Why Are Reviews So Important?

The motivation behind customer reviews

Today, more and more people use the internet to search for local businesses and service providers and the swing away from more traditional marketing methods has seen a change in the way customers interact with businesses.

Gone are the days when simple flyers and adverts in the local press where enough to get people through the door. Nowadays, there’s an insatiable appetite for information and genuine customer reviews are a very visible way of judging a business in seconds. Reviews can make or break a business and the ease in which people can find you on-line means it’s unwise to leave it to chance and now is the time to act.

The changing face of local marketing

Although you may not be a reviewer it’s wrong to think others don’t leave reviews or more importantly, read them. The first thing to consider is what’s the motivation behind leaving a review? Chances are, unless prompted to do so, people who have had a positive experience are less likely to leave a review than those who feel things weren’t quite up to scratch.

Worse still, disgruntled customers may not say anything to your face but find it easier to write something on-line that’s there for everyone to see. It’s human nature after all to want some form of justice or closure.

That’s why it’s important to monitor your on-line presence and see what potential customers find when they look for your business or the service you provide.

Why reviews influence customer decision making

Research proves that the number of customers that react to online reviews has dramatically risen over the last 5 years. So much so that many people use them in preference to personal recommendations and trust the experiences of others to influence their decision making.

The motivation behind customer reviews

Although you may not be a reviewer it’s wrong to think others don’t leave reviews or more importantly, read them. The first thing to consider is what’s the motivation behind leaving a review? Chances are, unless prompted to do so, people who have had a positive experience are less likely to leave a review than those who feel things weren’t quite up to scratch.

Worse still, disgruntled customers may not say anything to your face but find it easier to write something on-line that’s there for everyone to see. It’s human nature after all to want some form of justice or closure.

That’s why it’s important to monitor your on-line presence and see what potential customers find when they look for your business or the service you provide.

Why reviews influence customer decision making

Research proves that the number of customers that react to online reviews has dramatically risen over the last 5 years. So much so that many people use them in preference to personal recommendations and trust the experiences of others to influence their decision making.

If you’re still not entirely convinced, consider the following.

When searching on-line, you find two local businesses providing the same service but one has over 30 five star reviews and the other has none, who would you contact first?

You’re looking for a local service provider and none of your friends can recommend one, where do you look next? Chances are it will be on-line!

You want to book a restaurant and you look up the one you’re driven past earlier, only to discover there’s 3 bad reviews – Would this influence your choice?

Now imagine this thought process replicated across all the possible people looking for your business. Even if this only applies to half of them…it shows the power of reviews should never be underestimated.

How reviews can directly affect your Google ranking.

Google leads the way for on-line searches which is why we’ve used it as a point of reference here. That’s not to say that other platforms can’t be equally beneficial for getting reviews as can social media. However, for now we’re going to concentrate on Google.

We’ve already explained how reviews can directly influence customer decision making but there’s also another massive benefit – getting your ‘Google My Business’ page higher up the listings.

The ‘Google 3 pack’ and map is often the first thing people will find when looking for local businesses so having your business in the top three, even for just one search term is vital. Although there are many factors that will determine where your page will rank, after citations from directories, 5 star reviews are right up there in importance. After all, Google likes to reward businesses that have local interaction and what better way of proving this than with reviews.

Read part 2 “Leapfrog your competitors the Easy way”