSITIVE REVIEWS HELP MY BUSINESS?
1) Higher visibility on search engines.
Google loves reviews, especially positive ones. This can translate into improved search engine results placement (SERP) for your business.
2) Improved reputation.
People judge businesses by their reviews. Positive reviews are a form of "social proof", and they work to both bring leads and turn leads into clients. 80% of consumers say they trust online customer reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends or family.
3) Grows your brand.
Online reviews connect personal recommendations to your brand. A positive online reputation creates real-world business growth. A BrightLocal study showed that 86% of consumers read reviews for local businesses - including 95% of people aged 18-34
4) Improved search results on maps.
Your happy customers are creating free content that helps promote your business to your target audience. Even the words reviewers use (for example: "top dentist" or "best legal advice") help Google match your company and its products and services to your location (geotargeting) for improved search results on Google maps.
Google found that mobile searches using the word “best” have increased by 80%. You don't have to toot your own horn if you make it easy for other people to do it for you! Google.
5) Customer Engagement and Higher Spending.
Leaving an online review, and having that review responded to, helps to build a relationship with your client. This often creates an emotional connection for your customers. Consumers are likely to spend 31% more on products/services from businesses that have excellent reviews.
Consumers proactively look for reviews.
A BrightLocal study showed that 93% of consumers actively read online reviews. And Google found that mobile searches using the word “reviews” have increased by 35%. These reviews help people find you and choose to spend their time and money with you.
HOW DO NEGATIVE REVIEWS HURT MY BUSINESS?
1) You could potentially lose Google's trust.
Google's goal is to keep searchers happy by helping them find what they are looking for. Google may choose to promote companies that garner positive reviews to engage consumers and keep them using Google products.
2) You will lose business.
92% of consumers less likely to use a business if they have negative reviews. In fact, studies show one negative review has the potential to lose 22% of potential customers and three negative reviews can lose 59% of potential customers. (But don't panic. Even the best businesses sometimes get negative comments. If you do get the occasional one-star ratings it isn't too much to worry about if you have a lot more 5-star reviews to dilute the rare negative ones. People often look at the most recent reviews too, so just gain more positive ratings to push the bad ones down and out of sight.)
HOW DO I GET MORE ONLINE REVIEWS?
1) Ask customers for reviews.
It is against Google's rules to incentivize reviews, so you should not offer someone a discount or gift for leaving a review, but you can simply ask for one! Making "the ask" a part of your process ensures your staff ask customers for reviews every time (or at least ask the happy customers!). You can also add a review reminder to your online checkout process, or place a kiosk/iPad in your waiting room, send "the ask" in a follow-up email, put a sticker on the exit door, print the request on receipts, add them on your invoices, place it on your website or in your email signature, make a note on flyers and signage. Be creative!
2) Make it easy to do.
You will receive more online customer reviews by making the process easy to do. For example, with our dental clients, we automated the process by automatically sending an email, or text, to each client after every dental appointment. But we don't just ask for the review, we provide a quick and easy method that guides them swiftly through the process.
3) Get a Google My Business account.
Sign up for a Google My Business (GMB) account that you are authorized to access. This helps build trust with Google and it gives you an easy way to respond to your business reviews on Google using the Google My Business website.
Set up Social Media accounts for your brand.
Getting business pages and brand accounts on popular social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram gives people the ability to leave a review wherever they spend time online, so include multiple online review sites.
HOW DO I GET MORE POSITIVE REVIEWS?
1) Earn them.
If you provide a quality product and pair it with excellent service you will earn great ratings. But, what happens when things go wrong - even if it is a rare occurrence? First, apologize to your customer and ask how you can make it up to them - and then follow through. Be upfront, and if they make a complaint, ask them what you could do in the future so the issue doesn't happen again. Most consumers are happy to provide feedback, and a proactive response can turn a bad review into a good one if readers think you're working hard to improve.
2) Don't cheat.
Google doesn't allow "gating". Review gating is an online process where companies ask to rate their experience. For customers who indicate they had a positive experience they are directed to leave an online review; whereas customers who indicate they had a negative experience may instead be asked to provide "feedback" and their comments are kept private. This leads to ratings being skewed to the positive side and not a true representation of the average customer experiences.
3) Cheat just a little.
Even asking happy customers to leave a review could be considered "Review Gating" if you don't also ask that customer who is currently yelling at you. But, realistically, everyone thinks it is an ok thing to do. We found that many negative reviews are actually just people who want to let businesses know how they could improve. We can use this to your advantage. We have an automated system where we can ask everyone to rate their experience, and then send everyone to leave private feedback, and after that, we request a positive review. Often, those customers who had a negative experience are happy to supply their private feedback and leave it at that. They don't move to leave a negative public comment. This helps filter out all the people who don't want to hurt you publicly but just want to be heard by you, the business owner/manager.
4) Act on negative feedback.
If you study the feedback, you can learn where your business processes may need improvement. By making those improvements you will have happier customers, receive more positive reviews from customers, and gain more repeat customers too.
5) Respond to both positive and negative reviews.
Thank your customers for their positive reviews. But, also thank customers who leave negative reviews, and let them know what you are doing to fix the issue they describe. By being proactive in your public approach, you can turn a negative review into a positive one.
6) Make the review process inviting or fun.
Use fun graphics in your online review request. Brand it. Make it personal. People are bombarded with emails, requests and information. Let your review request stand out from the crowd. Make it look easy - and walk them through it. Our multi-step review request process has been proven to generate 90% more reviews than a single-step process primarily because it is cute and friendly compared to a boring text-based ask in other emails.
If you need help, don't hesitate to contact us at www.complete.ca. We'd love to help you grow your business. It's what we do!
Now go out there, gain those 5-star reviews, and grow your business!
