Getting positive reviews from your customers has always been a beneficial exercise for any business to partake in. However as we approach a more digital orientated age, the importance of positive google reviews is now even greater than ever.

The three main benefits of getting customer reviews are:

1. To acquire testimonials that can be used in marketing your business
2. To better understand what you are doing right/wrong
3. To improve the visibility of business on Google

On Google, positive reviews wield an unprecedented power in the world of digital marketing, a power which draws comparisons to be the digital equivalence to the ‘word of mouth’ effect. But as with any claim, it means nothing until it is backed-up by research and evidence. As such, a local consumer review survey consisting of 1,062 individuals and conducted in 2019 has highlighted 7 data-supported reasons to ramp up your Google Business Reviews in 2020.

Most Customers Read Reviews BEFORE Making a Decision

In 2016, 91% of consumers admitted to regularly or occasionally reading online customer reviews in order to determine whether a local business was good or bad. This is a 20% increase in online review dependence since the survey began in 2010.

Since now more and more people are reading reviews it is important that businesses take these reviews seriously as they are an extension of word-of-mouth except these mouths have the potential to reach thousands.

People Trust Online Reviews as Much as Personal Recommendation

Word-of-mouth has long been known as the most powerful marketing tool for any business due to the amount of weight and trust inherent in the relationship of the recommender. The data from the survey shows that in 2016 most people are trusting online reviews at a higher rate than ever where 84% of people trust online reviews just as much as a personal recommendation.

If online reviews are being trusted just as much as the powerful marketing tool word-of-mouth, then this ranks customer reviews to be equally as powerful. The caveat to this power is its ability to also work against a business where negative reviews could effect consumers decisions and be detrimental to the business.

Customers Will Leave a Review if Asked To

A common concern for business owners is wanting more reviews but at the same time not wanting to pressure their customers into leaving one, as such they don’t want to spam their customers. From the data, 71% of consumers will leave a review for a business if they’re asked to. This statistic should help qualm any fears of asking for reviews, and remember, if you’re not asking for online reviews while your competitors are then you will fall behind.

Maximizing Positive Reviews Can Pay Quick Dividends

Data shows that 90% of consumers read 10 reviews or less before they feel that they can trust (or not trust) a business and this can pay quick dividends. How? Because 90% of customers are willing to make a decision in just 10 reviews or less and in decision-making terms this is an extremely short amount of time.

The goal here is to have as many of these 1-10 reviews to be positive as to not detriment your business. If most are negative then consumers will make a quick decision to research your competitors yet if more are positive the it is most likely consumers will make a quick decision that results in increased business and revenue.

It really is simple. The quicker you expand your review marketing online and maximize positive reviews, the faster your business will reap the rewards.

Positive Reviews Can Result in Direct Lead Generation

Research found that in 2016 54% of people will visit the website after reading positive reviews, just a touch over half. This number is no slouch considering only 3% of consumers would continue searching for other businesses after reading positive reviews. The other 43% either continue searching for validation (17%) or contact the business whether it be physically or electronically.

Therefore the power of positive reviews can increase a businesses power to maintain a customers attention and trust.

Consistent NEW Reviews Can Increase Consumers Trust

Its important to keep up to date with your online reviews and continue asking customers to provide a review of their experience. This is because there is evidence that found that 73% of consumers believe that reviews older than 3 months are no longer relevant.

1. If your more recent reviews are older than 3 months, consumers lose trust with the market
2. The more recent your reviews means the more trustworthy they are

As long as consumer reviews towards your business are positive then a consistent amount of new reviews can be extremely valuable.

Improving your Star Rating is Key

Star ratings are the cumulative reviews of every consumer (who have provided one) and provide an overall ranking of your business compared to that of your competitors. From the research conducted 58% of consumers say that the star rating of a business is most important and an overwhelming 87% say that a business needs a minimum rating of 3 before they will use them. This is how we can see the effect of negative reviews being detrimental to a businesses brand.

What Can You Do?

The big issues for businesses is manage to acquire reviews consistently so that they may remain relevant, gain exposure or to increase their overall star rating. Most businesses are aware whether or not their product or service is good enough to warrant a positive review and disregarding a few outliers, most businesses are right.

Here are 4 ways businesses can get more online reviews:

1.      Offer an Excellent Service

First things first lets state the obvious; offering a fantastic service and generating a positive experience for your customers will in return generate positive reviews from them. It also attracts more reviews because when people experience a service that they thoroughly enjoyed then they feel more compelled to tell others of their experience.

Therefore offering a positive service will reflect positive reviews and importantly more of them.

2.      Ask for Reviews

As stated earlier, most people (71%) will leave reviews if you ask them to. Many business owners simply need to expel the idea from their mind that asking for a review to be left is inappropriate after already ‘asking’ for the sale. If you are providing an excellent service then you should feel comfortable in asking for feedback on their experience.

To reaffirm this asking mentality, place reminders around your storefront/office, website and even email/text them after their experience. Social Media followers may also be able to leave reviews too.

3.      Engage with People Who Have Already Left Reviews

Most review sites allow businesses to comment and reply with individual reviews. Take this opportunity to engage with these people; thank those for the positive reviews and apologise to the negative ones and acknowledge the action you need to take. This helps show that as a business you care about your customers and their experiences. Review engagement will increase the likelihood of them leaving another review because they know that you care about the feedback and it resembles that you value customer experience as a number one priority.

4.      Make it Simple to Leave a Review

Having a review system that is cumbersome and inconvenient deters consumers from leaving a review; the review process should be quick and simple. If you make it as easy as possible to leave a review and let people know the process is simple, this will translate into more consumers being converted into reviewers.

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CONTACT STELLAR DIGITAL AT https://stellardigital.com.au/

Bright Local Survey: https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/