What’s the one thing you do before you book a restaurant, a hotel, or make a purchase online – you check the reviews – take Trip Advisor for example. A study by BrightLocal revealed that approximately 82% of customers read reviews before they make a purchase decision and 52% of 18-54 year old’s always read reviews.i
What are Google reviews?
Google reviews can be seen as being similar to word-of-mouth marketing. If your friends or family recommend something to you, you are more likely to use that service or purchase a product.
Google reviews are essentially the same for businesses – potential clients are more likely to do a Google search to discover more about your business and if you have Google reviews, it’s a simple way to build trust, and credibility as well as raise your brand awareness.
Why are they important?
Google is by far the most used search engine, so it makes sense to use Google reviews. The more positive reviews you have the higher your business will be placed in the Google search rankings.
Customer reviews can work as testimonials or referrals for your business and should be included as part of your customer journey and marketing strategy. They are also an easy way to gain insights into what you are doing well as a business and discover areas that may need improvement.
Managing Google reviews
It’s important to manage each review. Your clients are taking the time to leave comments about your business so you should ensure that you acknowledge them by thanking them for their opinion – appreciation goes a long way.
If you’ve received a negative review, this can be seen as an opportunity to learn something about your business. You need to take the feedback on board and respond to the review in a positive way. This will help potential clients reading your reviews understand that you are willing to take action and make improvements where necessary.
Getting Google reviews for your business should be done on a regular basis. It shouldn’t be something you do once and then forget about it. You need to ensure the reviews are recent. If your last review was back in 2017 your chances of capturing that potential client could be lost.
Google star ratings
Studies show that a business with a star rating range of 4.2-4.9 is more likely to be trustworthy. It’s important to understand that having a 5-star rating could be seen as being untrustworthy, no business is perfect. People may perceive these reviews as being illegitimate as you may have asked friends and family to leave reviews. It’s all about being credible and honest.
Setting up Google reviews
With a small amount of effort, you can implement Google reviews for your business, and we can help.
If you would like to speak to us about to find out more Google Reviews, call us on (03) 9416 0655.
