Why Online Reviews Are Important
According to one recent consumer behavior study:
- 97% of consumers look for and read reviews for local businesses before purchasing
- The average consumer uses six different review sites when choosing a business
- Google, Facebook, and AI tools like ChatGPT are most commonly used for local recommendations
- Traditional review sites like Tripadvisor, Better Business Bureau, and Healthgrades are seeing a resurgence; Google is still the top resource but is losing popularity
- Consumers are increasingly turning to video-based sites (YouTube, TikTok) for local recommendations
How to Get More Online Reviews
First, you need to know the rules. Offering discounts or incentives for reviews goes against several major review sites’ terms of service. If discovered you risk getting all your reviews removed or your listing banned entirely. There are also rules against what is know as review-gating, soliciting only positive reviews while blocking potential negative reviews.
Here are some best practices for encouraging customers to leave reviews:
- Decide which review sites make sense for your business. People search for a home repair service differently than they search for a nail salon. Look at where your customers are likely to be searching and concentrate your efforts on just a couple review sites.
- Make asking for reviews part of your process. How this works will depend on your sales process. Retail business? Include a QR code on your receipts or put up signage by the exit. Service business? Include a link with payment confirmations or follow up surveys. Think about your existing reviews and when customers were motivated to leave them. Work your request into that same step in your sales process.
- Use tech to make it easier. You can make taking a more proactive approach simpler by using an automated review request service that will send out the request for you. These services also help direct feedback to your preferred review portals and notify you when a review has been left so you can respond.
- Respond to all reviews. Being responsive to reviews – both positive and negative – lets customers see the real person or people behind your brand and builds trust. Important note: because of HIPAA, health care related business should use caution when responding to reviews. Just because a patient discloses a relationship does not authorize you to do so. Either craft a few HIPAA compliant, generic responses or don’t respond to any reviews.
- Be active on the platforms where you want reviews. At the very least you need claim your profile and /or set up accounts for reviewers to tag you. This is especially relevant if you want to prioritize video reviews on sites like Instagram or TikTok.
Need help crafting a strategy that works for your business? BizGeek can help with that.
