By Shannon Begley

Reviews are important to the survival of any business, but extremely important for local businesses.  90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business.  So this means, the content of online reviews on sites like Google, Yelp, Trip Advisor, Facebook, etc. can mean the difference between your business’ success and failure.  Think about your buying habits.  How do you determine trying a new restaurant or visiting a new store?  You head to Google, Yahoo, or Bing and search that business and check reviews.   92% of consumers go online as their first step in the purchase cycle and read an average of 8 reviews.

So what does this mean for your business?  You need to manage your review and you need to respond. If a business doesn’t manage their reviews, this hurts their business.  Businesses that respond to over 50% of their reviews grow 2x the rate of those who ignore their reviews.  80% consider reviews just as important as personal recommendations.   One negative review can drive away 30 new customers! This is lost revenue for your business! According to Search Engine Land, 87% of potential customers won’t consider businesses with low ratings.  Unaddressed reviews can lead to a 15% increase in churn – do not ignore any reviews good or bad!

You get a positive review – what should you do?  RESPOND!  Thank them for taking the time out to write a review in the first place and for being a customer.

You get a bad review – what should you do?  RESPOND!  Acknowledge that you saw the review, and that you are sorry they had that experience.  Ask for them to call you, so you can handle it further.  This will help prevent negative reviews from destroying your online reputation and driving other potential customers away.

And as a business you want reviews!  Not only does it help people select who to do business with, reviews also affect your local search engine optimization.  So if you don’t have reviews this hurts where you show up on the search page organically.  Reviews can also give you great insight into your customers and what they enjoy about your business and/or where your business can improve.

Ask us today about a great tool that can help your business manage all your reviews both internal and external, all on one dashboard, making it easier for you as a business owner!