Google Reviews — More Important Than You Think?
What happens if you are searching for a business and you find two that look pretty good, but one has an average Google review rating of 3.2 and the other has an average rating of 4.8?
Most people prefer to do business with the one with higher ratings. It’s a form of social proof that helps them understand which company is better.
Here are some statistics you should be aware of that were recently published at Forbes.com.
- 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business.
- Online reviews have been shown to impact 67.7% of purchasing decisions.
- 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.
- 74% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more.
- Every one-star increase in a rating means a 5 to 9% increase in revenue.
- Businesses risk losing 22% of business when potential customers find one negative article on the first page of their search results.
Those Might Be Compelling Facts, But There’s More!
Failure to be Proactive Results in Loss of Ratings
If you are not proactive in getting positive feedback, what happens? The complainers win!
Left on their own, people are more likely to take time out to leave a bad review than a good one. And, there’s always a chance that someone leaves a bad rating out of spite, misdirected enthusiasm, or a drive-by 1‑star! None of these are a real reflection on your business, but reviews, once given, become a permanent part of your online history.
Suddenly, because you have very few reviews, your rating average tumbles, and your business starts losing customers without you even knowing. Simply put, when people see bad review scores, they are not likely to call and ask about the poor review. Nor are they going to call and tell you they are going somewhere else. You never hear from them, and the opportunity is lost.
What happens if you have no reviews and the first one is just 1 or 2 stars? That becomes your normal. Often times when a business gets a 1‑star review as their first review, they panic and try to get the customers (or even friends) to give 5‑star reviews. The problem is that this new review-getting strategy does not look natural to Google. You went years and got a poor review and now, suddenly, you have the best business in town? Nope. Google doesn’t believe and so your poor review stands as normal for much longer than you would like.
What’s the Solution?
It’s time to take control of your reviews and ratings.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get feedback from your customers and clients, whether positive or negative, but you could keep the poor reviews away from your online business listing?
You can!
We have a low-cost process, called the 5‑Star Reputation Builder, which helps you proactively seek and receive feedback from your customers. You get all the feedback delivered to your email, whether positive or negative so that you can take appropriate action in your business.
If someone shares a true negative with you, you get the opportunity to improve your business, potentially eliminating a problem that would have caused someone else to leave a scathing 1‑star review. But you fix it and that never happens.
But when your customers or clients provide positive feedback, then the 5‑Star Reputation Builder will automatically invite that person to leave a Google review!
This way you stack the deck in favor of your business. Those who search for what you have to offer get to see all the good things your customers are saying.
And you don’t have to worry about an occasional drive-by 1‑star anymore. When you have many positive reviews, a lone negative gets washed out, diluted by all the positive ones. After all, your normal rating is nearly 5 stars, so the impact on your overall rating becomes minimal.
Learn More
The best way to learn more about the 5‑Star Reputation Builder is to join Jeff on one of his FREE training webinars. This way you get all the details and see the benefits for your business. Jeff will also give you a free trial of the system and a discount when you decide to keep using the system.
Click the button below to register.
